Indian-origin Zohran Mamdani,33, wins Democratic race for New York Mayor polls
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday conceded to state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary election for New York City mayor, setting up the 33-year-old democratic socialist Mamdani to win the party’s nomination in the heavily Democratic city.
Mamdani was born on October 18, 1991, in Kampala, Uganda, into a family of Indian descent.
His parents are Mahmood Mamdani, an Indian-Ugandan colonialism and postcolonial studies professor at Columbia University of Gujarati Muslim descent, and Mira Nair, an Indian-American filmmaker of Punjabi descent.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist member of the state Assembly, started to pull ahead with more than an estimated 80 per cent of ballots counted.
Cuomo, in a speech to supporters, said Mamdani “won” and that “we are going to take a look and make some decisions”. “Tonight is his night,” Cuomo said.
Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim and Indian-American mayor if elected.
Cuomo is trying to make a comeback from a sexual harassment scandal. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams skipped the primary. He’s running as an independent.
The race’s ultimate outcome could say something about what kind of leader Democrats are looking for during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The vote takes place about four years after Cuomo, 67, resigned as governor following a sexual harassment scandal. Yet he has been the favourite throughout the race, with his deep experience, name recognition, strong political connections and juggernaut fundraising apparatus.
The party’s progressive wing, meanwhile, had coalesced behind Mamdani. A relatively unknown state legislator when the contest began, Mamdani gained momentum by running a sharp campaign laser-focused on the city’s high cost of living and secured endorsements from two of the country’s foremost progressives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The primary winner will go on to face incumbent Adams, a Democrat who decided to run as an independent amid a public uproar over his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent abandonment of the case by Trump’s Justice Department.
Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, will be on the ballot in the fall’s general election. There is also a possibility that Cuomo runs on the November ballot as an independent candidate if he loses the primary.
The mayoral primary’s two leading candidates — one a fresh-faced progressive and the other an older moderate — could be stand-ins for the larger Democratic Party’s ideological divide, though Cuomo’s scandal-scarred past adds a unique tinge to the narrative.
With inputs from Agencies
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