“New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics,” Mamdani said in a speech following his victory.
Supporters of Mamdani, a 34-year-old immigrant, poured into the streets to celebrate as he delivered the victory speech, reiterating key campaign promises such as universal childcare and a rent freeze for millions.
Celeste is a college student. She believes that voters rejected the capitalist class and “the growing economic divide.”
Throughout election day, polling stations were noticeably busier than in previous elections, with more than two million people casting ballots. It was the highest voter turnout New York had seen in over 50 years.
“Capitalism has almost really become like a dirty word. You know, people are really sick of the way that capitalism just drives up prices, drives people out of their neighborhoods. You know, I think we've seen the effects of what big corporations do to small communities and it's just tearing the fabric of who we are apart,” Mathew Harrison, a musician, told Rudaw.
Forty percent of the city's gross income goes to just one percent of its residents, and more than half of New Yorkers live in or near poverty. One in four children grows up poor.
Mamdani is believed to be mainly supported by young voters, but Ronald Sugarman, an old man, said he voted for him too.
“We've got no leadership. We need people who think of the most important things that I think are the most important thing. Education, food problems, resident problems,” he said.
Namo Abdulla contributed to this article from New York.