When Zohran Mamdani defeated his rivals Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa to become New York City’s next mayor, the 34-year-old politician celebrated with a fiery victory speech that directly called out one of his harshest critics — President Donald Trump.
Speaking to supporters in Brooklyn shortly after being declared the winner on Tuesday, Nov. 4, Mamdani vowed to “usher in a generation of change” and to “respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.”
He invoked Trump’s name pointedly, saying, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.” Referring to Trump’s Queens origins, he continued, “And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump; it’s how we stop the next one.”
Directly addressing the president, Mamdani added, “So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”
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He went on, “We will hold bad landlords to account because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks.”
Continuing his remarks, Mamdani pledged to strengthen worker protections: “We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.”
He also emphasized New York’s immigrant roots: “New York will remain a city of immigrants — a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.” Born in Uganda, Mamdani concluded, “To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us. When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high. We will meet them.”
Mamdani’s pointed words followed repeated attacks from Trump, who had endorsed Cuomo, 67, during the campaign. During a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, Nov. 2, the president falsely accused Mamdani of being a communist and said he would restrict federal funding to the city if Mamdani won. “It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York,” Trump said. “Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there.”
Shortly after Mamdani’s victory was confirmed, Trump reacted on Truth Social, posting, “…AND SO IT BEGINS!”
But Mamdani wasn’t the only Democrat celebrating on Tuesday. With Democrats winning key races in New Jersey, California, and Virginia, Trump argued that the results would have been different if his name had been on the ballot. In another Truth Social post as the election results came in, he wrote, “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.”
Though Trump didn’t identify the source, The New York Times noted that Democratic voters have “overperformed in every nonpresidential election year since 2017,” while Republican turnout tends to decline when Trump’s name isn’t listed on the ballot.
