But president rages
How New York celebrated the anti-Trump mayor
Zohran Mamdani's success in the mayoral election in New York is giving the progressive wing of the US Democrats a boost nationwide - and challenging President Donald Trump. The first taste of this was served up at the 34-year-old's election party. In the meantime, Trump has already announced consequences.
The "democratic socialist" and Muslim Mamdani, who comes from Uganda and is the son of Indian immigrants, won the election impressively against the Trump-backed candidate Andrew Cuomo, who is a Democrat but ran as an independent. And in Trump's hometown, of all places.
Video: Mamdani's first speech in front of his cheering supporters
Mamdani to Trump in front of fans: "Turn up the volume!"
On the evening of his election victory, the 34-year-old, who has only been a US citizen for seven years, took to the stage in the borough of Brooklyn. "In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light," he shouted to his cheering supporters. He then addressed the US President directly: "Donald Trump, because I know you're watching," he said with a smile. "Turn it up!" According to Mamdani, New York will remain a city of immigrants. "To get to one of us, you have to get past all of us."
The preliminary end result:
First Muslim mayor of New York
Mamdani, who will be the city's first Muslim mayor, also addressed the countless "Yemeni bodega owners, Senegalese cab drivers and Trinidadian kitchen workers". The 34-year-old said: "Here, we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you're an immigrant, a member of the transgender community, one of the many black women Donald Trump has fired from federal office, a single mom still waiting for food prices to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall." New York will no longer be a city where you can campaign and win elections on Islamophobia.
New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, driven by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
Zohran Mamdani, der neugewählte Bürgermeister New Yorks
Supporters with tears in their eyes
His supporters cheered loudly, some had tears in their eyes, others hugged each other with emotion. Mamdani's most ardent supporters are mainly young, well-educated urbanites who feel that the central promise of the USA - advancement through achievement - no longer applies to them. They carry high student debt, are finding it increasingly difficult to find secure jobs and are paying rents that are barely affordable.
To get to one of us, you have to get past all of us!
Zohran Mamdani an Donald Trump
New mayor wants to make the rich pay
Mamdani wants to address their concerns. He has promised a rent freeze, free buses and childcare. This is to be financed by higher taxes on the rich and companies.
Mamdani has also received broad support from the progressive political camp. Left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X that Mamdani had achieved "one of the biggest political overturns in modern American history".
Comparison with Obama
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also from New York, called the election victory "a big step towards a better future for our city" - and at the same time a message to the President: "He knows that if he messes with us, he's messing with the whole country." The Democratic minority leader in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, congratulated Mamdani on a "historic and well-deserved victory". And civil rights activist Al Sharpton even drew a comparison with Barack Obama: since his election victory in 2008, he said, he had not experienced such euphoria and hope among voters.
Photos by Zohran Mamdani:
"The exodus has begun!"
The well-known left-wing US influencer Hasan Piker gave a speech to reporters and well-wishers with a drink in his hand. "The exodus has begun!" shouted Piker loudly, seeming to mock predictions of a massive exodus of the rich and other opponents of the future mayor from New York. It should not go unmentioned, however, that Piker once claimed that America deserved 9/11 (the attack on the World Trade Center on September 9, 2001) and that it was unfortunate that the U.S. had won the Cold War against the Soviet Union.
Joyce Ravitz, a volunteer who at 82 has lived in the city for six decades, praised Mamdani as a new voice she had known little about a year ago. "He doesn't think in entrenched patterns," she said, "He's not entrenched."
Mockery and invective against losing candidate
The election party also turned into a rolling satire of losing candidate Cuomo, delivered gleefully by a number of personalities from his past. Cynthia Nixon, an actress and progressive activist who ran unsuccessfully against Cuomo in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor, said it was finally time for him to step down. "He's an old man," she said, "enough is enough."
"New York City is breathing in this moment"
When Cuomo appeared on screen without sound for his defeat speech, the crowd booed so loudly that it briefly drowned out Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money." Those in attendance waved goodbye to Cuomo and berated him. Mamdani was only slightly more diplomatic. "I wish Andrew Cuomo nothing but the best in his personal life," he said once he had the microphone. "But tonight will be the last time I speak his name." "New York City is breathing in this moment."
Photos from the election party - Zohran Mamdani's supporters cheered and hugged each other with emotion. Some even shed tears:
At borough election parties, many who had invested their time, money and hope in him heeded that advice, from supporters gathered outside the theater watching on their cell phones to a boisterous gathering in Queens for the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
"Surreal"
Letitia James, the state attorney general whose office had detailed sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo, expressed excitement about the outcome just a few feet away from Lindsey Boylan, one of Cuomo's most prominent accusers. "Surreal," Boylan said, gazing up at the high ceiling.
Mamdani criticized for stance on Israel
But not everyone shares Mamdani's enthusiasm. His drastic criticism of Israel has been met with disapproval in parts of New York's diverse Jewish population. Older black and Latin American New Yorkers see the cosmopolitan millennial from a privileged background as the face of the gentrification that is causing their rents to rise.
Concerns among the party leadership
The Democratic party leadership is also having a hard time with the vocal 34-year-old. There are major doubts that his recipe for success can work beyond progressive New York. They fear his image could scare off voters elsewhere - and do not believe the young politician can manage the metropolis' 116 billion dollar budget and hundreds of thousands of civil servants.
"NYT: How Mamdani can write the next chapter for New York
However, Mamdani is earning plenty of praise from the "New York Times". The new mayor is inspiring young people who are cynical about politics. "He will be the city's first Muslim mayor, the youngest mayor in more than a century and the first mayor with an immigrant background since the 1970s," writes the paper. But the reasons why many New Yorkers are skeptical of him should also be taken seriously. "To this day, he proudly identifies with the Democratic Socialists of America, whose platform supports open borders, voting rights for non-citizens and a weakening of the US military."
Trump is fuming and wants to "take care" of New York
While there were celebrations in the metropolis, the mood in Washington was probably much more subdued. On his online service Truth Social, Trump initially explained the defeat of his Republicans succinctly by saying that "Trump was not on the ballot". Even before the election, he had threatened to provide New York with "no more than the minimum federal funds required by law" if Mamdani won. On Wednesday, Trump finally announced consequences. "We will take care of it", Trump said in a speech to business representatives in Miami, Florida.
Trump said that Miami would "soon become a haven for all those fleeing communism in New York". The East Coast metropolis would face an "economic nightmare" with Mamdani, while there would be an "economic miracle" in Florida.
"New position within the Democrats"
USA expert Reinhard Heinisch from the University of Salzburg analyzed the possible political consequences of this election for the parties in the USA on "ZiB 2" on Wednesday evening. According to him, the Democrats have once again learned not to make democracy itself an issue, "but to take care of people's concerns". There is now a new position within the Democrats between the "traditional Biden camp, the former center" and "a far-left outside, a Mamdani", said Heinisch: "I believe that the future of the party also lies in this line in the middle."
Trump still controls all three branches of government
At the same time, the Republicans are waging a "culture war", they are pursuing "an ideological election campaign". According to Heinisch, however, it is the Democratic, issue-based campaign and not the abstract Republican campaign that "electrifies" the masses. But: "Trump's strength stems from the fact that he continues to control all three branches of American politics." However, this "omnipotence" of Trump could be broken if the Democrats were to win the 2026 midterms, according to the expert. "Then they could put a stop to Trump by law."
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
