Zohran Mamdani is close to winning the New York mayor
Zohran Mamdani, a left-wing democratic socialist, is on the cusp of winning the mayoralty of New York City after defeating prominent politician and former governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary.
Mamdani, a Muslim immigrant who became a US citizen in 2018, represents Queens in the New York State Assembly.
He describes himself as a progressive and a Muslim, and has the support of two popular left-wing figures, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
His supporters believe he can win the election in November (he will face two independent candidates, including the former mayor who left the Democratic Party, and a Republican candidate).
Mamdani, born in Uganda to Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan-Indian academic Mahmood Mamdani, mobilized an army of young volunteers through a social media campaign, pledging to reduce the high cost of living with free buses and kindergartens and to prevent rent increases in a city where a three-bedroom apartment can cost $6,000 a month.
During his campaign, Mamdani said he was “Trump’s worst nightmare… As a progressive Muslim immigrant fighting for what he believes in, my campaign was funded not by the wealthy who put Trump in the White House, but by thousands of New Yorkers”.
While attending Bowdoin College (where he earned a BA in Africana Studies), Mamdani co-founded a branch of Students for Justice in Palestine at the college.
Mamdani’s victory, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights against Trump’s threats and executive orders, would make him New York’s first Muslim mayor, its first Asian mayor, and its first millennial mayor.
Opposing or extremist voices on the other side say that Mamdani is a left-wing extremist who hates America.
It’s insane that he was elected to such a position, given that he has only been a citizen for less than 10 years.
His political experience is extremely limited, and his campaign and promises are characterized by magical realism that is completely divorced from the reality, actual budgets, and organizational plans of New York.
Earlier this year, Mamdani married Syrian-American painter and visual artist Rama Dawaji, who born in Damascus, (27), after a relationship that began on a dating app.
Dawaji’s work has been published in several major US media outlets, including The Washington Post and The New Yorker, and she holds an MFA from the New York School of Art.
