Tracking the rise of Zohran Mamdani: How a socialist outsider became New York’s mayor

A year ago, Zohran Mamdani was an obscure New York state assemblyman, largely unknown outside his Queens district. Today, the 34-year-old democratic socialist has pulled off one of the most astonishing political ascents in recent American history, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo twice in a year and securing a landslide victory in the general election over both Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. The former foreclosure prevention counsellor, housing activist and one-time rapper will now become New York’s first Muslim mayor, its first South Asian and first Africa-born leader, and its youngest mayor in more than a century. “For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well connected that power does not belong in their h