On November 4, night, by the time the polls closed, the world came to know that another iconic metropolis was going to be led by an Indian American, a South Asian, a Muslim.
Zohran Mamdani, the 34 year-old Democratic Socialist won a decisive victory to become mayor of a global city, the City That Never Sleeps, the Crossroads of the World. He did what Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, UK, did many years before him.
Uganda-born Mamdani, the son of Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, made history as his aspirational speech promised to uplift the poor and make the Big Apple an affordable place to call home. Along the way, he challenged President Donald Trump and declared politics would be played differently from this day on.
Analysts will, over the coming weeks, examine Mamdani’s support base, but Indian Americans, even though they were split on his candidacy, and other South Asians, as well as several other minorities are already claiming they played a massive role in casting the votes that led to the defeat of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an Independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican.
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Mamdani’s embrace of Indian American and other South Asian communities concentrated in some boroughs, was a new phenomenon, and videos of rallies made up heavily of South Asians became a hallmark of his campaign.
During his victory speech November 4 night, the crowd of volunteers and other supporters, was distinctly youthful and belonging to numerous ethnicities, evident from the interviews in the news coverage on almost every channel – Caucasians, Blacks, Jews, Indians, including Indo-Caribbeans, Chinese and other East Asians, and Latinos, spoke glowingly of Mamdani and what they saw as his new brand of politics.
From Harlem to Hindu Temples and synagogues to churches and local grassroots events, Mamdani moved through his 12-month campaign to garner not only support, but also a machinery of thousands of volunteers.
The campaign not only reverberated around the nation, but also beyond. A Reuters report noted that Left-wing parties in Europe were taking a lesson and courage from Mamdani’s victory.
Come January 1, 2026, when he will be sworn-in, Mamdani said, he will begin implementing his vision of a more livable New York City, a kinder, gentler behemoth.
Other Highlights
Mamdani’s victory is not the only Indian American gain during the November 4 elections. In New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Minnesota, and elsewhere, up and down the ballot, candidates from the community appear to have been elected or re-elected.
According to the Indian American Impact Fund, a Washington-based political action committee, 19 candidates that it endorsed won elections around the country.
Among the notables was Ghazala Hashmi, the first-ever Indian American elected to statewide office in Virginia, as Lt. Governor; Mayor Aftab Pureval of Cincinnati of mixed Indian and Tibetan heritage who defeated Pastor Cory Bowman, the half-brother of Vice President J.D. Vance; and Joe Khan as district attorney of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Plus, by November 5, as this went to press, 4 candidates had advanced to runoff elections and 5 elections were still too close to call.
“After the election on Tuesday, there are now 50 South Asian state legislators nationwide, as well as over 350 total South Asian elected officials,” Impact Fund estimated in its press release.
Chintan Patel, executive director of the Indian American Impact Fund, said, “The results of the election this past Tuesday proved that whether it’s city council, mayor, or statewide office, South Asian Americans are part of the political future of this country.”
Impact Fund List of November 4 Election wins :
Ghazala Hashmi, Lieutenant Governor, Virginia
Zohran Mamdani, Mayor New York City, New York
Aftab Pureval, Mayor Cincinnati, Ohio
Joe Khan, District Attorney Bucks County, Pennsylvania
J.J. Singh, State House HD-26, Virginia
Balvir Singh, State Assembly LD-07, New Jersey
Sterley Stanley, State Assembly LD-18, New Jersey
Ravi Bhalla, State Assembly LD-32, New Jersey
Sangeeta Doshi, City Council Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Diya Patel, City Council Parsippany, New Jersey
Dimple Ajmera, City Council At-Large Charlotte, North Carolina
Haseeb Fatmi, Board of Commissioners Wake Forest, North Carolina
Minita Sanghvi, County Supervisor Saratoga Springs, New York
Anant Nambiar, County Supervisor Westchester District 7, New York
Ajmeri Hoque, Attorney Franklin County, Ohio
Kim Singh, City Council Mason, Ohio
Nalini Krishnankutty, City Council State College Borough, Pennsylvania
Uday Palled, City Council Franklin Park Ward 1, Pennsylvania
Venu Paruvelli, City Council Franklin Park Ward 2, Pennsylvania
