New York has “chosen hope over fear” in electing Democrat Zohran Mamdani as its next mayor, London mayor Sadiq Khan said following the 34-year-old’s decisive victory on Tuesday night.
Mamdani defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo—running as an independent with the backing of President Donald Trump—and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa to become both the city’s first Muslim mayor and the first of South Asian heritage. He will also be New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office on January 1.
Khan offered his congratulations on X, calling Mamdani’s campaign “historic” and saying voters had been presented with “a clear choice – between hope and fear – and just like we’ve seen in London – hope won.”
Trump had openly supported Cuomo’s bid and warned he would consider cutting federal funding to New York if Mamdani prevailed.
Addressing supporters in Queens after his win, Mamdani said: “New York will remain a city of immigrants — a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant. If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
The New York City Board of Elections reported the highest turnout in more than five decades, with more than two million ballots cast.
Mamdani, a state assembly member known for his outspoken criticism of Israel, has previously drawn controversy for comments linking domestic policing to foreign policy. In a 2023 video from an event held one month before the October 7 Hamas attacks, he argued that political “struggles” must be made “hyper-local,” saying: “When the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” adding that he sees “connections” between U.S. policing and international conflicts. Photo by Bingjiefu He, Wikimedia commons.
