Mamdani eyes history as New York votes for mayor

As I write these words, I’m sitting in my apartment in Chinatown, New York, the sky is blue and the sun is blasting its rays over tenement buildings and high-rises alike. I write to music, and so I’ve been listening to the Resistance Revival Chorus’ rendition of “Ella’s Song”, a song about Ella Baker, who played a key role in the US Civil Rights movement and was a tireless advocate for social justice.

I can’t help but reflect on the interconnectedness of movements through history, and how today — the day of the mayoral election in the city — is a day that the world will remember. And the world will be forever changed. Today is the day that Zohran Mamdani could become the mayor of the world’s capital.

So as millions of New Yorkers cast their votes today, and the outcome is yet to be determined, what I can state with absolute confidence is that the world is different today. And that is because a leader like Zohran Mamdani has reminded us all about what is possible and who we have to protect.

Zohran, the son of Oscar-nominated filmmaker of Indian origin, Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding) and reputed academic Mahmood Mamdani, was born in Kampala, Uganda, and the family moved to New York City when he was seven years old.

Over the last few years, I witnessed Zohran’s work as a Democratic Assemblyman, representing the broader neighbourhood of Astoria. Whether he put his own body on the line — doing a 15-day hunger strike in support of the Taxi Workers Alliance as a means to broker a deal with the largest holder of taxi loans, culminating in $450 million in debt relief to winning $35 million in added service across subway lines, while piloting a free bus programme across the city’s five boroughs — what I saw was a leader who led by providing support for the marginalised and a voice for the silenced.

After Trump was elected in November 2024, Zohran went to traditionally blue (Democratic) neighbourhoods that had turned red (Republican), and talked to people on the street about why they had made that choice. And it often came down to one singular issue — affordability. This became the core tenet of his campaign — to advocate for the over two million working class New Yorkers who couldn’t live in the city they loved and worked for, who struggled to buy groceries, whilst raising their families.

He, along with his team, built a campaign with clear messaging — to make buses fast and free, universal childcare, and to allow for rent freezes. At the start of the mayoral race, Zohran was polling at 1 per cent along with a ballot called “Someone Else”, and after an unprecedented win at the Democratic primary, he is now the frontrunner for mayor. There are many reasons for this meteoric rise, and many can attribute it to his fantastic social media content and strategy, to his charm and personality, but I consider it a fact of a basic democratic principle — listening to the people.

That being said, it takes a special strain of resilience to navigate what Zohran has faced over the past year — vitriolic, racist, Islamophobic labelling, a constant brutalising of his identity, name and religion. This is nothing short of rattling one’s core of basic decency, but yet it is not surprising. We have witnessed, not just in New York or the US, but around the world, a politics built on fear and egocentricity. But that time is over.

What Zohran, his campaign, his team, the tens of thousands of volunteers, the community organisations and elected officials who endorsed him, have shown is that, like a line in Ella’s Song, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest.”

(The writer is a film-maker who lives in New York and Oslo)