Zohran Mamdani, jubilant, takes New York

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is headed to City Hall. 

With more than 97% of scanners reporting, Mamdani had just over 50% of the vote, leading independent candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by more than 8 points, while Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa received about 7% of the vote. In an expansive address, Mamdani declared a new era for New York, a message that electrified the crowd at his celebration as much as it likely frightened his detractors who worry this election will scramble the city’s power structure. 

“For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and well-connected that power does not belong in their hands. Fingers bruised from lifting boxes on the warehouse floor, hands calloused from delivery bike handlebars, Knuckles scarred with kitchen burns,” Mamdani said. “These are not hands that have been allowed to hold power … Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it.”

“We won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us,” Mamdani said. “Now, it is something that we do.”

The 34-year-old democratic socialist’s rapid rise to mayoral front-runner over the last year has shaken establishment politics to its core, cementing a new era of progressive power in New York City that has resonated internationally. In an illustration of that, hundreds of journalists from all over the world lined up to gain entry to his election night party.

How long the fervor lasts past Inauguration Day on Jan. 1, 2026 is unclear. But a packed crowd of Mamdani supporters at the Brooklyn Paramount had little concern for that question Tuesday night, as they celebrated a victory that started to look inevitable after Mamdani's stunning primary win in June.

“I am over the moon,” said democratic socialist state Sen. Jabari Brisport. “This is the best night of 2025.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow democratic socialist, delivered a slightly more sobering, “time to get to work” message. “This is a big step towards a better future for our city. But it’s still going to take all of us to execute on an agenda,” she said, calling up President Donald Trump’s threats to punish New York City if its leaders go against him.

In his victory speech, Mamdani spoke directly to Trump, who he predicted was watching. “I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.” The crowd hollered. After noting that City Hall will be led by an immigrant, Mamdani delivered another missive to the White House: “Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”

“To contest the philosophies that are shaping the Democratic Party”

Inevitable had been the word surrounding former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for much of his primary campaign – that is, until his stunning defeat in the Democratic primary. History repeated itself once again Tuesday. 

Seeing the writing on the wall, Cuomo conceded to Mamdani about an hour and 40 minutes after the polls closed. At around 10:40 p.m., he took the stage at Ziegfeld Ballroom to address his dejected supporters. “This campaign was the right fight to wage, and I’m proud of what we did and what we did together,” Cuomo said. “This campaign was to contest the philosophies that are shaping the Democratic Party, the future of this city.” 

Sliwa conceded much earlier, roughly 20 minutes after polls closed. He never said Mamdani’s name, but he clearly didn’t mean Cuomo when he addressed the “mayor-elect” in his speech. He started by wishing Mamdani well for the sake of the city. “Obviously I wish him good luck, because if he does well, we do well,” he told a packed crowd at an Upper West Side Italian restaurant.

But Sliwa quickly shifted into a warning for Mamdani.  “If you try to implement socialism, if you try to render our police weak and impotent, if you forsake the people’s public safety, we’re not only organizing, but we are mobilizing,” he said to cheers. “And we will become the mayor elect’s and his supporters’ worst enemies.” Ultimately, Sliwa didn’t crack double digits in unofficial election night results.

Two million votes

Mamdani won a race that energized a massive electorate. On Tuesday, minutes before polls closed at 9 p.m., the New York City Board of Elections announced that the city had officially hit 2 million votes cast in the election – the first time turnout has been that high since 1969.

“It’s an amazing affirmation that people believe in our city,” former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has been supportive of Mamdani, told City & State. “They made a choice. And the leader actually represents who we are. And that’s something beautiful.”

“We were out in western Queens, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Ridgewood, and Manhattan today,” said democratic socialist Assembly Member Claire Valdez. “And the vibes were incredible, and you can just feel it, the excitement, so many people coming up just to talk. I knew we’d know pretty early tonight.”

Mamdani’s victory is an inflection point in one of the most unexpected ascendent political arcs in recent memory. The stuff of countless political profiles and musings about the future of the Democratic Party, Mamdani’s massive army of volunteer canvassers turned out younger voters and previously disengaged blocs of voters in South Asian and Muslim communities. Campaign insiders and outside observers credited a relentless focus on his affordability platform and deft political messaging. 

“Zohran has been running this campaign like it's the final three days for more than 12 months,” said Mamdani’s creative director Andrew Epstein. “It has been a level of grit and endurance that is, I think, unparalleled in anything we've seen in a municipal election.”

Mamdani’s campaign is also a success story for the political left at large in New York City, including the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and the New York Working Families Party. Mamdani cast his ballot for himself not on the Democratic Party line, but on the WFP line. “I found an old picture of him in his WFP shirt on Election Day from before. Now he wears all these suits,” New York Working Families Party co-director Jasmine Gripper recalled with a laugh. “It’s a reminder (that) we need to build political power, and we have to have a political home, and the Working Families Party is a place where that can happen.”

After his primary victory, moderates came to him and he came closer to moderates on some issues, like promising to retain NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Among the democratic socialists at his election night party wandered more mainstream Democrats like state Sens. Mike Gianaris and John Liu, Assembly Member Grace Lee, City Council Member Yusef Salaam and former Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, who served under Mayor Eric Adams. 

Whether his triumph on Tuesday night is just another data point on his rising arc or its peak will depend on how well he’s able to deliver on that affordability platform once in office. 

Mamdani left no room for doubt among his supporters on Tuesday night: “When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high,” he told the crowd. “We will meet them.”