“Turn the volume up” said Zohran Mamdani in his acceptance speech after winning the New York City mayoral election — as a response to current US president Donald Trump’s threats to cut off all federal funding in New York City.
On November 4, 2025, at about 9:30pm ET, the democratic nominee beat out the independent Andrew Cuomo in a 50.4 to 41.6 percentage vote in the 2025 election polls to become the new New York City mayor.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist and former assemblyman now has a big opportunity to show off what he is capable of doing in such a big landmark like New York City. However, there is a ton of controversy surrounding him — especially from republicans.
Aaron Broudo, a D2 history teacher explains some reasons for the controversy surrounding him. Part of the reason that Aaron says that he’s controversial is because of his Race and religion. Mamdani is the first ever Muslim mayor of New York City. As the 111th New York City mayor, he is also the third mayor of color. Aaron also said, “I think it’s also about his youth, I also think socialism is involved in his level of controversy and his views on Israel.”
Maria Molina, a D1 art teacher believes that his inexperience in governing is an asset of his. She said, “I think that it doesn’t matter. I think he has a lot of experience in other areas, advocating for other people.” She also talks about his beliefs of socialism, causing people to believe that his ideas are controversial. She said, “One, he identifies as a democratic socialist and because of that, people are afraid of him because people have an understanding that socialism is bad because it prevents people from being successful.”
Fannie Lou seniors like Jeremiah Rivera believe that he is too inexperienced to run the city. He said “He has never held an important position as far as I’m concerned.” He also believes that people were swayed by his slick social media campaign and not look at his policies. He said “a lot of times they don’t look into policies, just what looks appealing to them.”
With 10 million followers on Instagram and 3.3 million followers on TikTok, Mamdani is one of the first social media mayors. Mamdani’s campaign videos are very well produced and highlight his youth — something not a lot of politicians have. This may be a new trend as far as politics go. We see this with Jack Schlossberg, who is John F. Kennedy Jr’s grandson, who is launching a campaign for the NY-12 congressional district.
Politics needs fresh young faces in order to serve the needs of younger generations. This may be the start of politicians who cater to young people via social media.