(New York) The rising star of the New American Left Zohran Mamdani has defeated its centrist rival Andrew Cuomo well and by a greater margin than expected in the Democratic primary for the town hall of New York, according to the full results published on Tuesday.
Mr. Mamdani, 33, confused the pollsters last week by climbing first in the Democratic primary before the former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, 67, who was trying to return after a sex scandal.
In the first round of this complex election, where democratic voters had to prioritize their preference among a dozen candidates, Zohran Mamdani had raised 43 % of the vote, against 36 % for Mr. Cuomo who had conceded the victory without waiting for the complete results.
However Zohran Mamdani finally crossed the majority threshold (56 %) with 12 points ahead of Mr. Cuomo (44 %), after postponement of voice, according to these complete results unveiled on Tuesday.
“The Democrats have given a clear mandate in favor of an affordable city, of a political vision of the future and for a leader who is not afraid to fight against the rise of authoritarianism,” reacted Mr. Mamdani on Tuesday.
His victory, which was not in doubt, propelled him to the front of the political scene in the United States, while the Democratic Party seeks a leadership after the Biden years and the defeat of Kamala Harris in the November presidential election against Donald Trump.
Born in Uganda, a Muslim confession, saying to himself “socialist” and activist of the Palestinian cause, Zohran Mamdani federated the young people of the party, but also attracted the wrath of conservative circles which qualify him as “communist” or “radical”.
In an interview on Sunday on the show Meet the press From the NBC channel, Zohran Mamdani said “not being” communist while tulling the ultra -ties. “I don’t think we should have billionaires (…), but I’m going to work with everyone,” he added.
“I heard that it was a real crazy and I think that if people from New York are going on this path, they are crazy,” Donald Trump said on Tuesday interviewed on the ascent of Zohran Mamdani.
During the municipal election of the first city in the United States, next November, the latter will face the outgoing mayor Eric Adams, a democrat marked on the right and who presents himself as independent, and the Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Andrew Cuomo juggles the possibility of running for the town hall under an independent banner, his team said on Tuesday, adding that he was currently leading “discussions” to “determine the next steps”.
