Won over by the promise of progressive change and a more affordable city, voters flocked to polling locations on Tuesday to cast their ballots for Zohran Mamdani.
To many of his supporters, Mr. Mamdani, 34, represented hope and opportunity, offering an ambitious agenda in the face of rising costs of living and threats by a president who has aggressively pushed the bounds of executive authority.
“It feels like hope,” Michelle McSweeney, 44, said in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where she cast her ballot for Mr. Mamdani with her two children. “I don’t think I’ve felt like this since Barack Obama.”
Catchy promises like free buses and a rent freeze also excited New Yorkers who were afraid of being priced out of their homes and unable to afford basic necessities.
Muhammad Awais, 32, who works at a grocery store in Jackson Heights, Queens, said President Trump’s tariffs had doubled the price of imported goods at his store, making it “painful” for families and working-class people like himself to pay for groceries. As a proud Muslim, Mr. Awais said he wanted to see Mr. Mamdani become the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Gaoussou Dibassy, 19, a Harlem native who attends college in Syracuse, N.Y., said he had scheduled an appointment with his orthodontist so he could return home to vote. He said affordability was his foremost concern.
“Mamdani brings a refreshing sense that he understands us, and that he knows what we’re going through, and he’s looking to address the problems that will actually impact our lives,” he said.
Many young voters said they were attracted to Mr. Mamdani’s age and energy as much as to his populist ideas.
Osman Zuluaga, 31, a bartender who lives in Astoria, Queens, said he saw much of himself in Mr. Mamdani, who is around the same age and also lives in Astoria.
“Growing up in the same neighborhood, he’s relatable and he’s got a great smile,” he said.
Mr. Zuluaga has called Astoria home since he was a child but said he was “seriously considering” leaving the city if the cost of living did not go down. An expectant father, he said he could use the $1,800 he pays for rent each month to move to a family house in Chicago that would be more spacious and affordable for his soon-to-be family of three.
Mr. Mamdani’s identity as a Muslim immigrant has also connected with many New Yorkers. Melyssa Mateus, 34, immigrated from Peru and lives in Flushing, Queens. A registered Democrat, Ms. Mateus said the city needed a “person to fight for our rights.”
She added: “He represents all the immigrants, because he’s an immigrant also. And that’s a lot for me.”
Mr. Trump has publicly slammed Mr. Mamdani as excessively liberal, urging voters to back former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat who ran as an independent after losing to Mr. Mamdani in the primary.
For some anti-Trump New Yorkers, that endorsement reinforced Mr. Mamdani’s portrayal of Mr. Cuomo as a puppet of the president.
“I’m really not interested in someone leading my city who’s endorsed by the Trump administration,” said Noah Ezell, 27, a resident of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who added that they believed Mr. Mamdani would protect New Yorkers against the president’s immigration policies.
But Mr. Mamdani’s appeal wasn’t universal.
Some New Yorkers said they struggled to believe that Mr. Mamdani, who as a state assemblyman in Albany has introduced only three relatively minor bills that have become law in four years, was ready to lead the nation’s largest city.
In Brooklyn, Isaac Himmelman, 35, said he had voted for Mr. Cuomo because he thought Mr. Mamdani’s economic policies had good intentions but weren’t realistic. Nicholas Romano, 40, who also voted for Mr. Cuomo in Brooklyn, said, “Mamdani could be cool,” but added, “I don’t think that it’s his time.”
“The polarization is massive,” Mr. Romano said. “I’m looking for someone trying to bring us more to the center.”
In Jamaica, Queens, Chanchol Ahmed, 66, decided to give Mr. Mamdani the benefit of the doubt.
“Mamdani, he’s got to prove himself,” Mr. Ahmed said. “But the other people, they proved themselves wrong.”
Nate Schweber, Wesley Parnell, Tim Balk, Ang Li and Axel Boada contributed reporting.
Ashley Ahn covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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