Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater was filled with enthusiasm as a diverse but mostly young crowd danced to hip-hop and celebrated the socialist victory.
Zoran Mamdani’s New York Major Race
Mamdani, 34, will be New York City’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor.
NEW YORK – They filled the dance floor in front of a DJ playing a remix of Bad Bunny’s “Nueva Yol,” classic New York hip-hop such as 50 Cent’s “Many Men” and Afrobeat.
Here at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, voters supported incoming New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani’s victory. young. It is racially diverse. And he’s passionate about a new generation of leadership in America’s largest city.
The 2,700-seat theater, located on the border of rapidly developing downtown Brooklyn and the once-majority black, now gentrifying Fort Greene neighborhood, is one of the areas where progressive young professionals have helped Mamdani win.
As Mamdani’s supporters danced on the floor, New York politicians chatted with numerous domestic and international media requests for interviews.
Behind the podium was a New York City flag and a large screen showing local New York television station Spectrum News 1.
Cheers erupted every time a new vote count appeared on the screen as Mamdani maintained his lead throughout the night.
At one point, a crowd of young supporters surrounded the center of the floor and chanted, “We believe in victory.”
“A national phenomenon”
Julio Herrera, 27, from Brooklyn, danced to Kendrick Lamar’s hit song “Not Like Us” minutes after Mamdani’s election was announced. Herrera, a member of the Black Leadership Action Coalition, said his organization endorsed Mamdani in the Democratic primary because the state lawmaker is focused on increasing affordability through initiatives such as free buses and free child care.
He said Herrera felt vindicated and added more abuse.
“This is not just a New York situation,” he says. “This is a phenomenon that is happening across the country and around the world.”
Social studies teacher Nicolas Francisco Albán, 26, weaved through the crowd carrying a New York City flag on Zoran Mandani’s election night. As a volunteer field leader, he hadn’t eaten since the afternoon. He grabbed a small bag of popcorn at the bar.
Alban campaigned in February, as evidenced by the blue beanie hats given to early supporters. He was drawn to the candidate’s message on affordability. A Brooklyn native, his friends have moved away and soaring housing costs have forced him to live in close quarters in apartments.
“How about that?” he said. “That’s what we thought.”
Alban said he was speechless as Mamdani’s wholesome lead appeared on the screen on stage. He had to rush to the front of the stage, but he got a spot there. At 9:36 p.m., new numbers showed that Mamdani’s approval rating exceeded 50%, prompting cheers from the crowd.
“When I grow up, I can be like him.”
Saba Merchant, 31, of Manhattan, stood behind Zoran Mamdani’s election night party. Her brother worked on Mamdani’s campaigns, including when she ran for state representative and won against the incumbent in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Mr. Mamdani’s importance as the first Muslim and South Asian mayor, and someone who immigrated to this country as a child, was not lost on Mr. Merchant, a second-generation American.
“It’s great to see someone with that identity bring an entire city of diverse communities together,” said Merchant, a policy director at the nonprofit organization.
Mamdani “has embraced New York City as his own and has actually made a meaningful contribution to it, and I look forward to seeing what doors he can open for others,” she said.
Ali Hasan, 11, of San Jose, California, looked up at the screen with his mother as the results came in. Ali, who is also a Muslim, said Mamdani’s victory “means I can be like him when I grow up.”
Crowd cheers as Zoran Mamdani wins New York mayoral election
Democratic candidate Zoran Mamdani’s observers cheered when he was announced as New York City’s new mayor.
“Don’t be afraid of yourself.”
To demonstrate Mamdani’s outspoken commitment to promoting immigrant and Palestinian rights, Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who is in immigration detention by the Trump administration on charges of pro-Palestinian activities, stood with his wife, Dr. Noor Abdallah, on the balcony of Mamdani’s election night party.
In March, federal agents detained Mr. Khalil in the lobby of a university-owned apartment building. The Trump administration stripped Khalil, 30, a Palestinian who was born in a Syrian refugee camp, of his legal permanent resident status because of his protest activities. Khalil was released from a detention center in Louisiana in late June.
On election night, Mr. Khalil rested his arm on the balcony railing and watched the results and Mamdani’s speech celebrating his victory on a screen. Abdallah’s arm was also resting, stretched out just above the railing.
When Mamdani spoke directly on behalf of President Trump and immigrants in his victory speech, the audience roared with deafening enthusiasm.
“Donald Trump, I know you’re watching, so I have four words for you: Turn up the volume!” Mamdani lured the president.
“New York will continue to be a city of immigrants. Built by immigrants, driven by immigrants, and starting tonight, it will continue to be a city of immigrants,” he later said. “So, President Trump, hear me out: To get to any of us, you have to get through all of us.”
After Mamdani exited the stage with his wife, mother and father, the audience remained in place as Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell’s Motown ballad “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” played.
Katie DeLay, 37, of Brooklyn, teary-eyed, slowly walked up the ramp wearing a blue “Iranian for Zoran” T-shirt that read in English and Farsi. She had a black ribbon in her hair and a “Z” sticker on it.
Mamdani, the daughter of Iranian immigrants, was “very transparent and unapologetic” despite facing racist and Islamophobic attacks during the campaign, she said. “It’s a beautiful thing,” she said.
A social worker, she came to support Mamdani in proposing the creation of a “Community Safety Bureau,” an initiative that would work with social workers instead of police officers to respond to mental health emergencies. She said some people were afraid of his age at 34, but she thought it would be helpful to think differently.
Mamdani is “untroubled by the mechanics of the political structure, which are to some extent inevitable,” she said.
A little after 10:30 p.m., Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” started playing. Results showed Mr Mamdani received more than 1 million votes in an election with historic high turnout.
