NYC Democratic mayoral primary live updates and 2025 election results

Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was spending Tuesday night at a roof-top bar in Long Island City, a fitting venue for the millennial progressive candidate who has energized younger Democrats. 

Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist, was once considered a dark horse in this race. He has since been climbing the polls, with at least one showing him neck and neck with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

His campaign promise is to lower the cost of living by freezing rent for stabilized tenants, making city buses and child care free, building 200,000 affordable housing units, and creating city-owned grocery stores.

Mamdani says he plans to pay for it by raising the corporate tax and taxing top earners a flat 2%.

Critics say Mamdani is too inexperienced and idealistic, but he has undoubtedly managed to energize a base with his social media savvy and progressive platform.

“What we offer is a vision to keep New Yorkers in the place that they call home, and an antidote to the Trump administration and the hatred and the division that it spews,” Mamdani said. “We are showing people that hope is not something that is naive. It is, in fact, righteous when it is built upon a plan and a vision. We are showing New York City that a better day is possible, and today is the first of many of them.”

Mamdani is endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and the Working Families Party. Democrats around the country are watching this race and this candidate in particular, because if Mamdani succeeds in one of the first elections since Donald Trump returned to office, it could signal to the party what type of candidate Democratic voters are hungry for.