NEW YORK: Zohair Mamdani, a young Muslim of Indian origin, Democratic Socialist, won New York City's mayoral race, capitalising on the liberal metropolis' antipathy to President Donald Trump and economic angst.
Preliminary results on Tuesday night showed Mamdani, the Democratic Party candidate, winning about 50 per cent of the 2 million votes cast, to 41 per cent polled by former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing the party's nomination to him in the June primaries.
Mamdani will be the city's first mayor of Indian descent and the third non-White in the city's history. New York city has population of only 9 percent Muslims and dominated by Yahudis, supporters of President Donald Trump.
The inexperienced 34-year-old's victory on a socialist platform poses a strategic conundrum for Democrats reeling from the defeat in last year's presidential election.
Democratic Party's Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and former President Barack Obama withheld their endorsements, while some spoke out against him.
Mamdani will confront President Donald Trump, who came out vehemently against him on the eve of the polls, threatening to cut funds for the city if he is elected.
Trump endorsed Cuomo over the Republican Party candidate Curtis Sliwa, the founder of an anti-crime vigilante group, who polled a paltry 7 per cent.
Reacting to the election victories of Mamdani and other Democrats, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "TRUMP WASN'T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT', according to Pollsters."
Cuomo, who conceded defeat, congratulated Mamdani and said he wanted him to succeed for the sake of the "greatest city in world".
When his supporters booed, he tried to silence them, saying, "That is not us".
It was a turn from a vicious campaign during which they and their supporters traded insults.
Mamdani is the son of a Shia Muslim Ugandan academic, Mahmood Mamdani, whose ancestry is Indian, and movie director Mira Nair, who is from a Punjabi Hindu family in India.
Mamdani mobilised an army of youth, fresh off the anti-Israel protests that rocked the city, to wrest the Democratic Party nomination, and they went on to expand his base beyond the young, White, economically well-off base to the working class and the older people.
He offered a socialist platform to people facing a high cost of living in the city, promising free buses, a freeze on rents in some housing, city-run shops, a wave of new home-building, and higher taxes on the rich.
The youthful campaigners ceaselessly worked convincing voters to back the 34-year-old with little experience beyond four years as a state assemblyman, a rapper and a short stint as an activist with a South Asian social welfare organisation, Chhaya.
An admirer of Sikh community, he participated congregations in Gurdawara and went to Ganesh Temple in New York.
Mamdani threatened to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they visited the city.
He alleged that the city's police were working with Israel's military.
Trump's threat and his endorsement of Cuomo were capitalised by Mamdani, who wore it as a badge of honour, riling up voters displeased with Trump.
The stage is set for a confrontation between Mamdani and Trump, who has moved against Democrat-run cities with aggressive immigration enforcement and deployed federal forces, including the National Guard, for law and order.