After polling stations closed at 9:00 p.m. on November 4, 2025, Zohran Mamdani would win the vote to become the new mayor of New York City (NYC). This election had the highest turn out in NYC history, with Mamdani becoming the first candidate since 1969 to exceed more than one million votes, while also being the youngest candidate in a century to win the election.
As of right now, Mamdani holds around 1,036,000, or 50.4% of the votes, and won four out of the five NYC boroughs; though this is changing as more votes come in. More accurate results will be available over the next few days.
This was an extremely irregular and intense election, one that has the potential to completely change the way American politics is conducted. The 2025 NYC elections featured three main candidates: Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa. Cuomo and Mamdani fought with each other to become the Democratic Party’s candidate, with Mamdani eventually coming out on top. Sliwa ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
After losing the Democratic nomination, Cuomo decided to run independently, alongside incumbent mayor Eric Adams. Adams and other third-party candidates would drop out as election night approached.
The most defining moment of this election was the debate, in which the three candidates went head to head answering questions that the voters had, such as issues on immigration, housing, affordability, and Donald Trump. Cuomo cited his continued failure in polling to Mamdani’s excellent performance on social media, while Mamdani cited his message of affordability for his lead.
Sliwa would bring up his positions, however, he received relatively little time compared to the other candidates. All in all, Cuomo’s apparent disconnect with the voters seemed to be his downfall.
Zohran Mamdani would run on one key issue: affordability. As a self proclaimed Democratic Socialist, his policies follow a very untraditional path from the Democratic Party, having policies such as freezing the rent, having fast and fare-free buses, taking on safety and security with a department of community safety, making no-cost childcare, and many other measures. He received criticism from many, citing his extreme policies. There has been some controversy over whether he can actually achieve his goals, but we shall wait and see.
While anyone can say what they want, the election has shown a shift in the voter base of New York City, and the next four years shall be very interesting.
