Zohran Mamdani wins in New York with speech against inequality and elites

On a day of defeats for Donald Trump and the authoritarianism of the MAGA movement, Zohran Mamdani, 34, was elected mayor of New York this Tuesday (4), becoming the first Muslim and the youngest in more than a century to govern the largest city in the United States.

The state deputy, son of Indian immigrants born in Uganda, surpassed former governor Andrew Cuomo, symbol of the New York political establishment, and won with 50.4% of the votes, equivalent to 1.03 million voters, an unprecedented feat since the 1960s.

Cuomo obtained 41.6%, around 850,000 votes, while Republican Curtis Sliwa, supported by Trump, was distant, with 7%.

The election had record turnout: more than two million voters went to the polls — the highest number in more than 50 years.

Mamdani’s victory shook both Trumpist authoritarianism and Wall Street liberalism. Funded by small donations and supported by more than a hundred thousand volunteers, he defeated an electoral machine supported by $40 million in contributions from billionaires like Michael Bloomberg and Bill Ackman — four times more than his own fundraising.

The result, celebrated in a festive New York, symbolizes the rise of a new generation of the left in the United States and the erosion of the traditional power that has defined the city’s political and economic destiny for decades.

“For generations, working New Yorkers have been told by the rich and powerful that power does not belong to them,” Mamdani said during his victory speech to a packed committee in Brooklyn.

“Tonight, against all odds, we conquered it. The future is in our hands,” he told an ecstatic audience.

Mamdani’s tone was one of rupture. “We have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in his private life. But let tonight be the last time I speak his name, as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the majorities and responds only to the few.”

Cuomo, who had resigned from the government in 2021 after allegations of harassment and corruption, had the support of business and cultural sectors — including Elon Musk and filmmaker Woody Allen, who declared: “He will be better for New York.” US President Donald Trump also supported Cuomo.

Republican Sliwa, former radio host and founder of the Guardian Angels group, was pressured until the last moment to abandon the race and support Cuomo, but he maintained his candidacy.

The former governor’s campaign was marked by attacks on the character and convictions of Mamdani, whom he described as “radical” and “naive”. The New York Post and conservative outlets reinforced accusations of anti-Semitism, echoing Trump’s Republican rhetoric, which called for a useful vote for Cuomo

The new mayor’s speech, however, changed the narrative game and consolidated his political protagonism.

“Tonight you gave a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford, and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that,” Mamdani said.

He dedicated his victory to the base that supported him since the primaries — young people, immigrants, blacks and Latinos — and addressed them in three languages: English, Arabic and Spanish.

“I’m talking about the Yemeni grocery store owners and the Mexican grandmothers, the Senegalese taxi drivers and the Uzbek nurses… Wesley, a union organizer I met in front of Elmhurst Hospital, who commutes two hours a day to and from Pennsylvania because the rent is too expensive in this town,” he declared.

With a platform aimed at reducing the cost of living, Mamdani promised to tackle the housing crisis by freezing rents, expanding public daycare centers, free transport and taxing the richest. In his victory speech, he stated:

“Central to this vision will be the most ambitious agenda to address the cost of living crisis this city has ever seen — an agenda that will freeze rents for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants,” he said.

The program also includes the creation of a Department of Community Safety, with the aim of redirecting the care of mental health crises and street situations to civilian teams.

“Safety and justice will go hand in hand as we work with law enforcement to reduce crime and create a Department of Community Safety that addresses mental health and homelessness crises,” he said.

In the same speech, Mamdani reaffirmed the religious and cultural pluralism that led him to victory.

“We will build a City Hall that stands firm with Jewish New Yorkers and that does not waver in the fight against anti-Semitism,” he said in signaling the accusations that he suffers from anti-Semitism. “Never again will New York be a place where you can profit from Islamophobia and win an election,” he said.

He also attacked the speech of the financial elite. “As has happened so often, the billionaire class has sought to convince those who earn 30 dollars an hour that their enemies are those who earn 20 dollars an hour. They want people to fight among themselves so that we remain distracted from the work of rebuilding an old and broken system”, criticized the new mayor.

The final scene was one of collective celebration. Under Indian music, Mamdani thanked the audience in chorus, who completed his sentences.

“May the words we say together, the dreams we dream together, become the agenda we deliver. Together, New York, this power is yours. This city belongs to you.”

The victory divided the Democratic Party. The progressive wing, led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, celebrated the result as “a new cycle for the American left”.

The US Communist Party also hailed Mamdani, describing him as “a political symptom of grassroots renewal and impatience with old politics.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand avoided public statements of support, reflecting the establishment’s discomfort with the advance of the socialist wing.

Cuomo admitted defeat just hours after the result was confirmed. Booed by his supporters when he mentioned the name of the new mayor, he tried to interrupt the demonstrations.

Donald Trump, in turn, reacted with attacks. On his Truth Social network, he wrote: “Any Jew who votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self-proclaimed enemy of the Jews, is a stupid person!!!”

At the height of the speech, the new mayor responded directly from the stage:

“After all, if there is anyone who can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave birth to him. […] So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn up the volume [turn the volume up, em inglês]”, he said, leading the audience to a moment of explosion of screams.

“New York will continue to be a city of immigrants. A city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, from tonight onwards, led by an immigrant”, he added, ending his speech to applause and waving flags.

Mamdani’s victory marks the beginning of a new stage for New York politics — and, possibly, a turning point for the American left.

In his speech, the new mayor stated that “the era of excuses is over” and that the city “will no longer be governed by fear, but by the courage of those who work and live here”.

By claiming power on behalf of the immigrants, workers and young people who elected him, Mamdani not only broke with a political dynasty, but also with the logic that for decades associated New York with the dominance of finance capital.

On stage, while flags waved and the public chanted his name, the new mayor summarized the meaning of the moment:

“If there is a city capable of showing the world that another future is possible, it is New York.”