IDo an election viewing party hosted by the democratic socialists of America at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene, under nervous tension. “I’m not sure if this is an accurate recreation of Solomon’s temple,” said one supporter of a Zohran Mamdani T-Shirt. “It’s like a person who is everything I sleep with,” said another.
Suspicion did not last long. After 9.30pm, someone jumped on the mic to announce that the news outlets with 34-year-old Cuomo, who chose Cuomo’s boys who have no end in sight Affordability agenda. The DJ then started playing which I must have felt through black eyed peas. And, indeed, good night, good night for those in the room, with tears, hugs and twerking.
Mamdani is New York’s first Muslim Mayor and the youngest in a century – but not the first immigrant Mayor, or the first mayor to promote socialist values. The New Yorker celebrated his important election with official and unofficial parties spread across the five boroughs.
“I have been a member of the DSA for more than 10 years,” said the 40-year-old Department of Health, Fort Greene Party. “It just shows that our politics are not radical, that New Yorkers will think what we think is sensible, and maybe the rest of the country is ready for social, communal socialism.”
While the Dancefloor is in full swing (although the house lights remain dangerously low), Ellie, a 28-year-old bartender from bed, feels “absolutely ecstatic”. “This is the first time we’ve had hope in a long time. I can’t remember a—”
He cut himself short by shouting the chorus of Kelly Clarkson because you’re gone.
These are the people who fought for Mamdani when he polled the 1%, celebrating his socialist principles in what others say they don’t recognize. While his speech was played, there was a sense of not only political hope but a project coming to fruition, the work of a lifetime of construction at a time when the 90s resurgence of eurodce from desire.
Across the borough, in what Pollster Michael Leange called “the Autocat numbers in Bushwick and Ridgewood.
Hundreds lined the sidewalk outside today for another DSA Watch Party, cheering and holding signs, and, in one woman’s case, a cardboard cutout of Mamdani. Those who do so in a variety of unofficial merch – hot girls for Zohran, even a pair of pants with mixed drinks while they wait for the race to be called. They are confident, if a little worn from previous election upsets. “He’s fine. We’re all traumatized from 2016,” a man in a black beret said to no one in particular.
The crowd was a real mix: black, white, brown, young people and boys, boys, boys, festival children who could not vote in the election but felt its respects. Amber Pease, 25, lives in Nassau County on Long Island. His inability to withhold a vote did not stop him from traveling to volunteer for Zohran’s campaign. He wants to get a job and move to the city soon. “I’ve been waiting to see a good progressive candidate, and there’s one that’s so close to home, it gives me a lot of hope.”
When the election was called for Mamdani, cheers could be heard inside and on the streets, and someone started a “DSA! DSA!” chant (unmistakable as a “USA! USA!” Chant). Soon a representative for DSA named Kareem took the stage. He spoke of meteoric Meteoric Meteoric. “It didn’t just start last year,” he said. “This is the end of years of work.” He mentioned progressive New Yorkers who campaigned against the Iraq War, and Occupy Wall Street Street Street, and those who donated for Bernie Sanders. He also noted how Cuomo’s campaign is trading a message of fear, with Mamdani’s “medicine.” For now, the victory feels communal.
In Astoria, Mamdani’s home turf, young girls wearing Keffiyehs run to watch parties while uncles outside Hookah Sars patrol the streets. .
Nisa GaniSisisry, a 41-year-old owner of Astoria, stands with her son. Recently he has been working to secure his citizenship so that he can avoid for Mamdani; He is known as Mamdani since he became an Assemblyman in 2021. In the last five years, he said, Asstoria has been in rapid turmoil. “We can’t provide new space, we can’t get groceries, but I’m really, really hopeful that he can provide the situation.”
“We are in the belly of the beast here in New York. We are the financial capital of the world,” said Shivana Jorawar, an organization based in the North Bronx. “If we can elect a socialist mayor in New York, we can do that anywhere.”
Passing cars, buses, and cabs are hailed by the celebrating crowd as the night wears on. From time to time, the chants of a free Palestine will fade. Many cheered, some cried, and all were patient as they spoke to their new mayor.
For Showh in Showhury, 34, Bangladeshi-American co-chair for political development, Mamdani’s participation in a 2021 hunger strike To win debt relief for taxi drivers and dedication to the Palestinian cause earned his respect. He said the Islamophobic attacks in Mamdani were felt by the entire Muslim community. “As Zohran said: For too long we’ve stood in the shadows. Now it’s time to stand in the light.”
Zayed ChowdHury (no relation), who runs a cybersecurity startup in Virginia, grew up in the New York projects in the 1980s. He can no longer vote in New York though, but the election is still important. “We were here when there were no Muslims in New York. My grandfather has a plaque that says he was the second Muslim on Ellis Island land,” Chowdhury said. “In 85, when I was in kindergarten, they didn’t know what a Muslim was. Thirty years later, it was like we won the championship.”
Earlier in the evening, in Jackson Heights, one of New York’s most diverse neighborhoods, Cherry Ann Chishti signed Mamdani outside the window of her halal restaurant. “Finally a young young man with new ideas, someone who connects with people has come to make a real change,” said Chishti, 38, who also works as an Ozoner analyst at Ozone Park. “The Busing. The health care. I work with children with autism. Every dollar we sell goes to child care. And they allow their jobs. And they allow their jobs.
As midnight approached, Paul Aljoon, 62, came out of a warehouse in Bushwick shouting: “Mamdani!” He has canvassed for the candidate since the primaries. Now he is looking forward to the inauguration of Mamdani, and the daunting task of making the city relevant awaits the new mayor. “Make him live in office,” said Aljony. “He’s going to feed his team. And then, move on. He’s got to do the sanitation stuff, then the police department, and then hopefully not go back to New York.”
For Daniel Dale, a 23-year-old actor from bed-stoy and an immigrant from Colombia, it’s time to pass the time. “I haven’t felt in the right place,” Dale said. But Mamdani’s message got to him. “It’s full of a couple of simple things that everyone knows they want.” For Dale, like many others across town, it was an emotional night.