One of a kind

When he is sworn in on Jan. 1, Zohran Mamdani will be New York City’s first Muslim Asian mayor who is also an avowed socialist in a land where socialism is equated with communism. He takes his Muslim identity seriously. During his campaign he condemned hate speech against the 1 million Muslim New Yorkers who have faced Islamophobia. “To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity, but indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it,” he stated and castigated “the tolerance” of indignity. “We know that to stand in public as a Muslim is also to sacrifice the safety that we can sometimes find in the shadows,” he told a rally.

Born in Uganda in 1991 of parents of Indian descent, he is a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America who worked as a housing counsellor and musician and has served in the New York State Assembly since 2021. He campaigned on affordable housing, free city buses, universal public childcare, city-owned grocery stores, and boosting the current $16-17 minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030.

He has pledged to stabilise rents. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan in November 2025 was $4,778, a nearly 20 per cent increase from 2022, while in Brooklyn, average rent for a 1-bedroom is $3,625, about a 5 per cent increase, according to RentHop.

“This is a city where one in four of its people are living in poverty, a city where 500,000 kids go to sleep hungry every night,” Mamdani told the BBC. “And ultimately, it’s a city that is in danger of losing that which makes it so special.” This is, of course, inhabitants of modest and less than modest means who provide the work needed to run the city.

To finance his his plans, Mamdani wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 7.25 per cent to 11.5 per cent, equal to the high end of New Jersey’s range. He also wants a 2 per cent tax from New Yorkers who earn more than $1 million a year. These taxes would raise $9 billion. However, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, another Democrat, has said she won’t support fresh taxes on the wealthy.

Mamdani’s wife who will be New York City’s first Muslim lady, Rama Sawaf Duwaji was born in 1997 in Houston, Texas, to Syrian Muslim parents from Damascus. Her family moved to Dubai when she was nine years old. She is an animator, illustrator, and ceramist. Her illustrations have been featured in “The New Yorker” and “The Washington Post,” and at the BBC, Apple, and Tate Modern. A person of conscience like her husband, Duwaji’s illustrations illuminate Arab culture, depict daily life and promote social justice for women in the region.

A week ago, Mamdani announced appointments to his Elected Advisory Committee which is made up of more than 100 elected officials from all levels of government. The group, which will identify his priorities and set his agenda, “includes leaders who endorsed and championed Mamdani’s movement to deliver an affordable New York City.”

Leading members include House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Governor Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and all four Democratic borough presidents.

As mayor-elect, Mamdani has already assumed a political role. He has condemned the shooter who killed two and injured eight at Brown University in Rhode Island and called for gun control, a highly sensitive issue in a country where one-third of adults own 500 million weapons, 1.5 million guns for every citizen. Mamdani may have taken up a popular issue when backing control as 58 per cent favour stricter gun laws while 26 per cent say gun laws are about right and 15 per cent prefer less strict controls. However, the gun lobby, which rejects controls, is very powerful on the national level.

Mamdani has also taken on the no less influential pro-Israel lobby in a city which hosts more than 1 million Jews (the same number as Muslims), many of whom voted for him in the November election although he charged Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. He has refused to recognise Israel’s “right to exist” as a Jewish state and has faced down the head of the New York Board of Rabbis on this issue. He challenged Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch who declared that “anti-Zionist rhetoric and anti-Israel policies will threaten Jewish safety in NYC and will, inevitably, lead to an unproductive and tense relationship with the Jewish community. What Mr Mamdani says and which policies he pursues is up to him – he will be the mayor – but I emphasised that the Jewish community will energetically oppose any and all anti-Israel rhetoric and action.”

While Mamdani has called Donald Trump a “despot,” he has accused the mayor-elect of being a radical and a communist, and has threatened to withhold federal funds from a Mamdani administration. However, when they met at the White House on Nov. 21, they spoke of their common interest in New York City’s welfare. Trump hoped Mamdani would be a “really great mayor” and expressed confidence in him. As both grew up in New York City boroughs, they had a “shared admiration and love” of the city, Mamdani said. “This city could be unbelievable – if he could be a spectacular success, I’ll be very happy,” Trump stated. Although he resides in Trump Tower in Manhattan when in the city, Trump agreed with Mamdani that affordability must be delivered to all New Yorkers. It will be interesting to see if the truce survives Mamdani’s investiture and the new year.

Photo: TNS