Zohran Mamdani Makes History As New York City's First American Muslim Mayor

Zohran Mamdani’s Win Is Not the Finish Line — It’s the Starting Gun

Note: Ghazala Hashmi made history tonight by becoming Lt. Governor of Virginia. She becomes the first female Muslim American to win a statewide seat in American history. Look for a post about her soon. Her achievement is commendable in its own right, and must be acknowledged and celebrated in its own right.

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It’s official. In 2025, America’s Mayor is an American Muslim Immigrant.

New York City has elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor—the first Muslim American in history to hold this position.

We are entering a new era—and not a moment too soon. Through a grueling race entrenched in bigotry, death threats, and the most grotesque attacks from both Democrats and Republicans, Zohran Mamdani showed the power of courage and social unity to defeat billionaires. But here’s the key point we must remember. Tonight’s hard fought battle is not the end of a run. Rather, it is the beginning of a future where we flex the power of many over the money, to ensure human dignity to every person in this country. Let’s Address This.

NYC Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani with NYC Comptroller Brad Lander

A Moment of Silence for South Asians

Let’s start on a lighter note and collectively pause for the important cultural impact here: Zohran Mamdani becoming mayor at 34 just ended the peace for every young South Asian man nationwide. As I joked when he won the primary, millions of Desi parents are right now loading up their guilt cannons: “Zohran was mayor of New York City at 34 — and you still haven’t bought a condo? Why can’t you be more like him?!” Dark days ahead for the brothas; we take this L together.

Jokes aside, this win is monumental. A brown, Muslim, South Asian immigrant—born in Uganda, raised with the experience of diaspora, and naturalized into this country—now leads the largest city in America and the global financial capital. Representation matters. As South Asian parents, my wife’s and my heart fills with pride knowing that our three children will grow up seeing a South Asian mayor of the largest city in the United States. But we also know this victory did not fall from the sky. It was earned through unprecedented turnout, relentless organizing, and the unwavering belief that a city should belong to the people who live and work in it—not the billionaires who treat it as Monopoly property.

The Failure of Republicans and Corporate Dems

This was a David and Goliath battle. And like the biblical story, David didn’t win by playing within the rules written by Goliath. He won by being fearless, focused, and unbought. Mamdani faced an onslaught unlike anything we’ve seen in a local race: right-wing hate machine attacks, a coordinated Islamophobia campaign, coordinated smears, lies, and propaganda from corporate media, and the open hostility of the billionaire class. Consider the latest bigotry from Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Andy Ogles—both invoking overt anti-Muslim hate in their fear-mongering. This apparently passes for “statesmanship” in American politics today.

Neither Cruz nor Ogles will face any accountability for their destructive hate. Notwithstanding the death threats heaped upon Zohran Mamdani, nor the spike in political violence—this will pass as ordinary discourse. Isn’t it fascinating how MAGA Republicans constantly scream that “why won’t immigrants and Muslims assimilate to our values and Constitution,” and then when one does and wins an election—they condemn him as evil?

But in full honesty, I expect nothing more than hate from the Republican party. They have hitched their wagon to a white nationalist cult, and prove it again every day. Thus for me, perhaps most revealing—and shameful—was the behavior of corporate Democrats. Instead of rallying behind their party’s nominee and working to oppose fascism, many refused to endorse him, or worse, quietly (and sometimes loudly) attempted to assist his opponents. They chose billionaire donors over democratic legitimacy. Hate and fear over justice and their own voters. Chuck Schumer, who I’ve been credibly informed is supposed to be the Democratic Senate leader, flat out refused to say he would even vote for Zohran Mamdani.

And despite months of false promises claiming he would get behind the Party’s nominee, Schumer ultimately acted the coward that he is and refused to do the bare minimum. So much for “vote blue no matter who,” huh? His junior senator from New York, Kirstin Gillibrand was somehow worse—publicly accusing Mamdani of wanting to wage “global Jihad,” and never once publicly apologizing for her vile remarks.

Not to be outdone, former New York City Mayor and Democratic Presidential Candidate Michael Bloomberg spent more than $8.5M in attack ads against Zohran Mamdani. This included a grotesque ad run in the final days of the campaign in which he insinuated that somehow Zohran Mamdani was to blame for or approved of 9/11.

We must say this plainly: Democratic Party leadership failed Zohran Mamdani and the American people. Too many Democratic leaders did not only sit by idly while Mamdani faced horrific attacks on his character and safety—but several actively chose the side of Trump, Elon Musk, Stephen Miller, and the very forces of white nationalism they claim to oppose. Several New York Democratic members of Congress told Mamdani to leave the Party. The Gubernatorial candidate for Governor of Virginia accused Mamdani of being a liar and doubted whether he is actually a democrat. Hakeem Jeffries only finally endorsed Mamdani in the final days, and Cory Booker flat out refused to. And as demonstrated above, several engaged in grotesque anti-Muslim and Islamophobic attacks against Mamdani. All indefensible. But Mamdani persevered.

And understand this. Such failed Democratic Party leaders exemplify Dr. King’s warning that: “The white moderate is [worse than] the KKK or the White Citizens Councilor.” Is it any wonder why the Democratic Party continues to suffer an approval rating hovering around 26%? The American people see the hypocrisy. They see the cowardice of the fact that, when faced with a candidate fighting for affordability, dignity, and safety for all, party leadership recoiled. And they recoiled not out of principle, but out of fear of losing donor checks and corporate gatekeeping. How sad that the Venn diagram of Democrats silent on genocide in Gaza but loudly hostile to Mamdani’s affordability agenda is, in truth, a perfect circle? Their silence on human rights abroad matches their indifference to the working-class struggle at home. This is not a recipe for success, it is a recipe for apathy that enables fascism.

True Leadership Emerges

Mamdani, meanwhile, did what true leaders do—he stayed focused on his message of affordability. He met people where they are, redirecting the attacks against him into plain explanations of how he will be a mayor for all New Yorkers, whether they vote for him or not. He built coalitions. He earned the plurality of Jewish votes in NYC. He brought together Muslim and Jewish communities on shared values of dignity and justice, and built a united New York City across race, class, and background. He responded to hate with clarity, not cowardice. While his opponents peddled fear, he focused on housing affordability, transit equity, workers’ rights, lowering grocery costs, taxpayer funded busses, childcare access, and the promise to build a city where ordinary people can not just survive, but live and thrive.

And this is why the billionaire class panicked. They know what this means. If a 34-year-old community organizer can defeat their machine in New York City—the symbolic and financial heart of American power—then what excuse remains for the rest of us? Their fear is not of Mamdani the individual. Their fear is that he proves the power of organized people over organized money. He proves that corporate Democrats do not hold a monopoly over the Democratic future, that fearmongering about “electability” collapses when someone actually speaks to working people, and that the culture war is merely a distraction from the class war they are desperately trying to keep hidden.

Marching Into The Future

Therefore, this victory must not be seen as a finish line. It is not a “historic moment” to pat ourselves over. It is a proof of concept. It is a beginning. For indeed, we do not need just one Mamdani in New York City—we need 10,000 across the country. We need organizers-turned-leaders in every borough, every township, every rural county, and every statehouse with a relentless focus on economic justice, dignity, and human rights for all people in this country. We need a movement of working-class leaders, immigrant leaders, Black and Latino leaders, Jewish and Muslim leaders, young leaders—people rooted in community, not cocktail fundraisers.

And we must be clear-eyed about why this matters beyond New York City. Take note that the same political and media apparatus that hates Mamdani for taxing billionaires also defends genocide abroad. The same donors funding smear campaigns in NYC bankroll authoritarianism from Gaza to Sudan. Justice is not siloed—and neither is injustice. Our movements must be intersectional, internationalist, and grounded in a moral clarity that refuses to bow to power. Whether that power wears a red tie or a blue lapel pin, the words of Dr. King must ring clear, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” And those who are too blinded by billionaire dollars to understand that do not deserve a seat in office.

So to those who opposed Mamdani—especially those who did it from within the tent of the Democratic Party—take your masks off now. Join the MAGA Party and stop pretending your loyalty is to working people when it has always been to wealthy donors. The rest of us are building a working class party worthy of its own FDR legacy—one that fights corporate greed rather than serving it. One that sees humanity not as an obstacle but as the mission.

Final Thoughts

A shout out to Zohran’s wife and better half, Rama Duwaji, an accomplished artist and leader herself. No doubt Zohran would be the first to share that without her support, his candidacy and success would not be possible.

Zohran Mamdani posted a video today about where he was almost exactly a year ago. In the streets of New York City with a microphone and a sign, asking people to talk to him about how they voted in the 2024 election. And he was largely ignored.

Most walked by, stepping around him as some random person in the street. The few who spoke to him, shared why they voted for Trump. Zohran didn’t ridicule them, abuse them, or mock them. He instead listened to understand them. He met people where they were, and it made all the difference. I spoke to his team and this is what they told me. His entire platform of a 2% tax on millionaires, city run grocery stores, free public busses, and free childcare, was born out of those conversations with working people. So when the Republican and Corporate Democratic elites ridiculed him for his very humane policies—and he doubled down and stood strong—the people of New York City knew they had the fighter they were waiting for.

I commented on his post above, “He showed up for the world when no one was watching. Now the whole world is showing up for him and we can’t stop watching. Godspeed brother.”

Today Zohran returned to that spot and now everyone was there to talk to him, and to hear him out. This is the power of a leader who serves the people, and is loved by the people. This is the power of the many over the money.

This is what democracy looks like.

So to everyone who fought for this victory: do not rest. This is not the time to celebrate quietly. This is the time to organize harder, knock more doors, build more local power, and take this momentum national. Because this wasn’t the story of one election. This is the story an opening chapter to a movement reclaiming democracy from billionaires, xenophobes, and the politics of fear.

Indeed, the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself (and if you’re South Asian, your desi parents ready to question you on why you haven’t become mayor yet?) But other than that, we stand strong for a just and bright future.

And if you believe in this future—if you want to join my efforts to help continue to build that more perfect Union, then let’s get to work. Subscribe below, support this work, and stay engaged. The many are stronger than the money. Let’s prove it again and again by ensuring the success we achieved tonight with America’s mayor is just the beginning.