On Nov. 4, the 2025 Mayoral Election took place in New York City. The winning candidate was Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat with socialist policies and ideals.
In the election, the top candidates that voters were looking at were Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa. Cuomo ran as an Independent after losing the Democratic primary, while Sliwa represented the Republican Party.
Mamdani won the election with 50.1% of votes, which is 1,036,051 people.
As reported by the New York Times, over two million people voted for this mayoral election, in stark contrast to previous years. For the previous four mayoral elections, less than a third of registered voters participated, contrasting this year’s 42%.
Many have been celebrating Mamdani’s victory, considering that he is the first South Asian, Ugandan, and Muslim to serve in the New York State Assembly and be a member of the body. He represents the South Asian community of New York City.
Many of Mamdani’s policies revolve around employing mental health workers in high need areas. He stated he will also help retain police officers, making their job more achievable. Initially, Mamdani ran on an anti-police platform, but modified his stance later in the race after facing controversy.
Mamdani also supports the idea of bringing change to affordability of many things, such as helping to make rent more affordable. He also ran on a platform to make city busses free for riders. As for education policies, Mamdani does not want to expand charter schools, and wants to eliminate the gifted and talented programs for ages five and younger. He also aims to also recruit more teachers by paying tuitions to high school seniors who are committed to teaching.
Cuomo, who came in behind Mamdani in the race, ran on a platform that addressed affordability, safety, and crime. These are all issues and Cuomo wanted to work to restore the city’s image. He also cared about education policy, wanting to give high quality experiences for pre-K, more gifted programs, and specialized schools. Throughout his campaign he focused on looking into affordability policies and hiring more police.
However, Cuomo did not want to freeze rent prices, going as far as calling it a “gimmick.” This is where Cuomo significantly differed from Mamdani.
Cuomo faced substantial criticism throughout his campaign, due to the several scandals of his career. Most notably is the several sexual harassment allegations from 13 women. After evidence was found of him sexually harassing 11 women, Cuomo resigned in 2021 from his position as New York governor. His administration was also heavily criticized during the Covid-19 pandemic after being found to undercount the number of Covid deaths in New York nursing homes. It was later alleged by a House Committee that Cuomo knew of this and even made false statements during an inquiry.
Cuomo ended up getting 41.6% of votes, which is 854,995 people.
Curtis Sliwa, who staggered behind in the polls, only garnering 7.1% of votes. Sliwa has been a present figure in safety for decades. He is the founder of the Guardian Angels, a non-profit volunteer organization founded to counter crime. The organization is known for their signature red jackets and berets, although their membership has strongly decreased since the 1980s.
However, Sliwa fabricated several exploits of the Guardian Angels’ for publicity, which he admitted in 1992.
Similar to Cuomo, Sliwa ran on a pro-police platform, wanting to add 7,000 more police officers to New York City. Sliwa also prioritized animal protection, as he is planned to ban horse drawn carriages and put-down shelters. His education policies include vowing to increase teacher pay, prioritize classroom needs, and expand the gifted and talented programs.
Many believe that Mamdani’s win had to do with his social media platform and campaign. His Instagram account gained millions of followers and is currently at 9.9 million. Mamdani’s videos achieved traction worldwide, catapulting his popularity. It is even said that his wife, Rama Duwaji, designed his signature logo, bright yellow letters with a red shadow.
Many of Cardozo’s own students are also happy about his victory.
Student Keyshawn said, “My thoughts are finally an immigrant is a mayor, because I feel like that is something different we need, and hopefully he can back up saying he wants affordable buses and trains, more immigrants in NYC and more.”
As Mamdani said during his victory speech, “New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”
