A cricket-playing former rapper is on track to be New York mayor. The city’s elites are freaking out

New York: When he announced his run for mayor back in October, Zohran Mamdani was a state lawmaker unknown to most New York City residents.

Now, the 33-year-old democratic socialist has had a stunning political ascent, declaring victory in the Democratic primary from a Queens rooftop bar after former New York governor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has run a grassroots campaign tapping into voter dissatisfaction.Credit: Bloomberg

Mamdani and Cuomo, 67, offered voters starkly different visions on taxes and policing in a race that has at times mirrored the divisions roiling the Democratic Party nationally.

The election has also become a microcosm of New Yorkers’ views on ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, with Cuomo pledging support for Israel as Mamdani criticised the wars in Gaza and Iran.

Cuomo had been the favourite throughout the race, with his deep experience, name recognition, strong political connections and juggernaut fundraising apparatus.

But Mamdani gained momentum by running a sharp campaign laser-focused on the city’s high cost of living, and has won the backing of two of the country’s foremost progressives, congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Jubilant Mamdani supporters celebrate as election results trickle in.Credit: AP

“The surge by Mamdani is something I’ve never seen before in New York City politics,” J.C. Polanco, a political analyst at the University of Mount Saint Vincent, said before the results were known.

As news broke of Cuomo’s concession, Mamdani supporters erupted into the chorus from Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.

While the official outcome will not be confirmed until July 1, his victory in the Democratic primary is all but guaranteed – and the ructions in the city are already being felt.

The city’s elite fear that a Mamdani win in the general election in November would lead to higher taxes and a subsequent exodus of wealthy residents from the five boroughs. US President Donald Trump described him as a “Communist Lunatic”.

The ultimate outcome could say something about what kind of leader Democrats are looking for during Trump’s second term.

The race will ultimately be decided by a ranked-choice voting system after neither Democrat got a clear majority. But Cuomo’s tally below 40 per cent means he is in “real trouble”, said veteran political consultant Jerry Skurnik of campaign consultants Engage Voters US before the results were known.

Incumbent Democrat Mayor Eric Adams skipped the primary and will run as an independent in the general election amid the fallout over his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent abandonment of the case by Trump’s Justice Department.

Cuomo also has the option of running as an independent in the general election.

Mamdani on stage with his wife, Rama Duwaji, at his primary election party this week.Credit: AP

So, who is Mamdani? Here’s a look at the one-time rapper seeking to become the city’s first Muslim and Indian-American mayor, and its youngest mayor in generations.

Mamdani’s mother is a famous filmmaker

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents and became an American citizen in 2018, shortly after graduating college.

He lived with his family briefly in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to New York City when he was seven years old.

Mamdani’s grassroots campaign has connected with voters unhappy at the cost of living and shortage of affordable housing. Credit: AP

Mamdani’s mother, Mira Nair, is an award-winning filmmaker whose credits include Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake and Mississippi Masala. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is an anthropology professor at Columbia University.

Mamdani married Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist, earlier this year. The couple, who met on the dating app Hinge, live in the Astoria section of Queens.

Mamdani was once a fledgling rapper

Mamdani attended the Bronx High School of Science, where he cofounded the public school’s first cricket team, according to his legislative bio.

He graduated in 2014 from Bowdoin College in Maine, where he earned a degree in Africana studies and cofounded his college’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

After college, he worked as a foreclosure prevention counsellor in Queens, helping residents avoid eviction, the job he says inspired him to run for public office.

Mamdani also had a notable side hustle in the local hip-hop scene, rapping under the moniker Young Cardamom, and later Mr Cardamom. During his first run for state lawmaker, Mamdani gave a nod to his brief foray into music, describing himself as a “B-list rapper”.

Nani, a song he made in 2019 to honour his grandmother, even found new life – and a vastly wider audience – as his mayoral campaign gained momentum.

His critics, meanwhile, have seized on lyrics from Salaam – his 2017 ode to being Muslim in New York – to argue his views are too extreme for New Yorkers.

Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary for NYC mayor is all but guaranteed. The general election will be held in November.Credit: Bloomberg

Early political career

Mamdani cut his teeth in local politics working on campaigns for Democratic candidates in Queens and Brooklyn.

He was first elected to the New York Assembly in 2020, knocking off a longtime Democratic incumbent for a Queens district covering Astoria and surrounding neighbourhoods. He has handily won re-election twice.

Mamdani’s most notable legislative accomplishment has been pushing through a pilot program that made a handful of city buses free for a year. He’s also proposed legislation banning nonprofits from “engaging in unauthorised support of Israeli settlement activity”.

His opponents, particularly Cuomo, have dismissed him as woefully unprepared for managing the complexities of running America’s largest city.

But Mamdani has framed his relative inexperience as a potential asset, saying in a mayoral debate he’s “proud” he doesn’t have Cuomo’s “experience of corruption, scandal and disgrace”.

Viral campaign videos

Mamdani has used buzzy campaign videos – many with winking references to Bollywood and his Indian heritage – to help make inroads with voters outside his slice of Queens.

On New Year’s Day, he took part in the annual polar plunge into the chilly waters off Coney Island in a full dress suit to break down his plan to “freeze” rents.

As the race was entering the final stretch, Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan, documenting the roughly 21-kilometre trip by posting photos and videos of his interactions along the way.

In TikTok videos, he’s even appealed to voters of colour by speaking in Spanish, Bengali and other languages.

Progressive promises

Mamdani has offered a more optimistic vision, in contrast to candidates such as Cuomo, who have largely focused on crime and law-and-order issues.

His campaign has been packed with big promises aimed at lowering the cost of living for everyday New Yorkers, from free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for people living in rent-regulated apartments and new affordable housing – much of it by raising taxes on the wealthy.

The big promises have, unsurprisingly, endeared him to the Democratic Party’s liberal wing.

Pro-Palestinian views

Mamdani’s outspoken support for Palestinian causes was a point of tension in the mayor’s race as Cuomo and other opponents sought to label his defiant criticism of Israel as antisemitic.

The Shiite Muslim has called Israel’s military campaign in Gaza a “genocide” and said the country should exist as “a state with equal rights” rather than a “Jewish state”.

That message has resonated among pro-Palestinian residents, including the city’s roughly 800,000 adherents of Islam – the largest Muslim community in the country.

During an interview on CBS’s The Late Show on the eve of the election, host Stephen Colbert asked Mamdani if he believed the state of Israel had the right to exist.

He responded: “Yes, like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist – and a responsibility also to uphold international law.”

Mamdani’s refusal to condemn calls to “globalise the intifada” on a podcast – a common chant at pro-Palestinian protests and a reference to Palestinian uprisings against Israel – drew recriminations from Jewish groups and fellow candidates in the days leading up to the election.

In his victory speech on Tuesday, he pledged to work closely with those who don’t share his views on controversial issues.

“While I will not abandon my beliefs or my commitments, grounded in a demand for equality, for humanity, for all those who walk this earth, you have my word to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree, and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements,” he said.

AP, Bloomberg

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