Mamdani triumphs on strong night for the Democrats
It was an encouraging night for the left in America with Democratic wins in three key races sending a warning signal to Trump ahead of midterms next year.
The key takeaways:
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Zohran Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City with a commanding victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo. With more than 97% of the votes counted, the 34-year-old received more votes – at least 1.03 million – than all the other candidates combined, including Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
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Democrats also won two key state governor races with Abigail Spanberger triumphing in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey.
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California passed Proposition 50, a measure which will temporarily redistrict the state in hopes of countering Republican efforts to do the same in Texas. The new maps could help Democrats pick up five additional seats in the US House of Representatives.
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President Donald Trump distanced himself from the losses, suggesting on social media that the Republican defeats were due to the government shutdown and because his own name was not on the ballot.
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As Mamdani delivered his victory speech, the president also posted a cryptic missive: “AND SO IT BEGINS!”.
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Mamdani directly challenged Trump in his victory speech in Brooklyn, vowing to use his role to counter his politics of division. “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.”
Key events
Trump’s reaction throughout the night
Even though the races yesterday were local – at state and city hall levels – the US president weighed in, in particular targeting Mamdani’s New York mayoral campaign.
Trump hurled some invectives at the 11th hour – urging people to vote for the former disgraced New York governor Cuomo instead of Mamdani and calling the 34-year-old Muslim leftist a “Jew hater”.
And as the results flooded in last night, showing also victories for Democrat governor candidates in two states, Trump was firing on Truth Social.
He blamed the Republican defeats on unnamed “pollsters” suggesting factors were the ongoing government shutdown and the absence of his own pulling power.
“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” according to Pollsters”
And then, as Mamdani was railing against Trump’s divisive politics in his victory speech, Trump posted another line on Truth Social:
“… AND SO IT BEGINS!”
‘Absolutely ecstatic’: New Yorkers celebrate with cheers, tears and DSA chants
Mamdani will be the first Muslim mayor of New York and its youngest in over a century – but not its first immigrant mayor, nor its first mayor to champion socialist ideals. New Yorkers celebrated his monumental election at official and unofficial parties spread across the five boroughs.
My colleagues Sam Wolfson, Alaina Demopoulos and Saam Niami were at various scenes:
At a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) party in Brooklyn, supporters erupted shortly after the race was called at 9.30pm. The DJ immediately started playing I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas. Tonight was a good, good night for those in the room, who erupted in tears, hugs and twerking.
“This just shows that our politics are not radical, that New Yorkers actually think what we believe is sensible, and maybe the rest of the country is ready for sensible, commonsense, Democratic socialism,” said 40-year-old health department worker Will, a DSA member for years.
With the dancefloor in full swing, Ellie, a 28-year-old bartender from Bed-Stuy, said she felt “absolutely ecstatic”.
This is the first time we’ve had hope in so long.
These are the people who fought for Mamdani when he was polling at 1%, who celebrated his socialist principles when others said they disqualified him.
Meanwhile hundreds queued up on the sidewalk outside another DSA watch party, cheering and holding signs, and, in the case of one woman, a cardboard cutout of Mamdani.
The crowd was a genuine mix: Black, white, brown, young folks and old folks, party gays, butch lesbians, bridge-and-tunnel kids who couldn’t even vote in the election but felt its reverberations nonetheless.
Amber Pease, 25, lives in Nassau county in Long Island. Her inability to cast a vote didn’t stop her from traveling in to volunteer for Zohran’s campaign. She wants to get a job and move into the city soon.
“I’ve been waiting to see a good progressive candidate, and to have one so close to home, it gives me a lot of hope.”
Mamdani has sealed a remarkable victory but the real challenge lies ahead
Adam Gabbatt
After more than a year of promises about freezing rent and making childcare free, Zohran Mamdani wakes on Wednesday with a daunting task ahead of him: make those things reality for New York City.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist ran New York’s most ambitious mayoral campaign in years, attracting hundreds of thousands of supporters with bold promises to make the largest US city affordable.
It was a campaign that made Mamdani a global sensation and invigorated many New Yorkers like never before, attracting almost 100,000 volunteers. Mamdani rejuvenated the left beyond New York’s borders, encouraging other progressives to run for office across the US, and could yet influence the Democratic party ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
The flip side, however, is clear: the residents of New York have had their hopes set incredibly high, and now Mamdani has to deliver.
“I think for New Yorkers, it is a small light in what has been an overwhelming era of darkness,” said Usamah Andrabi, communications director at the progressive Justice Democrats organization.
‘A local victory’ that offers resistance to Washington
Mamdani’s victory in the New York mayoral race caps a meteoric and unlikely rise, from anonymous state lawmaker to one of the country’s most visible Democratic figures. He is a figure on the left being watched internationally.
When the race was called in his favor last night, excitement was palpable across NYC.
It was a “local victory” that offered a means of “resisting and pushing back” against Washington’s political establishment, Ben Parisi, 40, told AFP.
The mood, he added, was a significant contrast to last year’s Trump victory.
Mamdani triumphs on strong night for the Democrats
It was an encouraging night for the left in America with Democratic wins in three key races sending a warning signal to Trump ahead of midterms next year.
The key takeaways:
-
Zohran Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City with a commanding victory over former governor Andrew Cuomo. With more than 97% of the votes counted, the 34-year-old received more votes – at least 1.03 million – than all the other candidates combined, including Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
-
Democrats also won two key state governor races with Abigail Spanberger triumphing in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey.
-
California passed Proposition 50, a measure which will temporarily redistrict the state in hopes of countering Republican efforts to do the same in Texas. The new maps could help Democrats pick up five additional seats in the US House of Representatives.
-
President Donald Trump distanced himself from the losses, suggesting on social media that the Republican defeats were due to the government shutdown and because his own name was not on the ballot.
-
As Mamdani delivered his victory speech, the president also posted a cryptic missive: “AND SO IT BEGINS!”.
-
Mamdani directly challenged Trump in his victory speech in Brooklyn, vowing to use his role to counter his politics of division. “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.”
Dawn of a leftist mayor
Good morning – it is the dawn of a new era in New York City where many are celebrating after a decisive mayoral race victory for Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor and at 34, the youngest to serve in more than a century.
In an exultant speech at his victory party last night, Mamdani took it to Trump directly, saying he knew the Republican president was watching.
“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.”
“In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light.”
Let’s get into it.
