Copyright The Boston Globe
“Just this feeling of intense, intense hope and motivation,” Bhaiwala, who lives and works in Boston, said. “It feels like we believe in something again and even for myself, it just gives me hope for what I can also do.” Mamdani’s victory is a stunning moment for Muslims in New England and across the country, at a time when some surveys have suggested that Islamophobia is on the rise across the US. He is set to become one of the most prominent Muslim-American elected officials and will preside over a city that is the center of American capitalism. Mamdani’s emergence as a national figure comes at a time when a crackdown on immigrants has intensified during the second Trump presidency, with ICE agents regularly detaining what they say are undocumented residents in cities across the country. At his victory speech on Tuesday night, Mamdani spoke of his faith and what his election signified for his fellow Muslims in New York City and across the country. He talked about how Muslims in the city can know that they belong. “No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election,” he told the roaring crowd at his victory party. “I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.” He also promised that 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 said. His speech spoke to Omar Bah, the founder and Executive Director of the Refugee Dream Center in Providence, who was hundreds of miles away in Washington, D.C., for work on election night. Bah was sitting in his hotel watching the news on television, awaiting the results when Mamdani’s victory was announced. It was an emotional moment for Bah, an immigrant from Gambia, who became a citizen and had once run for Congress in Rhode Island. “It was a mix of excitement, but also a feeling of history,” he said. “I feel, you know, elated because history was made - an immigrant, a Muslim, and a young person, who energized a great base in the city of New York, the greatest city in the world. So I felt very, very happy.” During his campaign, Mamdanispoke about fears some Muslims had expressed about his political aspirations. He said that many believe the only way to be safe and fully themselves in a city like New York is to practice their faith in the shadows. He spoke about how the stain of suspicion that sometimes Muslims have carried in the country, which many thought became especially pronounced in the period after 9/11. But he also, defiantly, said he will not hide who he is. “I will not change the faith that I am proud to belong to,” he said. “But there is one thing I will change. I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.” Mamdani alluded to anti-Muslim attacks he has faced from his political opponents. One example he gave was a radio show host who suggested that he might cheer if another September 11 attack were to hit the city. He said that his remarks on his faith were partly inspired by former President Barack Obama’s speech on race during his own history-making campaign in 2008, he told CNN. Bah said that Mamdani’s victory speech on Tuesday was encouraging to Muslims and showed that their identities and faith were not things they should hide or be ashamed of. “This moment spreads some sort of growth, but also progress for Muslims, but also all minorities in this country,” he said. “[It] has given some sense of progress to the American society that hopefully will transcend this religious bigotry and discrimination.” Mamdani’s election ascendance was historic not just because of his faith. He was a little-known member of the state Assembly polling in the single digits at the start of the mayoral campaign. The 34-year-old went on to defeat a former Governor of the state in Andrew Cuomo, who came into the race with deep political roots in the city, first in the primary and on Tuesday in the general election and soon will be the youngest mayor in New York in more than a century. He ran a campaign intensely focused on the high cost of living in what is often described as the most expensive city in the country. He has said he wants to make New York City more affordable for its residents with an agenda that includes promises to freeze rent for stabilized apartments, provide free childcare, eliminate fares on public buses and open up city-run grocery stores. His rise to power also happened during a period where the Democratic Party has been reeling from its loss to Trump last November and has been searching for leaders to help it navigate its way back to governance. Analysts suggested that Mamdani’s victory and his campaign’s focus on affordability could become a blueprint for the party’s efforts to retain power in Washington, where Republicans control both chambers of Congress and occupy the presidency in the White House. For Bah, Mamdani’s campaign could also act as a model and a sign that Muslims and immigrants who harbor political aspirations can enter electoral politics. “Mamdani’s win represented the many journeys and voices [of people] like me,” Bah said. “But also other individuals in our shoes, who could use this energy, but also this historic moment as an opportunity to see themselves in his shoes and run in the future and get elected.”
