How Mamdani is defying immigrant expectations by embracing his identity: ‘His boldness resonates’

New York City mayor-elect refused to be in the shadows' in the face of Islamophobic attacks during his campaign

Across the country, Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants has shaken neighbourhoods, torn apart families and engendered a sense of panic among communities. But in New York, on Tuesday night, Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of New York, and an immigrant from Uganda, chose to underline his identity. New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant," he told an ecstatic crowd at Paramount theater in Brooklyn.

The son of a Muslim father and a Hindu mother, he was born in Kampala, raised in Queens, and identifies as a democratic socialist. Almost every aspect of Mamdani's identity had been an issue of contention during the election. Earlier this week, the Center for Study of Organized Hate published a report highlighting the surge in Islamophobic comments online between July and October, most of which labelled Mamdani as an extremist or terrorist.