New York has a new mayor — and he’s not your typical establishment figure.
The 34-year-old South African school pupil turned Brooklyn assemblyman has been elected mayor of New York City, smashing former governor Andrew Cuomo by eight percentage points and becoming the Big Apple’s first millennial, first Muslim, first openly socialist leader.
And honestly? It’s hard to overstate how big a deal this is. According to The Guardian, Mamdani’s victory cements a generational and ideological shift in New York politics. With 50.4 % of the vote, Mamdani buried Cuomo’s comeback dreams and handed Democrats their loudest win of 2025.
Mamdani’s campaign found traction with working-class New Yorkers priced out of their own neighbourhoods. The typical rent in NYC has rocketed about 30% over the last five years.
His bold promises include:
🔹Zero fares on city-wide buses by 2027.
🔹No increases for four years on the city’s one million rent-stabilised apartments.
🔹Increasing minimum wage from the current $16.50 per hour to $30.
🔹Universal public childcare for every New Yorker from 6 weeks to 5 years old, while also boosting child care workers’ wages.
🔹Hiking the city tax by 2 percentage points for incomes over $1 million.
🔹Redirecting $3 billion from the police budget into a new Department of Community Safety, including mental-health first-responders, youth jobs, and community safety hubs.
It’s the kind of left-wing wish list that’s usually laughed out of City Hall, but Mamdani made it sound not just possible, but urgent.
Mandani’s victory over Independent candidate Cuomo — a seasoned political heavyweight backed by Trump, despite being a former democrat — signals something bigger: New Yorkers are tired of polished centrism. They wanted someone who doesn’t just promise stability, but transformation.
His win comes amid a big night for Democrats across the US. The party notched key victories in gubernatorial races (state governor elections) in New Jersey and Virginia. Separately, in California, voters passed Proposition 50, giving the state Legislature power to redraw congressional districts, which adds up to five additional Democrat seats in Congress. It’s kind of like adding a few more MPs to your side in Parliament — which could tip the balance of power away from Trump.
This matters beyond New York. A South African-schooled kid just became mayor of America’s biggest city. The future of US politics possibly looks a lot more global, a lot more radical, and a lot more millennial than anyone expected.
