New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary has delivered a political earthquake. The winner? A 33-year-old democratic socialist with roots in Kampala, Queens… and Cape Town’s southern suburbs.
Zohran Mamdani’s victory over establishment heavyweight and former Governor, Andrew Cuomo, is nothing short of historic. Despite having a 50th of Cuomo’s budget, Mamdani built a grassroots campaign around the high cost of living, promising free public buses, city-owned grocery stores, and rent freezes – policies dismissed as “radical” by critics but embraced by working-class New Yorkers… and, surprisingly, many Jewish voters.
Despite initial polls predicting just 1% support, he leveraged a grassroots movement, mobilising 50,000 volunteers and small donors.
Mamdani’s win came via the city’s ranked-choice voting system, which redistributes second-choice votes until a majority winner emerges. In the first round on Tuesday, he led with 43.5%, ultimately overtaking Cuomo to secure the Democratic nomination. Given NYC’s strong Democratic majority, Mamdani is now heavily favoured to win the mayoralty in November.
But who is Zohran Mamdani?
Born in Uganda, Mamdani spent part of his early childhood in South Africa, attending St George’s Grammar School in Mowbray while his father, academic Mahmood Mamdani, taught at UCT. His mother is acclaimed Indian filmmaker Mira Nair. The family later moved to New York, where Zohran would eventually enter politics as a state assemblyman.
His campaign broke the political mould – not just in policy, but in style. Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan to meet and talk with voters, produced multilingual campaign materials, and embraced his Muslim identity unapologetically. He withstood Islamophobic attacks and accusations of anti-Semitism, even as he campaigned alongside Jewish allies and defended synagogues.
His win signals a clear rejection of the Democratic establishment, which rallied behind the scandal-plagued Cuomo. It also offers a rare moment of hope for progressives in the US still reeling from Trump’s 2024 win – the first since Obama’s heady early 2000s moment.
For Mamdani, the real test lies ahead. But for now, the kid from Mowbray is poised to become New York’s first Muslim, millennial – and possibly most radical – mayor.
