New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani Enters Crowded 2025 NYC Mayoral Race
- The 33-year-old, who is a member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, is currently the youngest and most left-leaning candidate to challenge Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted last month on federal corruption charges.
New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani has announced his bid for the 2025 New York mayoral race. The 33-year-old Uganda-born, New York City-raised politician is the son of acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair and Indian-born Ugandan academic, author, and political commentator Mahmood Mamdani. A member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, he is currently the youngest and most left-leaning candidate to challenge Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted last month on federal corruption charges. If elected, he would be the first Muslim mayor of New York.
In a video announcing his mayoral bid, Mamdani noted how âworking class people are being pushed out of there city they built.â Telling New Yorkers that âlife in this city doesnât need to be this hard,â he blamed politicians like Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo who âwant it to be this way.â He accused them of only caring about their donors, and about themselves. âThey donât care about you â the working class who keep this city running.â He also mentioned several proposals to help working-class New Yorkers, including making all buses âfast and free,â making âchildcare viable to all New Yorkers at no cost,â and âfreeing rent for every rent-stabilized tenant.â
The New York Times noted that Mamdaniâs âfirm leftward stance puts him in contrast to Mayor Adams, a centrist.â He is also âto the left of the four other declared candidates in the race, all of whom are considered progressive Democrats,â The Times added. Those running for Adam’s job include NYC comptroller Brad Lander, former city comptroller Scott Stringer, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie from Brooklyn, and state Sen. Jessica Ramos from Queens.Â
Mamdani was elected in 2020 as part of a progressive wave of victories in state races and became the first South Asian American and third Muslim American to serve in the Assembly. He represents neighborhoods in Queens, including Astoria and Ditmars-Steinway, considered some of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the world. When he ran his campaign, he opted for a campaign slogan that deliberately captured the immigrant desi experience: âRoti and Roses,â a riff on the classic democratic socialist chant, âBread and Roses,” Vogue India said in a profile on him at the time. “He advocated tirelessly for housing as a guaranteed right, channeling his experience as a foreclosure-prevention counselor,” the magazine said.
In his two terms, Mamdani has âfought for working-class New Yorkers in and outside the Legislature,â according to his website. He has participated in hunger strikes alongside taxi workers âto win transformative debt relief, organizing Astorians against ConEdison rate hikes, and winning legislation to fund increased subway service and a free bus pilot in NYC,â the website added.
Mamdani, who has called on Adams to resign, told The Daily News that his decision is in part motivated by the fact that the mayor is under federal indictment. âItâs definitely one factor, but the Adams mayoralty has been failing New Yorkers for much longer than since he got indicted,â he said.
Speaking to The New York Times, Mamdani admitted that Adams had âfailedâ New Yorkers. He contrasted himself with the current administration. Noting that he would âfocus his campaign on addressing the cityâs affordability crisis,â he mentioned that even though âCity Hall is engulfed in corruption,â most people are talking about âthe outrageous cost of living.â New Yorkers âare being crushed by rent and child care. Working people are getting pushed out of the city they built,â he added.
Mamdani told The Times that he was âproud to be a socialistâ and that while his âcampaign would focus on a local âeconomic agenda,â he would also speak to the âtremendous anger and alienationâ that many voters feel over âour tax dollars going to fund a genocide in Palestine.â He co-founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Bowdoin College and has fought to make it a local issue. âI think Palestine has often been a glaring contradiction in our politics for many, many years,â he said to The Guardian. âI could not understand why we would draw a line at universal beliefs when it came to Palestinians, why we thought that everyone deserved safety, everyone deserved justice, everyone deserves freedom, except for a certain class of people,” he told the publication.
Last year, Mamdani introduced legislation, called the ‘Not on Our Dime’ Act, “to curtail financial support for Israeli settlements,” The New York Times reported. âThe bill, which received support from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, did not pass,â the report added.
Despite entering the race this week, Mamdani has already beaten out mayoral race opponents Lander and Ramos for some progressive movement endorsements, Politico reported. New York Communities for Change, DRUM Beats and CAAAV Voice announced their joint endorsement on Oct. 23, the day he launched his mayoral campaign. The publication called it âan early sign that Mamdani, as the furthest left mayoral contender, could draw away enthusiasm from other progressive contenders.â He also raised $139,015.74 from 1,402 donors in the first 24 hours, he said in a post on X.Â
The Times also pointed out that Mamdani, who formed a campaign committee on Oct. 21, âwill have to move quickly to raise money for the race and to introduce himself to New Yorkers beyond his district, which overlaps with parts of Rep. Ocasio-Cortezâs district and is sometimes jokingly called âthe Peopleâs Republic of Astoria.ââ
Mamdani was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, moving to New York City with his family at the age of 7. A graduate of the NYC Public School System, he attended the Bronx High School of Science and received a Bachelorâs Degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College. A few years later in 2018, he became naturalized as an American citizen.
Part of Mamdaniâs childhood was spent on movie sets, and he curated and produced the soundtrack for his motherâs 2016 movie, âQueen of Katwe.” Under his rap alter ego âYoung Cardamom,â he contributed a rap to one of the songs featured in the film. He also released music honoring his grandmother and the greasy splendor of Ugandan-style chapati.Â
After initially pursuing the arts, Mamdani “began getting involved in progressive politics,” according to a City&State profile. He joined the Muslim Democratic Club of New York and began volunteering for electoral campaigns. The first campaign he volunteered for was election attorney Ali Najmiâs unsuccessful race for a New York City Council seat in 2015.
In The Times interview, he admitted that âstrangely enough,â his music career had prepared him well for politics. âOnce youâve tried to sell your mixtape to people who are just trying to get on the bus to go home, youâre well prepared to get rejected when youâre trying to get New Yorkers to sign your petition to get on the ballot at 6 a.m. at the subway station.â
In the meantime, Mamdani continued working on campaigns. In 2017, he was part of the New York City Council campaign of Khader El-Yateem, an Arab Lutheran pastor from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, who was running as a socialist. In 2019, he worked on public defender Tiffany Cabбnâs campaign for Queens district attorney.
Mamdani also worked as a foreclosure prevention housing counselor, helping low-income homeowners of color across Queens fight off eviction and stay in their homes. âIt was this job that led him to run for office, along with his organizing that led to him becoming politically active in the first place,â according to his official New York State Senate profile.
In high school, Mamdani co-founded his schoolâs first-ever cricket team, which would go on to participate in the Public School Athletic Leagueâs inaugural cricket season. âThis act, though not ostensibly a political one, taught him how coming together with a few like-minded individuals can transform rhetoric into reality,â the profile said. He went on to co-found his collegeâs first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and later organized across the country with different progressive organizations seeking to win national elections as well as expand healthcare coverage.
After brief stints in the arts, he eventually returned to organizing and later to politics, listening to his instinct of leading and helping the underprivileged.