A Muslim Socialist Defeats a Delusional Nepo Baby
Finally! An election night that didn’t end with me crying and rage-screaming into my pillow. New York City elected our first actual progressive, Muslim, South Asian mayor. Zohran Kwame Mamdani just made history, beating out Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa in the most theatrical election the city’s seen in decades.
Zohran Mamdani, center, with Bernie Sanders (L), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (R). Copyright: 2025 Getty Images
More than two million New Yorkers showed up at the polls - a record turnout that resulted in Mamdani taking home 50.4% of the vote, Cuomo lagging behind with 41.6%, and Sliwa staying in his usual single-digit lane at 7%. The people have spoken and apparently, they were tired of corruption, low wages, and whatever that Adams-era nightlife mess was supposed to be.
Mamdani began his campaign as a relatively obscure state lawmaker, but with his charm, catchy social media videos, and authentic NYC experience, the Bronx Science alum drew voters to his campaign. Mamdani’s platform was simple but powerful: keep New Yorkers in New York. With promises of a rent freeze on stabilized apartments, harsh penalties for slumlords, and 200,000 units of permanently affordable, union-built housing, he made it clear that this administration will care more about roofs over heads than photo ops at parties.
Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo tried his best to pull off a political resurrection, rebranding himself as an Independent, but New Yorkers weren’t buying the remix.
Cuomo leveraged his father’s (Mario Cuomo) success to build his political career. He served as the 56th governor of New York State from 2011 until his resignation in 2021, following numerous sexual misconduct allegations where he used taxpayer funds to fight or settle claims. After losing the June 2025 primary he was expected to win, Cuomo attempted to smear Mamdani as “more socialist than Democrat” - a characterization that would actually come to help his opponent. Cuomo’s inability to shake his reputation and his flip-flopping from seeking Adams’ endorsement to suggesting that he was not a competent mayor, caused voters to lose interest in his meandering comeback story.
His campaign also leaned on nostalgia and experience, but voters under 35 were done with old-school politics and ready for someone who actually reflects the city’s diversity (which, by the way, is not a weakness.) But nothing hurt his campaign like hearing that the President wanted him to win, a blow to the also-ran Republican Curtis Sliwa who did not take the disastrous loss gracefully. Sliwa claimed that the minute he decided to enter the race, the billionaires colluded to stifle his voice. Yeah…that’s why you only got 7% of the vote despite 23% of New Yorkers identifying as Republican. Hmmm....
Mamdani’s victory was part of the blue wave that swept across New York, where Democrats reclaimed several City Council seats, flipped two State Assembly districts, and held the Comptroller’s office with a comfortable margin. Progressive candidates backed by local unions and community coalitions out-performed expectations citywide.
The ripple effect from the blue wave wasn’t limited to the five boroughs. Across the country, Democrats pulled off a string of wins from Pennsylvania to Arizona, signaling that voters supported candidates who talked about economic justice, reproductive rights, climate action, and corporate accountability instead of inciting culture wars. Even in battleground states, turnout from young voters and communities of color shifted the margins. A special shout to Virginia for electing their first-ever woman governor!
So, what’s next for New York? Mamdani takes office January 1, 2026. Expect his first 100 days to focus on affordability, housing production, and launching that free-transit pilot. If he keeps even half of his promises, NYC could be entering a new era of affordability and accountability.
In Mamdani’s victory speech he asserted that, “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”
A defiant statement when you consider how the federal administration is trying to portray immigrants - not as hardworking contributors to many US cities, but as scammers and thieves whose barely-livable wage is more of a problem than property hoarding, human trafficking, and gilded ballrooms.
