New mayor gives message to supporters and detractors
Mamdani took the stage at the Brooklyn Paramount just before 11:30 p.m. to deliver a victory speech that touched on the future of the Democratic party, took aim at Andrew Cuomo and reinforced some of his top policy priorities, including to freeze rents for stabilized apartments.
He also called out President Donald Trump.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” he said.
“We will hold bad landlords to account because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants,” he continued. “We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax rates.”
He framed his win as a new chapter for the Democratic party, saying that setting and achieving a bold agenda would help regain public trust.
“We have bowed at the altar of caution, and we have paid a mighty price,” he said. “Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party, and too many among us have turned to the right for answers to why they’ve been left behind. We will leave mediocrity in our past.”
He pointed to the rent freeze as something that will prove to voters that they don’t need to open a history book “for proof that Democrats can dare to be great.”
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, alluded to criticisms that Cuomo’s campaign fomented Islamophobia, saying “no more will New York City be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”
He said his administration “will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism.” He also said Muslims in the city will know that they belong not just in New York, but “in the halls of power.”
Early on in his speech, Mamdani said he hopes that Tuesday is the last time he has to say Cuomo’s name.
“My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty, he said.