The '100% communist' set to become New York's new mayor: How hard left poster boy Zohran Mamdani, 33, plans to tax the rich and make bus rides free after shock NYC primary victory
When he announced his run for Mayor of New York City back in October, Zohran Mamdani was a state lawmaker unknown to most of the Big Apple's residents.
On Tuesday evening, the 33-year-old marked his stunning political ascension when he declared victory in the Democratic primary from a Queens rooftop bar, beating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
While the race won't be decided until November, the former rapper and self-described socialist appears well on his way to becoming the city's first Muslim and Indian American mayor - and its youngest in generations.
Mamdani's stunning primary victory truly put the cat among the pigeons on both sides of the aisle.
Donald Trump branded him a '100 per cent Communist lunatic' - a comment to which Mamdani duly retorted.
'You know, this is not the first time that President Trump is going to comment on myself.
'We have won because New Yorkers have stood up for a city that they can afford... And it is where the mayor will use their power to reject Donald Trump's fascism.'
Meanwhile, the Democrats must face up to Mamdani's popularity following his win over establishment-backed - and scandal-blighted - Cuomo.
Critics have said the Big Apple would slide back into the type of permissive lawlessness that scarred the city during the COVID crisis under Mamdani's hard-left, inexperienced hand.
But Mamdani has positioned himself as a man who understands and cares about solving the economic hardships many in New York face and says his relative political inexperience means he has not been mired in corruption or influenced by the rich.
He also claims that, as a progressive, Muslim immigrant 'who actually fights for the things I believe in', he is a Republican's worst nightmare.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) attends the 2025 National Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC with Zohran Mamdani
Upbringing, background and family
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents and became an American citizen in 2018, shortly after graduating from university.
He lived briefly with his family in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to New York City when he was seven.
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 attended the Bronx High School of Science, where he co-founded the public school's first cricket team, according to his legislative biography.
He graduated in 2014 from Bowdoin College in Maine, where he earned a degree in Africana studies and co-founded his college's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.
After university, he worked as a foreclosure prevention counsellor in Queens, helping residents avoid eviction. He credits this job with inspiring 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.
Earlier this year, Mamdani married Rama Duwaji, a Syrian American artist, after meeting her on dating app Hinge.
Duwaji is ethnically Syrian but was born and raised in Texas. She is a notable artist who primarily produces black and white artworks that explore cultural themes in the Arab world.
'Using drawn portraiture and movement, Rama examines the nuances of sisterhood and communal experiences,' her professional website reads.
Like her husband, she is a staunch advocate for Palestinian statehood and has accused Israel of committing war crimes and genocide in Gaza - claims Israel refutes.
Speaking to outlet YUNG earlier this year as her husband launched his mayoral campaign, Duwaji said: 'I'm not going to lie, things are dark right now in NYC. I worry for my friends and family, and things feel completely out of my hands.
'With so many people being pushed out and silenced by fear, all I can do is use my voice to speak out about what's happening in the US and Palestine and Syria as much as I can.'
Move into politics, values
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.
The Democratic Socialist's most notable legislative accomplishment has been pushing through a pilot programme that made a handful of city buses free for a year.
He has also proposed legislation banning non-profits from 'engaging in unauthorised support of Israeli settlement activity'.
Mamdani's 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'.
Mamdani's policy focus centres around addressing the cost of living and wealth inequality, stemming from his experiences working in Queen's as a foreclosure avoidance counsellor.
He says he wants to raise taxes on the top one per cent of New York earners and make a number of city services free, including childcare and buses.
To fund his vision, he hopes to procure $10 billion in new revenue through higher taxes on businesses and the wealthiest individuals.
He also has plans to invest $70 billion in publicly subsidised housing and to open up public land for housing development.
Mamdani's site says: 'We need significantly more affordable housing. But for decades, the City has relied almost entirely on changes to the zoning code to invite and shape private development.
But other policies have invited harsh criticism, particularly from right-wing commentators, such as calls to defund the NYPD and the desire to spend $65 million in taxpayer funds for a transgender 'gender-affirming care' facility if elected.
$57 million would be handed out to public hospitals, community clinics, federal health centres and nonprofits, $8 million would expand services.
His campaign site says his administration would form its own Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.
During his campaign, the Democratic candidate rolled back earlier vows to defund the police, saying instead that he would 'work with the police because I believe the police have a critical role to play in creating public safety'.
Mamdani's pro-Palestinian stance has sparked outrage amongst the Jewish communities, which make up a large portion of the city and constitute the largest population of Jewish people outside of Israel.
Mamdani has defended his use of the term 'genocide' to describe Israeli military actions in Gaza, while also saying that he would 'protect Jewish New Yorkers' from anti-Semitism.
Mayoral campaign
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.
He also made a point of connecting with the voters in what his supporters said was a 'joyous' ground game - a move that separated him from Cuomo who rarely put out a public schedule, chafed at questions from reporters and skipped most candidate forums.
On New Year's Day, Mamdani 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 13-mile (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, Bangla and other languages.
Mamdani has offered a more optimistic vision, in contrast to candidates like Cuomo, who have largely focused on crime and law-and-order issues despite being beset by their own scandals.
His campaign has been packed with big promises aimed at lowering the cost of living for everyday New Yorkers – from free childcare, 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.
Mamdani secured endorsements from two of the country's foremost progressives: US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
But 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 Shia 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 – drew recriminations from Jewish groups who accused him of supporting a call to kill the Jews.
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,' Mamdani said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
33 minutes ago
- The Independent
Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of Trump birthright citizenship order unclear
A divided Supreme Court on Friday ruled that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear the fate of President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship. The outcome was a victory for Trump, who has complained about individual judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda. But a conservative majority left open the possibility that the birthright citizenship changes could remain blocked nationwide. Trump's order would deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally. Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in the Constitution's 14th Amendment. In a notable Supreme Court decision from 1898, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court held that the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were the children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes. The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or 'right of the soil' — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them. Trump and his supporters have argued that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen, which he called 'a priceless and profound gift' in the executive order he signed on his first day in office. The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States, a phrase used in the amendment, and therefore are not entitled to citizenship. But states, immigrants and rights groups that have sued to block the executive order have accused the administration of trying to unsettle the broader understanding of birthright citizenship that has been accepted since the amendment's adoption. Judges have uniformly ruled against the administration. The Justice Department had argued that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings. The Trump administration instead wanted the justices to allow Trump's plan to go into effect for everyone except the handful of people and groups that sued. Failing that, the administration argued that the plan could remain blocked for now in the 22 states that sued. New Hampshire is covered by a separate order that is not at issue in this case. As a further fallback, the administration asked 'at a minimum' to be allowed to make public announcements about how it plans to carry out the policy if it eventually is allowed to take effect. ___
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Supreme Court delivers bombshell ruling on Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship
President Donald Trump was handed a major victory by the Supreme Court in his bid to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. Trump signed an executive order when he took office bolding ending birthright citizenship - the legal principle that U.S. citizenship is automatically granted to individuals upon birth. Under the directive, children born to parents in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become citizens, radically altering the interpretation of the Constitution's 14th Amendment for over 150 years. The president claimed the idea was tied to 'slavery' and should be immediately dismantled. 'That's not about tourists coming in and touching a piece of sand and then all of the sudden there's citizenship, you know they're a citizen, that is all about slavery,' Trump argued. 'If you look at it that way, that case is an easy case to win,' he had previously stated. Six conservative justices – three appointed by Trump himself – sided with the president when it handed down its decision on Friday. The majority opinion in the Trump v. CASA Inc., New Jersey and Washington case came on the last day of the high court's term. Democratic states and an immigrant rights group sued to stop Trump's January 20, 2025 executive order from taking effect. Lower courts issued nationwide preliminary injunctions on the presidential order. Birthright citizenship was ratified in 1868 in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, establishing that anyone born on American soil, regardless of their parents' citizenship or immigration status, is automatically a U.S. citizen. 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,' Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states. After his election but before being sworn in as president for a second time, Trump vowed he would fight for a constitutional shake-up by ending the provision. 'Can you get around the 14th Amendment with an executive action?' NBC host Kristen Welker asked Trump in an interview that aired in December. 'Well, we're going to have to get it changed,' he said. 'We'll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.' 'We're the only country that has it, you know,' Trump added in explaining his bid to end 125 years of precedent. The president was elated in April when the Supreme Court decided to take on the case despite the high court rarely hearing emergency appeals. 'I am so happy,' he told reporters in the Oval Office on April 17. 'I think the case has been so misunderstood.' But oral arguments earlier this spring set the stage for the staggering decision that the president is sure to denounce. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer was grilled by both liberal and conservative justices over how the narrowing of birthright citizenship rights would work when put into action. Sauer didn't seem clear on how it would work, and said it would be up to legislators to work out the logistics. 'What do hospitals do with newborns?' Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump pick, questioned during oral arguments last month. 'What do states do with a newborn?' 'Federal officials will have to figure that out,' Sauer replied. Additionally, Justice Amy Comey Barrett was not pleased with how Sauer refused to answer a legitimate question from liberal Justice Elana Kagan.
The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Supreme Court rules in Trump birthright citizenship case
The Supreme Court's conservative majority has stripped federal courts' authority to issue nationwide injunctions that have blocked key parts of Donald Trump's agenda. The court's anticipated ruling in a case attached to a question of whether the president can unilaterally redefine who gets to be a citizen states that nationwide injunctions 'exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to the federal courts.' A series of federal court rulings across the country struck down the president's attempt to block citizenship from newborn Americans who are born to certain immigrant parents. But the government argues those decisions should only impact the individual states — and the unborn children of pregnant mothers in them — who sued him and won. Opponents have warned that such a decision would open a backdoor to begin stripping constitutional rights. Allowing the president to unilaterally redefine who gets to be a U.S. citizen in states subject to Trump's unilateral rewriting of the 14th Amendment would create a patchwork system of constitutional rights and citizenship benefits — including voting rights. More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship every year under Trump's order, according to the plaintiffs. In January, more than 20 states, immigrants' advocacy groups and pregnant plaintiffs sued the administration to block the president's executive order that attempts to redefine the Constitution to determine who is eligible for citizenship. Three federal judges and appellate court panels have argued his order is unconstitutional and blocked the measure from taking effect nationwide while legal challenges continue. During oral arguments, the Supreme Court's liberal justices appeared shocked at the president's 'unlawful' measure. But the administration used the case not necessarily to argue over whether he can change the 14th Amendment but to target what has become a major obstacle to advancing Trump's agenda: federal judges blocking aggressive executive actions. The government asked the court to limit the authority of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions, which have imperiled a bulk of the president's agenda, which has thus far been dictated largely through an avalanche of executive orders, not legislation. The government pushed the Supreme Court to reduce the federal judiciary's power to issue nationwide injunctions, cutting off one of the few critical checks and balances against an administration that critics warn is mounting an ongoing assault against the rule of law. More than half of the injunctions issued over the last 70 years were against the Trump administration, according to the Harvard Law Review, as Trump pushed the limits of his authority. In Trump's first term in office, his administration faced 64 injunctions, compared to 14 injunctions against Joe Biden and 12 against Barack Obama The second administration faced 17 within its first two months. In arguments to the Supreme Court, Trump's personal attorney John Sauer, who was appointed by the president to serve as U.S. solicitor general, called the 'cascade of universal injunctions' against the administration a 'bipartisan problem' that exceeds judicial authority. 'The vision of the district courts that's reflected in the issuance of these nationwide injunctions is a vision of them as a roving commission to correct every legal wrong that they can consider and to exercise general legal oversight over the executive branch,' he said. Trump's allies, however, have relied on nationwide injunctions to do the very same thing they commanded the Supreme Court to strike down. Critics have accused right-wing legal groups of 'judge shopping' for ideologically like-minded venues where they can sue to strike down — through nationwide injunctions — policies with which they disagree. After the government's arguments fell flat in front of a mostly skeptical Supreme Court last month, Trump accused his political opponents of 'playing the ref' through the courts to overturn his threat to the 14th Amendment. 'The Radical Left SleazeBags, which has no cards remaining in its illegal bag of tricks, is, in a very coordinated manner, PLAYING THE REF with regard to the United States Supreme Court,' Trump wrote. 'They lost the Election in a landslide, and with it, have totally lost their confidence and reason. They are stone cold CRAZY! I hope the Supreme Court doesn't fall for the games they play,' he added. In a separate post, written in all-caps, he claimed the nation's high court is 'BEING PLAYED BY THE RADICAL LEFT LOSERS' whose 'ONLY HOPE IS THE INTIMIDATION OF THE COURT, ITSELF.' The 14th Amendment plainly states that 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.' But under the terms of Trump's order, children can be denied citizenship if a mother is undocumented or is temporarily legally in the country on a visa, and if the father isn't a citizen or a lawful permanent resident. The president's attempt to define a key component of the 14th Amendment is central to his administration's sweeping anti-immigration agenda. His administration has effectively ended entry for asylum seekers, declaring the United States under 'invasion' from foreign gangs to summarily remove alleged members, and stripped legal protections for more than 1 million people — radically expanding the pool of 'undocumented' people now vulnerable for arrest and removal. The administration has also effectively 'de-legalized' tens of thousands of immigrants, and thousands of people with pending immigration cases are being ordered to court each week only to have those cases dismissed, with federal agents waiting to arrest them on the other side of the courtroom doors. The White House has also rolled back protections barring immigration arrests at sensitive locations like churches and bumped up the pace of immigration raids in the interior of the country. To carry out the arrests, the administration has tapped resources from other state and local agencies while moving officers from federal agencies like the FBI and DEA to focus on immigration.
