Mamdani calls out immigrants in victory speech: This democracy is for you too

New York Mayor-elect Zahran Mamdani (D) spoke Tuesday to a large crowd at Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater after a big win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (I) and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

Mamdani said his audience consists of working-class progressive voters, immigrants, and people of color who “can’t identify themselves” within the Democratic Party.

However, the New York City mayor-elect added that policy in New York will soon change to better reflect the needs of the people it serves.

“This new era will be characterized by the competence and compassion that have been in conflict for too long,” he told supporters during his victory speech. “We will prove that no problem is too big for government to solve, and no concern is too small for government.”

“For years, those on the City Council only helped those they could help, but on January 1, we will announce a city government that helps everyone,” he added.

Mamdani managed to mobilize more than 100,000 volunteers to demolish more than 3 million homes in 273 New York neighborhoods during his election campaign.

The canvassing effort spread across the city, sending shock waves to traditional politicians who criticized his plans for city-run grocery stores, free child care and free transportation.

However, Mamdani said his administration would chart “the most ambitious agenda to address the cost of living crisis,” citing his socialist predecessors Eugene Debs and Fiorello Henry LaGuardia in his acceptance speech.

“We will stand with unions and expand worker protections because we know, as Donald Trump knows, that when workers have strict rights, the employers who seek to extort them are very small,” the Democratic Socialist promised.

“Indeed, New York will remain a city of immigrants. A city built by immigrants, a city led by immigrants, and as of tonight, an immigrant-led city.

“So, listen to me, President Trump, when I say this, to get to any one of us, you’re going to have to get past all of us,” he added.

Amid the White House’s increasing raids on immigrants, Mamdani has objected to deportations and has promised to do so while in office with an iron fist, indicating the strength of his base at the ballot box.

“Thank you to those whose city politics are often forgotten and who made this movement their own. I’m talking about the Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, the Senegalese taxi drivers and the Uzbek nurses, the Trinidadian chefs and the Ethiopian aunties, yes aunties,” he told his supporters.

“To all the New Yorkers of Kensington, Midwood, and Hunts Point, know that this city is your city, and this democracy is your city, too.”