- By Ajeet Kumar
- Wed, 05 Nov 2025 08:57 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Who is Zohran Mamdani? Zohran Mamdani scripted history as he emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US. Mamdani won the NYC Mayoral election, getting 948,202 votes (50.6 per cent), with 83 per cent of the votes in.
With the victory, the democratic socialist will etch his place in history as the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage and the first born in Africa. He will also become the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office on January 1.
Who is Zohran Mamdani and his India link?
Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7.
Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently in 2018. He moved to New York City at age seven, became a US citizen in 2018, and is a Shia Muslim of the Twelver branch. A member of the Democratic Party and Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani has served as a New York State Assemblymember for the 36th district in Queens since 2021, after defeating a four-term incumbent in 2020.
Zohran Mamdani's early life and education
Mamdani attended the Bronx High School of Science and received a Bachelor's Degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College. In high school, he co-founded his school's first ever cricket team, which went on to participate in the Public School Athletic League's inaugural cricket season, his campaign profile said.
He worked as a foreclosure prevention housing counsellor, helping low-income homeowners of colour across Queens fight off eviction and stay in their homes, according to his official profile.
His work led him to run for office and he was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 and represented the 36th Assembly District and its neighbourhoods of Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway and Astoria Heights.
Why is Mamdani's victory historic?
With Mamdani's win, New York City and the US entered a new political and ideological era with the democratic socialist now at the helm of the citadel of capitalism. During his campaign, Mamdani has faced questions and scepticism about his relative inexperience as a lawmaker and whether he is fit to run a city that has a budget of more than USD 100 billion.
“I believe that I am the best qualified for this position because of a recognition of the greatest challenge that the city faces, and that challenge is affordability,” Mamdani had told the New York Times.
The victory has been dubbed historic amid the fact US President Donald Trump did his best to stop him from historic win. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump warned if Mamdani wins, he would lower the funds given to NYC.
Tough road ahead for Mamdani
Mamdani has promised to “lower costs and make life easier” for New Yorkers as the city gets “too expensive”. Mamdani has vowed that as Mayor, he will immediately freeze the rent for all stabilised tenants, and use every available resource to build the housing New Yorkers need and bring down the rent.
Promising fast, fare-free buses, his campaign said that as Mayor, he'll permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus – and make them faster by rapidly building priority lanes, expanding bus queue jump signals, and dedicated loading zones to keep double parkers out of the way.
Mamdani would also implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years, ensuring high quality programming for all families.
With food prices out of control, his campaign also promised that as Mayor, he will create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit.
Mamdani has a plan to bring down the cost-of-living through city-owned grocery stores, universal childcare, and other bold proposals, and he knows exactly how to pay for it, too, the campaign said.
(With inputs from agencies)