Zohran Mamdani's meteoric rise in New York signals a widespread desire for change among Democrats
The shockwaves reached far beyond New York. They rippled through the Democratic Party, shook its leadership, drew the attention of the media and sparked a mix of ridicule and concern in Trumpist circles. By winning the Democratic primary for mayor on Tuesday, June 24, Zohran Mamdani, 33, delivered a spectacular victory to the progressive camp. Born in Uganda and a Muslim, the young elected representative from Queens and member of the New York State Assembly defeated the embodiment of the local elite, seen as immobile and marked by collusion: former governor Andrew Cuomo, 67, the favorite in the race. Cuomo quickly conceded defeat, with 36.4% of the vote to Mamdani's 43.5%.
As noted by The New York Times, Cuomo ran a campaign limited to churches, synagogues and labor union meetings in front of sympathetic audiences. He resigned as governor in 2021 following allegations of sexual harassment. That same year, Mamdani went on a 15-day hunger strike in front of City Hall in solidarity with taxi drivers who were heavily in debt. Six months ago, few residents knew his name. This gives some idea of the scale of his achievement. In November 2024, Mamdani is expected to face, among others, a former Democrat who became an independent after falling out of favor with his own party: the current mayor, Eric Adams, who was indicted for corruption in 2024, before Donald Trump personally ordered the charges dropped as a personal favor.
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LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
Zohran Mamdani's meteoric rise in New York signals a widespread desire for change among Democrats
The shockwaves reached far beyond New York. They rippled through the Democratic Party, shook its leadership, drew the attention of the media and sparked a mix of ridicule and concern in Trumpist circles. By winning the Democratic primary for mayor on Tuesday, June 24, Zohran Mamdani, 33, delivered a spectacular victory to the progressive camp. Born in Uganda and a Muslim, the young elected representative from Queens and member of the New York State Assembly defeated the embodiment of the local elite, seen as immobile and marked by collusion: former governor Andrew Cuomo, 67, the favorite in the race. Cuomo quickly conceded defeat, with 36.4% of the vote to Mamdani's 43.5%. As noted by The New York Times, Cuomo ran a campaign limited to churches, synagogues and labor union meetings in front of sympathetic audiences. He resigned as governor in 2021 following allegations of sexual harassment. That same year, Mamdani went on a 15-day hunger strike in front of City Hall in solidarity with taxi drivers who were heavily in debt. Six months ago, few residents knew his name. This gives some idea of the scale of his achievement. In November 2024, Mamdani is expected to face, among others, a former Democrat who became an independent after falling out of favor with his own party: the current mayor, Eric Adams, who was indicted for corruption in 2024, before Donald Trump personally ordered the charges dropped as a personal favor.
AFP
11 hours ago
- AFP
Footage of Muslim pilgrims in Iraq misrepresented after NYC mayoral primary
"Absolutely INSANE footage coming out of NYC right now. WOW!!!" says a June 25, 2025 post on X. The video shows two men performing in Arabic and blaring high tempo electronic music as a throng of people excitedly jump up and down around them. Image Screenshot from X taken June 25, 2025 The post quickly racked up thousands of interactions after Mamdani -- who is 33 and vying to become New York City's first Muslim mayor -- pulled off a stunning victory in the city's June 24 Democratic mayoral primary, upsetting scandal-scarred rival and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani leaned into his Muslim identity on the campaign trail, courting the one million New York members of his faith with frequent visits to the city's mosques and community centers. The video shared online, however, does not show New Yorkers celebrating -- and the X user who shared the post later suggested that they had done so in jest. Video from 2024 religious gathering Reverse image searches surfaced the same footage in an Arabic-language YouTube video dated August 26, 2024 (archived here). Image Screenshot from YouTube taken June 25, 2025 A hashtag attached to the video links it to Arbaeen, an annual pilgrimage in Iraq that represents one of the world's largest religious gatherings and marks the 40th day of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and a founding figure in Shiite Islam. More than 21 million took part in the August 2024 celebrations. The video's description says the clip shows the entrance to the shrine in Karbala, Iraq, where Hussein is buried The description also mentions Mujtaba Al Kaabi, a musician. Another Instagram post tagging Al Kaabi appears to show the same moment from a different angle (archived here). The post was shared August 30. AFP reached out to Al Kaabi for comment, but no response was forthcoming. Geolocating the footage To geolocate the footage, AFP first identified Arabic signs for a jewelry story and an ophthalmologist among the storefronts lining the street. Using Google Earth satellite imagery to search the area surrounding the two holy shrines for those businesses and other uniquely identifiable buildings, AFP matched the video to a section of Karbala's Al Jumhurya Street near the Al-Kawthar mall (archived here). Image Screenshot from X taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshot from Google Earth taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Google Street View imagery, as well as Google pictures and videos uploaded by visitors of the Al-Kawthar mall, further confirm the location (archived here, here, here and here). Image Screenshot from X taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshot from Google Street View taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshot from X taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshot from Google taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshot from X taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshot from Google taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Photos from Turkey's Anadolu Agency also show Shiite pilgrims congregating along the same street for the 2024 commemorations (archived here and here). Image Screenshot from X taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP Image Screenshots from Getty Images taken June 25, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP AFP has debunked other misinformation about US politics here.
France 24
15 hours ago
- France 24
What lessons can be learned from Mamdani's win in NYC Democratic mayoral primary?
There are plenty of reactions in the press after what US President Donald Trump called a victory at the NATO summit in The Hague: getting NATO members to agree to spend 5 percent of national GDP on defence. All members but Spain have agreed to the proposal. For one Dutch paper, NRC, "Operation Trump succeeded". For French right-wing daily Le Figaro, Trump is imperial in the face of Europe 's docility. Le Soir, the Belgian daily, says in its editorial that Trump whistled and Europe danced. It says that between the Dutch rolling out the red carpet for Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte jokingly referring to Trump as "Daddy", Europe bowed down to a US president who humiliated them, insulted them and backed far-right parties against them. And when he didn't get what he wanted – from Spain – he used threats instead. Speaking of the Spanish press, the left-wing paper El Pais headlines on Trump's threats that he will impose more tariffs on Spain in retaliation. El Pais's editor wonders: is it diplomatic bullying or survival of the fittest? It adds that Europe must resist Trump and band together against his policies. The paper also urges Europe to build an industrial independence to confront the American arms industry. For the conservative daily ABC, it's clear who's responsible: Pedro Sanchez, the Socialist prime minister, who is "plunging Spain into a trade war by trying to defy NATO." In New York, a 33-year-old upstart has won the Democratic primaries for the New York City mayoral election. There's celebration in the Indian paper Hindustan Times: Zohran Mamdani was born to Indian parents and is a self-described "B-list rapper" who rapped under the name Young Cardamom! His mother is Mira Nair, an award-winning filmmaker. Mamdani's shock win in the Democratic primaries is even more impressive given that he was unknown to most people last year when he announced his bid. Thanks to a Gen Z-focused campaign and general voter revulsion for his rival Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani could well be New York's next mayor. If he wins, he would be the first Indian America and first Muslim mayor, and the youngest in generations. His victory also has wider repercussions for the Democratic party. As they eye the November midterms next year, they are searching for lessons to be drawn from Mamdani's victory. Meanwhile, Republicans are clamouring to discredit him – most notably through criticism that he is anti-Israel and accusations that he refused to condemn the Globalize the Intifada movement, which some see as a call to fight against Jews, The New York Times reports. The Washington Post calls his victory a "stunning ascendance" but one which has left the Democrats with an internal ideological battle. The success of Mamdani, on the far left, signifies a major victory for liberal activists and proof that the party's establishment old guard is weak. But moderates warn against adopting ideas and rhetoric that could be seen as extreme in the rest of the country. Finally, there could be a new "love game" in tennis. The Times of London reports on rumours of a possible tennis romance between Emma Raducanu, Britain's number one women's player, and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz. She was seen watching an Alcaraz game at Queen's Club last week, all smiles. The pair have spoken fondly of each other in press conferences and have known each other a long time. Alcaraz asked Raducanu to play mixed doubles with him at this year's US Open. It seems as if the tennis world is a little starved for a juicy love story. The last big one may have been Steffi Graf and André Agassi back in the late 1990s!
