New York | Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Indian-origin democratic socialist, secured a monumental victory in the New York City mayoral election and immediately threw a direct challenge to President Donald Trump, signalling emergence of a new political order in the face of growing public discontent with the Republican leader's second term in the White House.
Mamdani, the son of Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Indian-origin scholar Mahmood Mamdani, will be New York's youngest mayor in over a century, and the first Muslim and South Asian to lead the largest city in the US.
The charismatic leader defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a scandal-hit Democrat who ran as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, in the keenly-watched contest that grabbed global attention.
"I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this," Mamdani told his jubilant supporters at Brooklyn Paramount Theater.
The Mayor-elect also sent a firm and direct message to the US president.
"Since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up," Mamdani said, adding New York could show the rest of the country how to defeat the president.
His remarkable victory to run the city of more than 8.4 million people is laregly seen emergence of a new political order to challenge Trump's consolidation of power, policies and authoritarian approach that have triggered wide-spread despair and disillusionment, especially in the context of rising costs of living and economic inequalities.
In his campaign, Mamdani vowed to prioritise working-class issues as he proposed initiatives like free childcare, rent-freeze, free bus services, and government-run grocery stores to make New York affordable to live.
In the nearly 25-minute speech, Mamdani described his victory as the dawn of a "new age" for New York and said "together, we will usher in a generation of change".
"New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford," the Uganda-born state lawmaker said.
He will be inaugurated as the 111th mayor of New York in January.
Currently a member of the Queens state assembly, Mamdani emerged victorious, securing over 50 per cent of the votes. Cuomo, 67, who was endorsed by Trump trailed behind with just over 40 per cent votes while Sliwa garnered a mere seven per cent of the votes.
Cuomo ran as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June.
Besides winning the New York mayoral elections, the Democrats won gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, in outcomes largely seen as declining public support for Trump's second term in presidency.
In his speech, Mamdani, a state assemblyman, was severely critical of Trump who called him a "communist" and warned voters that New York City would be a "total economic and social disaster" and its "survival" will be at risk if the Democrat won the mayoral race.
"If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him, and if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power," Mamdani said.
"This is not only how we stop Trump, it's how we stop the next one," he said.
In his remarks, the New York Mayor-elect also condemned "oligarchy and authoritarianism".
Mamdani's victory assumed greater political significance as President Trump is a native New Yorker who has consistently warned people not to vote for the democratic socialist.
In criticising Trump's crackdown on immigrants, Mamdani said New York will continue to be powered by immigrants and after his historic victory, will be "led by an immigrant".
"New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant. So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us," he declared.
Mamdani also invoked India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
"We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible, and we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do," he said.
"Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru -- a moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new," he said amid loud cheers.
Many analysts saw Mamdani's victory as a reflection of the ongoing churn in US domestic politics while some others felt that it could set up a bitter rivalry between the young leader and Trump.
"Whether he succeeds as mayor of New York or not, Mamdani shines a light on the current churn in US domestic politics and the unfolding contest for political soul of America," wrote strategic affairs expert C Raja Mohan in The Indian Express.
Mamdani was born in Uganda's Kampala and moved to New York City with his family when he was seven years old.
The democratic socialist promised that New York will be the light in "this moment of political darkness" and where "we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall."
"Your struggle is ours, too," he said to loud cheers. Mamdani was joined by his parents and wife at the stage at the end of his speech.
Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose administration has been plagued by scandals, had dropped out of the mayoral race in September.
Mamdani had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months. Cuomo ran as an independent candidate and received US President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The NYC Board of Elections said that two million votes were cast, for the first time in the elections since 1969.
