How Rama Duwaji, Zohran Mamdani’s wife, helped steer him to victory in New York mayoral elections

“The sun may have set over our city this evening but as Eugene Debs once said, ‘I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity’,” said Zohran Mamdani after New Yorkers elected the young leftist as their next mayor.

With this win, Mamdani has made history by becoming the first Muslim to become a mayor of the Big Apple. The 34-year-old defeated Democratic former Governor Andrew Cuomo, 67, who ran as an independent after losing the nomination to Mamdani in the primary election.

In his victory speech, Mamdani, while thanking New Yorkers for their support, also extended his thanks to his wife, Rama Duwaji, saying: “There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment and in every moment.”

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Now as we await January 1, when Mamdani will be sworn in as New York mayor, let’s take a closer look at the new first lady for the city that never sleeps and how she helped her husband chart his path of success.

An artist with strong opinions

Before stepping into the public spotlight through her husband’s political win, Duwaji carved out a space for herself in the world of art and activism.

Originally from Damascus, Syria, Duwaji moved to New York in 2021. According to her L’AiR Arts bio, she graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in communication design. Today, she’s known as a Syrian-American illustrator whose work focuses on identity, resistance, and injustice, often through a pro-Palestinian lens.

Her artwork doesn’t shy away from making bold statements. One of her animations from May shows a young Palestinian girl holding an empty pot with the words “Not a hunger crisis” across it. The scene then shifts to a group of people holding similar pots, overlaid with the words, “It is deliberate starvation.”

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Alongside the post, she wrote, “As I was making this, Israel has been bombing Gaza nonstop with consecutive airstrikes,” and added a link to a non-profit supporting refugees and displaced communities.

When asked about artists having opinions on global issues, Duwaji said in an interview: “An artist’s duty as far as I’m concerned is to reflect the times. I believe everyone has a responsibility to speak out against injustice… Art has such an ability to spread it.”

“I don’t think everybody has to make political work,” she continued, “but art is inherently political in how it’s made, funded, and shared. Even creating art as a refuge from the horrors we see is political to me. It’s a reaction to the world around us,” she told the Associated Press.

Her work has reached far and wide. Duwaji has collaborated with major global organisations, including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, BBC, Apple, Spotify, VICE, and the Tate Modern in London.

She also shares much of her work on Instagram, where she garnered support from over one lakh followers. Her posts often feature striking illustrations that call out Israeli state violence and criticise US policies around the conflict.

Duwaji and Mamdani’s modern love story

And Duwaji’s love story with Mamdani is as modern as they are, and it all began with a swipe. The two met on Hinge, with Mamdani joking about it, “There is still hope in those dating apps.”

While it isn’t clear when the two matched on Hinge, Mamdani shared an image on Instagram in April 22, hinting about their relationship. By October 2024, the pair appeared to be engaged — Mamdani shared a photo of Duwaji with a ring emoji and the hashtag “#hardlaunch,” along with the caption, “Light of my life.” Friends and followers quickly flooded the post with congratulatory messages.

And Earlier this year, the couple made it official with a civil ceremony at the New York City Clerk’s Office, a place Mamdani called his favourite building in the city. “The outside is just so beautiful and reminiscent of a different New York City, and the inside is in many ways public goods personified,” he told I_nterview Magazine._ “All of these New Yorkers getting married at the same time at different ages and at different times in their lives, it’s very beautiful.”

The two marked the moment with a poetic black-and-white photo that showed them in a New York City subway car, dressed simply, bouquet in hand, surrounded by unbothered commuters.

Duwaji’s design on Mamdani’s victory

All through Mamdani’s campaigning for the position of New York mayor, Duwaji has taken a backseat. The 28-year-old hasn’t appeared with Mamdani on television shows, hasn’t featured in magazine interviews and even her Instagram page hardly speaks of Mamdani’s efforts.

But that is not to say that she hasn’t helped in her husband’s endeavour. Behind the scenes, Duwaji has been advising on social media. Duwaji was among those who finalised Mamdani’s brand identity when he first kicked off his campaign, including the bold iconography and font used on his yellow, orange and blue campaign materials.

She has also helped boost her husband’s digital and large social media presence and has been a major source of support for him in private.

And while she has remained mum in the public, the couple’s friends gush about Duwaji. One friend, Hasnain Bhatti, even went as far as calling her ‘the modern day Princess Diana’ while speaking to the New York Times.

With Mamdani now mayor-elect of the America’s largest city, it remains to be seen kind of role Duwaji will take as the city’s first lady.

With inputs from agencies