By Michael Flowers | Published 3:16 p.m.

At 9 Bob Note in Bushwick on Tuesday night, the cheering started early. But few inside were waiting to see whether Zohran Mamdani would win. Most attendees were waiting to see what would come next.

The cavernous venue was filled to capacity by around 800 attendees as part of a Democratic Socialists of America-sponsored watch party. The bar erupted when networks projected Mamdani as New York City’s next mayor.

But the response wasn’t one of shock. “It doesn’t feel like the end of something,” said Valerie, 29, from Bushwick. “None of this was a surprise. Everything hasn’t been okay for a long time. This is a chance to try something else.”

Throughout the night, there was celebration. A DJ set from Takanami; the La Cocina taco stall selling paper boxes of guac and chips; a packed patio with a full-size cutout of Mamdani ready for photos; the socialist Jacobin magazine selling books and discount subscriptions. Threaded through the joy was a shared feeling that the clock on Mamdani’s campaign promises had begun ticking.

“In five years, I want to get a coffee and ride the train without spending $30,” said Lillian Worthen, 43, of Ridgewood. “I want storefronts with actual businesses, not chains. Parks, more money in my pocket, and families able to stay.”

Big screens cycled between Hell Gate’s election coverage and, later in the night, NY1’s feed hosted by long-time lead reporter Errol Louis. The music paused when Mamdani’s acceptance speech flashed on screen. “When we enter city hall in 58 days, expectations will be high,” said Mamdani, now the highest-profile member of the DSA. “We will meet them.”

The biggest cheers came when Mamdani declared New York would be led by an immigrant, and again when he stared down a hostile federal administration: “Donald Trump, I know you’re watching. Turn the volume up.”

“That line hit,” said Miquel Orellana, 32, of Sunset Park, sporting a “Mexicans for Zohran” t-shirt. “Immigrants are the backbone of this city. The night shift workers, the delivery guys, the line cooks. New York doesn’t exist without us.”

Andrew Cuomo’s concession speech warning the city was heading down “a dangerous road” drew a chorus of booing. “We will not tolerate any behavior that fans the flames of anti-Semitism or diverse attacks,” Cuomo said, to groans and calls from the crowd. “Go home, Cuomo,” attendees chanted. “Time’s up.”

An attendee who asked to remain anonymous said the energy underscored a shift in city politics.

“I don’t know how much Zohran will get done,” they said. “But he definitely is going to make Israel uncomfortable, and that is brand new.”

As the crowd thinned out past 2 a.m., Keith Beldenship, 29, of Williamsburg, framed the stakes bluntly, “If fares keep rising, if people in crisis don’t get help, if luxury towers keep going up, that’s failure,” he said.

Some attendees acknowledged the scale of what’s ahead — a hostile federal administration, a wary state government, entrenched finance and real estate interests, plus a general discontent with city government.

“This win is enormous,” said Tracey Gellen, 36. She has been a member of the DSA for more than 13 years.

“It’s not a victory lap. It’s a time expiration for the stale old guard, and a new deadline for us,” Gellen said. “Now we have to deliver.”

By Declan Lighthouse | Published 2:35 p.m.

In celebration of Mamdani’s mayoral victory, members of the Democratic Socialists of America pass out roses.

The red rose is an internationally recognized symbol for Democratic Socialism, invoked by the DSA’s logo featuring a rose above a pair of shaking hands. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

Watch party attendees sit together on the floor awaiting Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

Speakers rally watch party attendees after major networks announce projected victory for Zohran Mamdani. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

One Mamdani supporter a pumps fist of yellow roses in the air in celebration of the night’s victory. Attendees wore yellow roses in their hair, in theme with Mamdani’s blue, orange and yellow campaign colors. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

A party attendant sporting an American flag do-rag walks through the crowd as attendees stand atop picnic tables to catch a clear view of Mamdani’s victory speech. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

Party attendees watch the stage as DSA leaders speak to the crowd following the announcement of their candidate’s victory. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

A local Mamdani supporter speaks to television reporters covering the DSA’s official watch party. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

Mamdani supporters embrace after the candidate’s victory was announced. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

Audience members watch Mamdani’s mayoral victory speech on television screens overhead. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

Mamdani supporters cheer during the broadcast of the soon-to-be Mayor’s victory speech. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

A barkeeper busses tables at the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Astoria as Mamdani concludes his speech. (Declan Lighthouse/NYCity News Service)

Manhattan resident Bill Egan, 89, is a retired Broadway stagehand who voted for Zohran Mamdani.

“I am first-generation, so the whole thing with foreigners annoys me,” Egan said. “Stop all of this nonsense about keeping other people out.”

Egan said he would be disappointed if the city denies foreigners opportunities next year.

Robert Evans is set to retire this year. He plans to move to Costa Rica to get “far away from New York.”

“If I was young, I would not stick around these parts,” said Evans. “This place is not what it was for me and I don’t know that it ever will be.”

Regardless of who the next mayor is, Evans is disappointed by the state of the world. He does not see a future for himself or younger people in New York City.

Mamdani will now become the 111th mayor of New York City— its first Muslim mayor, as well as its first mayor of South Asian descent.

He defeated Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, who attempted a comeback following his resignation as New York State Governor in 2021 and defeat in the mayoral primary against Mamdani.

The vast majority of votes have been counted, with Mamdani receiving 50.4%, Cuomo at 41.6%, and Sliwa at just 7.2%.

Mamdani posted an 11-second video on X, in what seems to be a celebration of his historic victory. Governor Kathy Hochul was quick to congratulate the mayor-elect.

Sliwa conceded, saying he intended to mobilize supporters against Mamdani. Cuomo has yet to concede.

The Staten Island Ferry is an iconic New York destination for out-of-towners — windswept selfies with the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline at sunset. But what about the New Yorkers who use the ferry, the ones who live on Staten Island and commute across the seas each day? If this Election Day was any indication, New Yorkers tend to ride inside - at least on blustery days - and had a range of reactions to the race for mayor.

The voters

Gary Parker, 66, wasted no time casting his ballot. “I voted on the first day of early voting,” said Parker, who works in security. Parker has lived in Staten Island on and off for the past few years, and is hoping for “a better New York City, with more senior housing, and more affordable housing. Actually affordable, not just in name.”

While Parker would be disappointed if the next mayor doesn’t address the rising cost of living, he said he wouldn’t be surprised. “Everybody always says they’ll help with that,” Parker said, “but it never happens.”

For Shauna Harley, 35, mother of a daughter with special needs, a key issue is services for “people who need help but who can’t help themselves.” Though Harley lives in East Orange, New Jersey, she regularly frequents the city for her work in production and to visit family.

Her siblings and other relatives who live in the city mainly work in unionized positions. “They are all serious voters,” Harley said, and are “all in agreement” about their choice for mayor, though she declined to say which candidate they’re supporting.

Harley said she has been following the races for mayor and for New Jersey governor “in doses.” “It’s hard to identify with either,” she said. “To be on one side - that’s not really how life works.”

The Uncommitted

If you ask Kema Sears, 39, “there are so many things that could be fixed” by the next mayor.

However, the lifelong Staten Islander doesn’t think that casting a vote “will make a difference.” Sears, who works for a local nonprofit serving children and adults with developmental disabilities, believes that “God is going to fix anything that needs to be fixed — he has a say on everything.”

Still, Sears recited several key issues that she felt should be prioritized by the next mayor, including addressing the rising cost of living amidst stagnant wages, more services for homeless New Yorkers and an expansion of vocational training programs for young adults.

Shan Ali, 19, wasn’t sure if he would vote but thought he was registered in case he chose to. He cited transportation, particularly addressing crime in the subway, as a key issue. Two years ago, Ali moved from Brooklyn to Staten Island, and he takes the ferry several times a week to Manhattan for classes at Baruch College where he studies cybersecurity.

Among his social circle of family and college friends, he said that while Cuomo is more popular among older relatives, the prospect of a Mamdani win is exciting to those among the younger generation. “He’s a social person,” Ali said about Mamdani. “He tries to interact with the community.”

The Non-Voters

As Spetim Kerchishta, 66, looked out on New York Harbor he might have been thinking of the intense colors of the lake that shares a name with his hometown of Ohrid in North Macedonia.

Kerchishta moved to Staten Island a little over a year ago to join his son and daughter who’ve been living in New York for several years. To keep busy, he works as a cleaner, after a career in hotel management spanning more than four decades.

While he is not eligible yet to vote, Kerchishta had an important reminder for whoever is the next mayor: “Racism is no good.”

Kerchishta explained that, as an ethnic Albanian from the former Yugoslavia, he always lived alongside Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians. “For me, it’s one god for everybody,” he said.

Diana Mojica, 31, moved to Staten Island eight months ago from Bogotá, Colombia. She rides a bus to the ferry to the train four days a week to attend English classes in Manhattan. An industrial engineer by training, Mojica continues to work in that field virtually and hopes to land a job in the same area stateside once her English becomes stronger.

Mojica’s main concern that she hopes the next mayor will address is cleanliness throughout the city — “especially the smells in the subway,” she said. She volunteers regularly at a local nonprofit serving the neighborhoods on the North Shore of Staten Island, which has a more racially and economically diverse population compared to the rest of the borough.

Whether helping out at the agency’s food pantry or signing clients up for English classes, Mojica admitted that life for immigrants in New York City might be somewhat easier for those who arrive on tourist or student visas, like she did. “There are many programs that immigrants don’t know about that could help them,” she said. “But they’re so focused on working that they don’t know.”

President Trump took to Truth Social to question the Jewishness of any Jewish person who chose to vote for Zohran Mamdani today.

His comments carry echoes of Joe Biden in 2020, when the then-candidate for president questioned the Blackness of Black Americans who didn’t support him.

In a campaign interview that year with Charlamagne tha God, Biden bristled after being asked a series of challenging questions, saying, “Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.”

Charlamagne pushed back on the insinuation that any critical questions about Biden’s policies affecting Black Americans was tantamount to support for Trump.

Tim Samuel, left, with canvassing partner Lucas Thorn. (Delwin Portillo/NYCity News Service)

By Delwin Portillo | Published 8:10 p.m.

Pedestrians zipped past Athen’s Square Park in Astoria, Queens, after getting off work, but two people stood in place amidst the commotion of rush hour, holding pamphlets for Zohran Mamdani. Tim Samuel and Amal Zaman both agree that Astoria is a stronghold for the candidate.

Samuel, 30, said he spent nearly 100 hours canvassing for Mamdani in Astoria, even though it is more like a ‘formality’ at this point. “I’d say 97% of people have said, ‘ Yes, I’m voting for Zohran,’ — we don’t even ask and they just tell us.”

Zaman, 31, on the other side of the park, says her experience was similar, saying that around 80% of people she approached had already voted for Mamdani, or showed their support by “getting excited about my pin,” she said, pointing to the “Hot Girls for Zohran” pin on her jacket.

Despite these canvassers having strong support for Zohran, they don’t believe he is beyond reproach. “I think it’s important to realize that if we are voting for Mamdani, we’re going to hold him at a much higher accountability standard than other politicians,” said long-time canvasser Samuel. “This is a person that I’m dedicating a lot of my time to,” he said.

Zaman says she has already seen some signs that Mamdani is softening certain positions he previously held. “I don’t remember the exact language he used, but I’ve seen him backtrack on advocating for Palestine,” she said. “I know a lot of people are upset with him not pulling back funding from the police, but I understand that has to be a transition,” Zaman said, but felt that Mamdani was still pushing in the right direction by getting more social workers involved to address mental health situations.

Samuel seemed clear-eyed that Mamdani will face constraints on his agenda, in particular at the state level. “I believe he is going to make drastic change, I just don’t know if he is going to be able to implement everything he has spoken about,” he said.

By Laura Karpas | Published 7:39 p.m.

It’s Election Day in New York City, but some people felt a little left out of the process. At Central Park East No. 2, eager fourth-grade students engaged with the 2025 mayoral election and what it means to be responsible voter.

By Bella Week | Published 7:26 p.m.

Three canvassers stood outside the polling site at William E Grady CTE High School in Brighton Beach, wearing “Vote for Cuomo” sweatshirts and holding stacks of flyers.

Kevin, 19, said politics isn’t something he’s passionate about. He heard about this job through a friend, who told him there’s no paperwork and no interview.

“You just walk in. You have a job,” he said. “It was the easiest buck I made.” The canvassers said they’re earning $350 for a 15-hour shift.

Although Kevin said he hasn’t voted yet, he’s considering casting his ballot for Cuomo, who he believes is more qualified.

“He basically has the experience,” he said. “That just shows me he knows what he’s doing.”

Another canvasser, John Perez, 22, jumped in. “Well, he was the governor during COVID. And a lot of bad things happened when he was governor,” he said. “Like, he was just burying people everywhere.”

Perez, also wearing a Cuomo hoodie, held a flyer that read: “A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani.” Despite the campaign gear, Perez says he voted for Mamdani. “I just want things to be affordable.” He said he took the job for the experience and because it would look good on his resume.

A third canvasser, 31, who didn’t want to be named for fear of losing future paid canvassing opportunities, said: “You know who I’m voting for? This paycheck.” He said he’s worked paid electoral campaigns in four different states but doesn’t vote himself, including in this election. “I don’t know enough to vote,” he said. “I didn’t do any research. They’re all liars anyway.”

Voters from lower Gravesend and Bath Beach spent their election day afternoons at P.S. 101, on Benson and 24th Avenue. Curtis Sliwa posters lined the sidewalk leading up to the school, as two Cuomo canvassers stood across the street.

S.M., 33, is one of those canvassers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as she was informed not to speak with the press. Although she lives in Bushwick, she chose Bath Beach to “open people’s eyes that Cuomo is really not that bad,” she said. “Cuomo cares about people. Donald Trump doesn’t care about us.”

She also said that she believed Zohran Mamdani’s campaign was closely tied to the Republican party. “I don’t know how to pronounce his name. Mama? Mom,” She said, referring to Mamdani, “but Donald Trump is funding him.” There is no evidence to suggest this is true.

When asked how she felt about President Trump’s recent endorsement of Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign, she seemed surprised. “That’s a little interesting because I didn’t even know that. Wow. I have to think about that.”

“Vinny the Bartender,” an 85-year-old Bath Beach resident, is voting for Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa. A Marine Corps veteran with two sons who served for the New York Police Department, he said Sliwa is the only viable choice. “This man fought crime all over the city for 30 years. Curtis knows the city inside-out.”

Although safety was a primary concern for him, it was Sliwa’s “integrity” that shined through. “A man that would not take any bribes? That’s a man I would give a shot at to lead this city,” he said.

By Bella Week | Published 7:15 p.m.

Afshan Ali, 30, and Lara Mira, 27, had never volunteered for any electoral candidate. But today, they’re out with the Mamdani campaign, handing out flyers to voters in Brighton Beach.

Both say it would be meaningful to elect the first Muslim mayor of New York City.

“After 9/11, there were so many attacks against Muslims,” Mira said. “Even though we’re American citizens, no one made us feel like this was our home.”

For her, a Mamdani win would change that. “He’s going to make it safe for every New Yorker, regardless of your religion or your nationality,” Mira said.

Brighton Beach is a heavily Republican neighborhood, but during the Democratic primaries it leaned toward Mamdani, a candidate who identifies as a democratic socialist.

In their first few hours of volunteering, Ali and Mira said they had so far only encountered Cuomo and Sliwa voters.

Ali said she doesn’t know what the outcome of today’s election will be. “It’s very hard for me to say who’s gonna win, but I pray whoever wins will be the best for New York City and all of us.”

A sign directs voters to a Bedford-Stuyvesant polling location. (Jack Walker/NYCity News Service)

By Jack Walker | Published 6:05 p.m.

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani bested former Gov. Andrew Cuomo across many Brooklyn neighborhoods during this year’s mayoral primary election. But for some residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cuomo’s family legacy and political experience continue to inspire confidence.

“I trust Andrew Cuomo because, as far as I’m concerned, he was a good governor,” said Sophonie Taylor outside his polling place Tuesday morning. “Although philosophically I might agree with Zohran, I have a problem in general with inexperienced people going into office, because it takes quite some time for them to learn to be mayor.”

Taylor said Cuomo’s perspective as a legacy politician lends itself to more realistic promises, and the ability to deliver. As a newcomer to Gracie Mansion, Taylor worries Mamdani lacks “political capital. “I really don’t think that most of that stuff that he’s promising is going to happen,” he said.

Mario Melgar canvassed for Cuomo on Election Day. While Melgar said he appreciates Mamdani’s focus on affordability, he feels Cuomo’s past experience better equips him to govern.

“For the election, I would go with Andrew Cuomo. In my opinion he has a lot more years of experience,” Melgar said. “Mamdani might be a popular vote for the young crowd. But these young crowds, they don’t know about politics too much.”

For other residents, many of them younger and newer voters, Mamdani feels like a breath of fresh air. That includes Kat Zhao, who cast her second-ever mayoral ballot Tuesday.

“One of the biggest things is housing and affordability, and access to resources in general,” Zhao said. “Zohran Mamdani was the only one who was really speaking to that issue.”

Despite his general support for Cuomo, Taylor said Mamdani represents “change that seems to be necessary” for many voters.

“At the same time, you have these career politicians that have allowed the system to be perverted in this way that a lot of people think it has,” he said.

Abdul Wahid, 42, pulled up to his Brighton Beach polling site in the car he usually drives for Uber. Today, his passengers were family members he brought along to vote.

Some relatives had been vacationing in Pakistan, but Wahid convinced them to cut their trip short so they could cast their ballots. “I called them, I told them we got to vote,” he said. “It was six to seven votes. So I spent the money on the tickets to bring them back.”

A registered Democrat living in this Republican enclave of Brooklyn, Wahid said he voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election — a choice he now regrets. “He just does too much cruelty right now,” Wahid said. “He just finished SNAP for the poor people. Finished Medicaid.”

This year, Wahid cast his ballot for Zohran Mamdani, saying the Democrat cares about New Yorkers and will make the city safer.