Zohran Mamdani celebrates after his well deserved victory
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I A new vote count on Tuesday confirmed Zohran Mamdani as having won the New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. He trounced the former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 12 percentage points.
In a statement he issued shortly after being declared winner, Mamdani said he was humbled by the support he received in the primary.
“Now I have turned my attention to the general election,” he said, having delivered a mandate for an affordable city, a politics of the future.
He had branded himself as a leader unafraid to fight back against rising authoritarianism.
“I am humbled by the support of more than 545,000 New Yorkers who voted for our campaign and am excited to expand this coalition even further as we defeat Eric Adams and win a city government that puts working people first,” he said.
Mamdani, who declared victory the night of the June 24 primary, will face a general election field that includes incumbent Mayor Eric Adams as well as independent candidate Jim Walden and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Voters had widely expected Mamdani’s win since he took a commanding lead after the polls closed a week ago. He just fell short of the 50% of the vote needed to avoid another count under the city’s ranked choice voting model, which allows voters’ other preferences to be counted if their top candidate falls out of the running.
Not over yet
However, although the former governor is currently down, he has declared that he is not yet out.
Cuomo has conceded defeat just hours after the polls closed, but he is reportedly contemplating running in the general election on an independent ballot.
Virtually unknown when he launched his candidacy a few weeks ago, Mamdani, a 33-year-old is a high flying democratic socialist and member of the state Assembly.
He has since built an energetic campaign that ran circles around Cuomo, his older opponent.
