Why Donald Trump is rattled by Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York

A series of Democratic victories have given the party hope ahead of next year's midterm elections

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New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won a historic victory to become the city's 111th mayor, defeating independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa. Photograph: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images.
New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won a historic victory to become the city's 111th mayor, defeating independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa. Photograph: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images.

On Tuesday New Yorkers elected socialist and Democratic Party candidate Zohran Mamdani as mayor. Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim and African-born mayor and the youngest in over a century, was harshly criticised by President Donald Trump throughout the campaign.

But his win, along with the election of several other Democrats in races across the country, has forced Trump to start taking seriously the threat of a Democratic resurgence in next year’s midterm elections. And Democrats are starting to feel hopeful, even if Mamdani’s election poses questions about what the party has become and exactly how it should take on Trump.

Keith Duggan reports from Washington.

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