What to know about Zohran Mamdani and what she likes to do in NYC

It’s official: The largest US city has its first Muslim and first South Asian Mayor.

Since the democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani first entered the Mayoral Race in New York City, the 34-year-old queen of the state has had a meteoric rise from the national to the national spotlight.

His bold, left-wing platform has energized progressives, undermined the Democratic party, and drawn harsh criticism from President Donald Trump and Republicans.

“Today we speak with a clear voice: hope is alive,” Mamdani told supporters at his victory rally on Tuesday night.

Unlike his more established rivals, Mamdani’s new vision, youth and new left-wing platform excited and ultimately won over voters eager for a more political one.

“Make City Hall, with our kindness, our conviction and our clarity, the light that our city and our country need,” Mamdani said this week.

Part of what has made Mamdani so successful is that young voters see how trustworthy he is on social media, said Jane Hall, a communications professor at American University.

They are sick of hearing politicians say the same thing over and over, he said.

“You don’t have to be young to do it, but I think you have to be seen as authentic and speaking to people in a way that’s on the bandwagon,” Halle said.

Democrats can learn from Mamdani’s ability to connect with people and his reliability, said Andres Bernal Advientative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Now the Republicans are shaping the public discourse and they are trying to shape the political consciousness of this country,” Bernal argued. “While the Democrats assume that people want beliefs and they look at the polls and say, what are we saying that we think people believe?”

Born in Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York at age seven and became a naturalized US citizen in 2018. The son of two Harvard graduates, Mamdani’s mother, Mira Nair is an acclaimed filmmaker and his father Mahmood Mamdani is an author, political commentator and professor of government at Columbia University.

Before entering politics, she worked as a housing counselor, helping low-income queens who were fighting evictions. In 2021, he was elected to the New York State Assembly representing District 36 in Queens.

His Mayoral campaign, fueled by social media and grassroots efforts, immediately held a primary contest victory in June. Like his rivals, Mamdani’s platform focuses on making the city safer and more affordable.

But he encouraged more radical ways to accomplish those goals — some of which were uncharted territory for New York City.

The high cost of housing is one of the most common gripes residents have about living in the city that never sleeps.

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan in November 2025 is $4,778 (£3,666), which is almost a 20% increase on the website Renthop. And in Brooklyn, average rent for a 1-bedroom is $3,625, about a 5% increase, according to Renthop.

One of the most talked about – about the points of the Mamdani housing plan that freezes the rent for four years on 1 million rentals in the city.

“This is a city where one in four people live in poverty, a city where 500,000 children sleep every night,” Mamdani told the BBC in the summer. “And finally, it’s a city that’s in danger of losing that which makes it so special.”

But researchers at the Maverick Real Estate Partnle argue that the four-year rental lease can be “disastrously shortened by business owners on the Net published by Columbia’s Milstein Center for real estate.

Perhaps one of the novel ideas Mamdani created a network of grocery stores in the city throughout the boroughs of New York, expanding to six stores owned by the city.

Shopping will be cheaper for customers, according to Mamdani’s plan, because they will buy at reproduction prices, except for rental or distribution taxes.

But critics like Samuel Abril of the Instinple Institute, a conservative think tank, argue that Mamdani’s proposal ignores the complexities of food supply chains.

Mamdani also wants to release powders to the public — the current fare for most riders is $2.90 — and he also plans to make them faster, too. While Mamdani has estimated that his free bus plan would cost the city $630m a year, the chair of the MTA told Gothamist that it would be closer to $1b and require years of review as well as approval from MTA bond holders.

Lowering the high cost of childcare is another part of Mamdani’s agenda.

“I would hear this again and again and again, both in my own personal life, as friends would tell me the plans they had to settle down and start a family, and how in their eyes that meant it was necessary to leave New York City, with child care being a big part of it,” Mamdani said in an interview with The New York Times.

Quality of life is a major concern for New Yorkers: Only 34% of New Yorkers rated the City as good, up from 51% in 2017, according to a survey from the Citizens Budget Commission.

A core element of Mamdani’s platform The creation of a Department of Community Safety, which will expand mental health services in the city, including the establishment of a system for mental health workers to respond to relevant 911 calls, instead of the police. This includes placing outreach workers in 100 subway stations, and increasing funding for hate/violence programs by 800%.

The benefit of the republic of Mamdani, Curtis Sliwa, criticized the plan, saying that it is unrealistic and unsafe for social workers who respond to violent situations.

In an effort to improve quality of life and affordability, Mamdani wants to raise the city’s minimum wage — currently $30.50 an hour — by 2030.

To help pay for his plans, Mamdani wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5%, matching the top end of New Jersey’s Range. The Corporate Tax Rate in New York City starts at 7.25%.

He also wants to add a flat 2% tax for New Yorkers who make more than $1 million annually. The campaign says that this increase will increase to $9 billion, but how it will increase remains in question. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she will not support the new mayor’s plan to increase taxes on the wealthy.

Many also argue that Mamdani does not have enough experience to effectively lead the largest US city.

Trump has tried to paint him as a radical, repeatedly calling him a Communist, though Mamdani has consistently denied it. The President also threatened to withhold Federal funding from a Mamdani administration.

On Tuesday night, as he declared victory, Mamdani addressed the President directly:

“Donald Trump, because I know you are watching, I have four words for you: Point out the number. To reach any of us, you have to go through all”.

Often, Trump posted on social media: “… And so it began!”