Historic win: Mamdani elected NYC’s first Muslim mayor

New Yorkers elected Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor Tuesday and Democrats won two key state governor races as US voters delivered an early warning to President Donald Trump ahead of 2026's midterms.

The clean sweep of the top contests among several ballots nationwide will boost morale for Democrats bruised by Trump's onslaught since returning to the White House, and set alarm bells ringing in Republican circles.

Mamdani's victory came in the face of fierce attacks on his policies and Muslim heritage from President Donald Trump, business elites and conservative media.

The Democratic party's victories in the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey suggested a shift in political mood as the country looks to next year's midterm elections when control of Congress will be up for grabs.

New York's mayor elect said Tuesday that his decisive victory shows a way to defeat US President Donald Trump, who has been a fierce critic of the young Muslim's Democratic socialist policies.

"If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him," Zohran Mamdani said in a victory speech to supporters.

"In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light."

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said "Democrats are smoking Donald Trump and Republican extremists throughout the country," writing on X that "the Democratic Party is back."

Mamdani, a state lawmaker for New York's Queens borough, appealed to voters by pledging to tackle the soaring cost of living, offering free city bus travel, childcare and city-run grocery stores.

He focused on living costs facing ordinary New Yorkers, building support through his informal personal style, social media savvy and a massive canvassing ground game.

"The next and last stop is City Hall," Mamdani said in a video posted to X showing the doors of a subway train opening to City Hall station.

The self-described socialist was virtually unknown before his upset victory to secure the Democratic nomination over former governor Andrew Cuomo, who he trounced again Tuesday.

There was a party atmosphere at his results viewing gathering for supporters being held at a storied concert venue in Brooklyn, with the 34-year-old expected to speak later in the night.

Trump made an eleventh-hour intervention in the race, calling Mamdani who will become New York's first Muslim mayor when he takes office in January, a "Jew hater."

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels citizen crime patrol group, came in third after weeks of Cuomo insisting he bow out to increase his chances.

"It's typical of Andrew, he's always blaming other people for his own failures," Sliwa told AFP news agency ahead of the result. "Of course he's going to blame me."

Prominent business people including Bill Ackman noisily attacked Mamdani and funneled cash to his rivals, while conservative media including The New York Post published blanket negative coverage.

Turnout was high in this year's vote with 1.45 million people casting ballots by 3 pm (2000 GMT) -- more than the total number of voters in the 2021 race.

Uphill struggle

Mamdani's improbable rise highlights the Democratic Party's debate over a centrist or a leftist future, with some leading national figures offering only tepid endorsements of Mamdani ahead of voting.

Cuomo said there was "a civil war in the Democratic Party."

"You have an extreme radical left that is run by the socialists that is challenging what they would call moderate Democrats. I'm a moderate Democrat," he said after voting.

Syracuse University political science professor Grant Reeher said ahead of the result mayor Mamdani would face an uphill battle "at the center of all of these nasty political controversies."

"Everybody's got their knives out, and it's a very difficult city to govern," he told AFP.

There was a grim mood among some attendees at Cuomo's results party with some attendees predicting Trump would immediately deploy the National Guard to the city.

Others blamed Sliwa for splitting the center-right vote.

Democrats win in Virginia, New Jersey governor races

In New Jersey, Democratic U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill, a moderate with military experience first elected to Congress in the 2018 midterm election during President Donald Trump's first term, bested Republican businessman and former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli, in a race that focused on affordability issues.

In Virginia, Democratic former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger was elected as the state's first female governor.

Spanberger called for pragmatism, pledged to defend her state's federal workers from targeting by the Trump administration, and listed home and healthcare affordability as her day-one priorities.

Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, the state's Republican lieutenant governor, played to her conservative base in the election by questioning Spanberger's record.

A ballot measure in California, if passed, would lead to redrawing congressional districts meant to help Democrats in the 2026 midterm election.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and the state assembly said they pursued the changes, which would essentially erase five Republican-held districts, after President Donald Trump earlier this year encouraged conservative Texas to reconfigure its congressional districts to favor Republican candidates in five Democratic-represented districts.

Trump's move was an unusual partisan effort to maintain the Republicans' majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, now at 219-213; redrawing congressional maps usually happens after the national census every decade to adjust for state population changes.