New York City woke up to history — and to a headline few saw coming. At just 34 years old, community organizer Zohran Mamdani pulled off one of the city’s most stunning political upsets, defeating heavyweights like Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa in a landslide. With more than a million votes to his name, Mamdani not only became New York’s youngest mayor in nearly a century but also the first Muslim and first South Asian to ever hold the office. For many, his victory wasn’t just political — it felt like the city itself had turned a new page.
The celebration inside Brooklyn’s Paramount Theatre captured that sense of change. Supporters waved banners and chanted as Mamdani, joined by his wife Rama Duwaji, took the stage. He declared, “New York will remain a city of immigrants, built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and now led by one.” Across the Atlantic, London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan congratulated him, saying the result proved “hope wins over fear.” But the moment that lit up social media came when Mamdani addressed former President Donald Trump directly, delivering four fiery words that instantly went viral: “Turn the volume up.”