Zohran Mamdani: Meet the Uganda-Born Politician Named After Kwame Nkrumah Who Became New York Mayor
YEN.com.gh takes a look at the African and Ghanaian links of New York's first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
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Zohran Mamdani made history on November 4 by becoming the first Muslim to be elected the mayor of New York City after defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
Source: Getty Images
The 34-year-old Democratic Socialist and state assembly member from Queens won by more than 50% of the vote.
In addition to being New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also the first South Asian mayor and the youngest mayor in more than a century.
He also has African roots, given he was born in born in Uganda to Indian parents, who also named him after Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president and a Pan African hero.
Mamdani only became a US citizen in 2018. His mother picked his first name, which means 'the first star in the sky'. His father picked his middle name, Kwame, to honour Nkrumah's fight for independence and African unity.
He resonated with Ghanaians and got an endorsement from the Ghana Diaspora Political Action Committee, which hailed his commitment to immigrant communities and working families.
Stephanie A. Arthur of the committee highlighted Mamdani’s personal background as central to his policy positions.
"Zohran’s upbringing in Uganda and the profound influence of being named after Ghana’s first president have shaped his lifelong affinity for immigrant communities."
What did Mayor Mamdani campaign about?
When Mamdani launched his campaign for mayor in 2024, he was a relatively unknown state lawmaker. He campaigned on making his city more affordable and resonated with thousands of New Yorkers.
He called for freezing rents on rent-stabilised units, building more affordable housing, raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour, making buses free, increasing taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents and more.
Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani moved to New York City with his family at the age of seven and became a US citizen in 2018.
On November 3, 2020, he was elected to the New York State Assembly to represent District 36.
Before representing the 36th Assembly District and its neighbourhoods of Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, and Astoria Heights, Mamdani worked as a foreclosure prevention housing counsellor.
In this role, he helped low-income homeowners of colour across stave off eviction and stay in their homes.
Aside from his professional experience, it was the act of organising that led to Mamdani becoming politically active.
Per his assembly profile, in high school, he co-founded his school’s first-ever cricket team, which would go on to participate in the Public School Athletic League’s inaugural cricket season.
"This act, though not ostensibly a political one, taught him how coming together with a few like-minded individuals can transform rhetoric into reality."
He went on to co-found his college’s first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and later organised across the country with different progressive organisations seeking to win national elections as well as expand healthcare coverage.
As life took its inevitable turns, with detours in film, rap, where he performed under the name Mr Cardamom, and writing, it was always organising that ensured that the events of the world would not lead him to despair, but to action.
What did Mamdani say after historic victory?
Mamdani aimed at US President Donald Trump during his election victory speech.
Reuters reported that he didn't shy away from calling the US President authoritarian and a despot.
Mamdani told a raucous crowd that New York held the key to defeating Trump:
"If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
Source: UGC
He added:
"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."
Trump already threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding from New York City if Mamdani was elected.
This would follow previous funding cuts by the Trump administration in political moves targeting Democratic congressional leaders, also from the city.
Trump said to CBS' 60 Minutes:
"If you have a communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there."
Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
