Zohran Mamdani: New York mayor candidate wins with area code

The former governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, surprisingly suffered a defeat in the area code of the Democrats for the mayor election of the city of New York. Instead of Cuomo, the candidate Zohran Mamdani, which belonged to the party’s left camp, received the most votes, as the representative of the authorities announced on Tuesday evening after counting 95 percent of the vote. Mamdani therefore came to 43 percent of the vote, Cuomo to 36 percent.

Cuomo, who was largely ahead in the surveys, admitted his defeat. “Today was not our evening,” said the 67-year-old who had hoped for a political comeback on the election evening before his followers. He congratulated Mamdani on victory, “he won,” added Cuomo.

Almost four years ago, Cuomo had resigned as governor of the state of New York for allegations of sexual harassment. However, he was never convicted.

“I feel honored to be your democratic candidate for the New York Mayor’s office,” said Mamdani in front of followers. The 33-year-old prevailed against ten other candidates. In the election campaign, he had set a campaign tailored to young voters on social media and the promise to make the city more affordable again. The MP, who represents the district of Queens in the Lower House of New York, wants to freeze rents and make public bus transport free of charge.

Prominent supporters congratulated Mamdani. “You have challenged and won the political, economic and media establishment,” wrote the left -wing Senator Bernie Sanders. “Billionaires and lobbyists have invested millions to combat you and our public financial system. And you won,” wrote the left-wing democratic congressions from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at X.

Mamdani is considered a supporter of the Palestinians and has referred to the Israeli approach in the Gaza Strip as “genocide” – political positions that make him predestined to get together with President Donald Trump.

The current mayor of the Democratic stronghold of New York, Eric Adams, competes as an independent in the mayoral election in early November. He comes from the Democrat camp himself, but had recently approached Trump. A corruption procedure against Adam was discontinued on the instructions of the US Justice Ministry in early April. Critics suspect that in return Adams had promised help with deportations.