Socialist shockwave: Zohran Mamdani stuns NYC as voters hand power to Democrats’ far-left flank

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Mamdani's policies could impact 'the rest of the world,' Gianno Caldwell warns

Fox News' CB Cotton reports on the New York City mayoral race after President Donald Trump endorsed independent candidate Andrew Cuomo. Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell dicsusses the potential impact of Zohran Mamdani's policies.

The Fox News Decision Desk has projected that New York City will elect Democratic Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani as its next mayor. The self-described democratic socialist toppled former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a contentious fight for the future of New York City — and possibly the direction of the Democratic Party.

Mamdani, the 34-year-old Ugandan-born state assemblyman from Queens, triggered a political earthquake when he declared victory in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary in June, pulling an upset over a former governor who was widely expected to win the party's nomination.

He has since been catapulted onto the national stage, teaming up with progressive power duo Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to rally New York City voters for his affordability agenda, which includes ambitious campaign promises like rent freezes, fast and free buses, city-run grocery stores and free childcare.

It's a race that President Donald Trump himself has been watching closely, labeling Mamdani a "100% Communist Lunatic" and "My little communist" — monikers Mamdani has rejected. On the eve of Election Day, Trump endorsed Cuomo and floated cutting federal funds to New York City if Mamdani won. 

FINAL STRETCH: MAMDANI'S LARGE LEAD SHRINKING AS CUOMO GAINS GROUND IN NYC MAYORAL RACE

NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani briefly speaks with reporters as he leaves the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

In the days leading up to the election, Mamdani vowed to use the "bully pulpit" and the judicial system to fight back against Trump's "threats."

"Donald Trump may speak as if it is his decision, but this is money that this city is owed. This is money that we will expect to collect," Mamdani said Monday.

As Mamdani stepped on stage at the Brooklyn Paramount to declare victory Tuesday night, he appealed to Trump directly.

"New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant," Mamdani said. "So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get any of us, you will have to get through all of us."

CUOMO CLOSES GAP ON MAMDANI AS NYC MAYOR RACE TIGHTENS DRAMATICALLY IN NEW POLL

Mamdani's primary success exposed a divide within the Democratic Party, which suffered big losses up and down the ballot last year and has since struggled to put up a united front against the Trump administration without clear party leadership.

"The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate," Mamdani said Tuesday night. "I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this. And yet, if tonight teaches us anything, it is that convention has held us back."

Cuomo resigned from office in 2021 in the face of multiple controversies, including several sexual harassment claims, which he has denied. After losing the primary he was expected to win, Cuomo challenged Mamdani as an Independent candidate in the general election, and has since charged Mamdani of being more a socialist than a Democrat.

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo speaks during an election night event at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan on Nov. 4, 2025.  (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

"The truth is, there's a quiet civil war going on in the Democratic Party right now," Cuomo told Fox News last week. "You have an extreme left. Radical left. Bernie Sanders, AOC — Mamdani is just the banner carrier for that movement — versus the mainstream moderate Democrats. They now call me moderate. They used to call me liberal. Now, I'm a moderate because the whole party shifted."

After the race was called for Mamdani on Tuesday night, the former governor addressed his supporters. Those watching the broadcast from Mamdani's election night party booed as a muted Cuomo delivered his concession speech. 

"This campaign was necessary to make that point – a caution flag that we are heading down a dangerous, dangerous road," Cuomo said. "Well, we made that point, and they heard us, and we will hold them to it."

New York Democrats were reluctant to endorse Mamdani's mayoral campaign after he secured the Democratic nomination.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer refused to endorse Mamdani, despite telling reporters he has a "good relationship with him" and that they are "continuing to talk." Mamdani was arrested for protesting the war in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire outside Schumer's home in Brooklyn in 2023.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave an 11th-hour endorsement for Mamdani after months of equivocating. The announcement came the day before early voting began.

Independent candidate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a mayoral debate, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in New York City.  (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)

Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., endorsed Mamdani's campaign in September and later joined him on the campaign trail. When pressed about whether Mamdani would endorse Hochul, he refused to affirm his support for the sitting governor.

Hochul will be critical to Mamdani's plan to raise taxes on corporations and the top 1% of New Yorkers to pay for his radical campaign agenda, as a tax hike would require state approval.

The governor has maintained that she will not raise taxes, which earned her some heckling at a recent Queens rally, when Mamdani's supporters shouted, "Tax the rich!"

Mamdani has faced a relentless news cycle since securing the Democratic nomination.

Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, the founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels, have said that Mamdani would not do enough to protect Jewish New Yorkers if elected mayor.

Mamdani refused to condemn the term "globalize the intifada" during the primary, widely considered a call to violence against Jews. He has since committed to discouraging others from using the term.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul hold hands on stage as they attend a "New York is Not For Sale" rally at Forest Hills Stadium, in the Queens borough of New York City, on Oct. 26, 2025.  (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)

Weeks before Election Day, a slate of prominent New York City rabbis joined more than 650 rabbis nationwide to sign "A Rabbinic Call to Action: Defending the Jewish Future," asserting that Jewish Americans "cannot remain silent" on discrimination against Jewish people and citing Mamdani's stances that are critical of Israel.

Mamdani, who is of Indian descent, will be the first South Asian and first Muslim mayor of New York City.

Religion has been a defining issue in the mayoral race, as many Jewish New Yorkers have rejected Mamdani's positions on Israel, including his calling the war in Gaza a "genocide" and his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Mamdani has maintained that he "would not recognize any state's right to exist with a system of hierarchy on the basis of race, of religion."

When asked during last week's mayoral debate if Mamdani has any regrets about his "long-standing" anti-Israel views, the democratic socialist affirmed his commitment to protecting Jewish New Yorkers, as he has throughout the campaign.

Mamdani has a long record of supporting the pro-Palestinian movement, including at Bowdoin College, where he founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani supporters gather outside 30 Rock in New York City on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.  (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)

With weeks until Election Day, Mamdani charged his opponents and Mayor Eric Adams, who ultimately suspended his re-election campaign after staying out of the Democratic primary to run as an independent, with Islamophobia for a slew of comments made about him on the campaign trail.

Mamdani also faced criticism for his past comments about the New York City Police Department, including those comparing the NYPD to the Israel Defense Forces and calling the NYPD "racist, anti‑queer & a major threat to public safety" in 2020, among other insults.

"I'll apologize to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I've been sharing with many rank-and-file officers, and I apologize because of the fact that I'm looking to work with these officers, and I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day," Mamdani said on Fox News.

As New York City voters began heading to the polls for early voting, billionaires, including Red Apple Media CEO John Catsimatidis and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, urged Sliwa to drop out of the race to consolidate support for Cuomo, but the Republican nominee refused to suspend his campaign.

Similar pressure mounted after the primary for either Cuomo or Adams to drop out to boost the anti-Mamdani vote. After Adams suspended his campaign, he ultimately endorsed Cuomo. Trump's Justice Department dropped bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy charges against Adams earlier this year.

Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa is interviewed by Fox News Digital, in New York City on Aug. 18, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Mamdani will also be the first millennial mayor of the nation's largest city.

Such was clear from the early days of Mamdani's campaign, as he made strategic use of social media, including TikTok, to build a recognizable brand and motivate a swath of low-propensity voters.

His campaign played into the hands of an evolving – and chronically online – New York City electorate.

Scrolling through Mamdani's social media, his TikTok and Instagram pages resemble that of a New York City influencer. From the film-like filters and consistent fonts on his vertical videos to the cameos from celebrities, including model Emily Ratajkowski and comedian Bowen Yang, Mamdani's videos regularly amass millions of views.

During the general election, Mamdani's campaign began collaborating with content creators, inviting New York City's micro-influencers to a "New Media" briefing, which are typically reserved for mainstream media, and continuing to walk through the revolving door of podcast appearances, akin to such efforts by the Trump administration in 2024.

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Like Trump in 2024, Mamdani centered his mayoral campaign on affordability, vowing to deliver a New York City that voters could actually afford to live in.

Mamdani told Fox News in the final days of his campaign that he learned of a woman wearing a "MAGA for Zohran" hat at his Queens rally, eliciting Trump's renowned "Make America Great Again" slogan.

"It tells me that no matter what your politics are, you're feeling the same crisis, and this is a movement that looks to address that crisis" of affordability, Mamdani said. "No matter who you are, no matter where you live."