‘Together we made history’: Zohran Mamdani hails ‘historic’ win as New York City mayor

“Thank you, New York City. Together we made history. Now let’s get to work,” newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted on X, moments after clinching a landmark victory that made him the city’s first Muslim and youngest mayor in more than a century.

His triumph capped a sweeping night for Democrats, who also won two key governor races,  a result seen as both a morale boost for the party and an early warning to President Donald Trump ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Mamdani, 34, is the city’s first Muslim mayor and the youngest to serve in more than a century.

The Democratic socialist’s victory came in the face of fierce attacks on his policies and his Muslim heritage from business elites, conservative media commentators and Trump himself.

“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani said in a victory speech to supporters.

“In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light."

Mamdani’s win, as well as the Democratic Party’s victories in the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, suggest a shift in the political mood across the United States as it looks to next year’s midterm elections when control of Congress will be up for grabs.

In another significant win for Democrats, voters in California also approved a proposition to redraw electoral districts in a bid to neutralize gerrymandering efforts ordered by Trump in other states.

Trump refused to take any blame for Tuesday’s results and tried to make an eleventh-hour intervention in the race, calling Mamdani a “Jew hater."

In a post on his Truth Social network, he also cited anonymous “pollsters” suggesting the Republican defeats were down to the government shutdown and the fact that his own name wasn’t on the ballot.

With inputs from agencies