Zohran Mamdani is the 35-year-old mayor of New York City, sworn in on 1 January 2026 after a campaign built on one word: affordability. A democratic socialist state assemblyman from Queens who was barely known outside his district a year before the election, he defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo twice in six months — first in the Democratic primary, then in the general election — and became the city’s first Muslim mayor, its first mayor of South Asian descent and its first African-born mayor.
Ten months into his first year in office, Mamdani was back in the spotlight on 4 November 2026, celebrating a sweeping Democratic victory in the midterm elections and telling his party that “it’s time to deliver”. This biography covers his age, family, career, election win, net worth and first year as mayor.
| Full Name | Zohran Kwame Mamdani |
| Date of Birth | 18 October 1991 |
| Age | 35 years old (as of November 2026) |
| Birthplace | Kampala, Uganda |
| Occupation | Politician — Mayor of New York City |
| Known For | First Muslim and first South Asian mayor of New York City; 2025 mayoral election win |
| Spouse | Rama Duwaji (married February 2025) |
| Net Worth 2026 | Estimated ~$200,000 (Forbes, January 2026) — see Net Worth section below |
Early Life and Education
Zohran Kwame Mamdani was born on 18 October 1991 in Kampala, Uganda, the only child of postcolonial academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. His father, an Indian-origin Gujarati Muslim born in Bombay, is a professor at Columbia University; his mother, a Punjabi Hindu, directed Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake. The family moved to Cape Town, South Africa, when Mamdani was five, while his father taught at the University of Cape Town, and then to New York City when he was seven, settling in Astoria, Queens.
Mamdani was educated at the Bank Street School for Children and the Bronx High School of Science, where he graduated in 2010 and co-founded the school’s first cricket team. He then attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he co-founded the college’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Africana studies. He became a naturalised United States citizen in 2018.
Career Before Politics
After graduating from Bowdoin, Mamdani worked as a foreclosure prevention and housing counsellor in Queens, helping tenants and homeowners facing eviction — a job he has said inspired him to run for office. Alongside that work he performed as a rapper, first as Young Cardamom with his friend, Ugandan rapper HAB, and later as Mr. Cardamom, releasing a single in April 2019 that featured cookbook author and actress Madhur Jaffrey. He still earns small music royalties from that work, reported at around $1,200 a year.
He entered local politics as a campaign manager for Khader El-Yateem and Ross Barkan before running for office himself. His early campaigns were built on door-knocking and small donations rather than big donors, a style that would later define his mayoral run. His fluency with short-form video and direct-to-camera messaging became the signature of that campaign — an online-first public profile shared by figures such as Russell Brand, who moved from entertainment into political commentary.
Political Career
Mamdani was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020, representing the 36th district in Astoria, Queens. In the Democratic primary he defeated five-term incumbent Aravella Simotas in an upset that took almost a month to call, then won the general election with no Republican opposition. He became the first South Asian man, the first Ugandan and the third Muslim to serve in the Assembly, and was re-elected unopposed in 2022 and 2024. In Albany he focused on housing, sponsoring bills on rent protections and a proposed Social Housing Development Agency to build publicly owned affordable homes.
On 23 October 2024 he announced his run for mayor of New York City. In the Democratic primary of June 2025 he defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo in another upset, winning the ranked-choice contest with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Working Families Party and more than 20,000 volunteers. In the general election on 4 November 2025 he won again: 1,036,051 votes (50.4%) to Cuomo’s 854,995 (41.6%), with Republican Curtis Sliwa on 146,137 (7.1%). More than two million New Yorkers voted — the highest mayoral turnout since 1969 — and Mamdani carried four of the five boroughs, losing only Staten Island.
He was sworn in as mayor on 1 January 2026 in a midnight ceremony at the old City Hall subway station, at 34 the youngest person to hold the office in more than a century. His platform centred on affordability: a freeze on rents for nearly one million rent-stabilised apartments, fare-free city buses, universal childcare, city-run grocery stores and a $30 minimum wage by 2030, paid for in part by higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. His preliminary fiscal-year 2027 budget, reported by BBN Times at $127 billion, proposed taxing the wealthy and corporations to close projected gaps. His agenda has drawn both enthusiastic support from progressives and criticism from opponents who question how its promises will be funded — a debate that has followed him since the campaign. Like Pawan Kalyan, another actor-turned-politician who built a party from the ground up, Mamdani rose through grassroots organising rather than party machinery.
On 4 November 2026, exactly a year after his own election, Mamdani celebrated the Democrats’ sweep of the midterm elections, in which the party retook both chambers of Congress. “My friends, it’s morning again in America,” he said, urging fellow Democrats to turn the victory into results for voters squeezed by rising prices. He had also backed three progressive congressional candidates in New York City — Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier — and all three won their races on 3 November 2026, according to Asianet Newsable.
Personal Life
Mamdani is married to Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist, illustrator and animator whose work has appeared in publications including The New Yorker and The Washington Post. The couple met on the dating app Hinge in 2021, got engaged in October 2024, held a private nikah ceremony two months later, and were married in a civil ceremony at New York City Hall in February 2025.
Mamdani is a practising Shia Muslim, a fact widely reported during his campaign. He and Duwaji lived in a rent-stabilised one-bedroom apartment in Astoria, paying about $2,250 a month, and he is known for travelling by subway rather than by car — he does not own one.
Zohran Mamdani Net Worth 2026
Zohran Mamdani’s net worth in 2026 has not been officially confirmed, but Forbes estimated it at approximately $200,000 in January 2026, in a range of $200,000 to $300,000, making him one of the lowest-net-worth mayors in modern New York City history. His main asset is about four acres of vacant land in Jinja, Uganda, valued at $150,000 to $250,000 in his financial disclosures, though the disclosures differ on when he acquired it. His other reported assets are minimal: under $2,000 in bank accounts and a small retirement account.
His income comes from public service: about $142,000 a year as a state assemblyman, and $258,750 a year as mayor, according to Forbes and Business Insider figures. His released 2025 tax return showed a household adjusted gross income of about $143,000, including his wife’s freelance income and his music royalties. Unlike many of his predecessors, he holds no significant stock portfolio or property in New York City.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Zohran Mamdani?
Zohran Mamdani is 35 years old. He was born on 18 October 1991 in Kampala, Uganda, and turned 35 in October 2026.
Who is Zohran Mamdani’s wife?
Zohran Mamdani’s wife is Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-American artist, illustrator and animator whose work has appeared in The New Yorker and The Washington Post. They met on Hinge in 2021 and married in a civil ceremony at New York City Hall in February 2025, after a private nikah ceremony in December 2024.
How tall is Zohran Mamdani?
Zohran Mamdani’s height has not been publicly reported by any reliable source. Only low-quality biography-aggregator sites publish estimates, and they contradict each other, so no height figure is stated here.
What is Zohran Mamdani’s net worth in 2026?
No official figure has been confirmed. Forbes estimated his net worth at approximately $200,000 in January 2026 (range $200,000–$300,000), based on his financial disclosures. His main asset is about four acres of vacant land in Jinja, Uganda, valued at $150,000–$250,000.
Who are Zohran Mamdani’s parents?
His father is Mahmood Mamdani, a postcolonial academic and professor at Columbia University, and his mother is Mira Nair, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake.
What religion is Zohran Mamdani?
Zohran Mamdani is a practising Shia Muslim. He is New York City’s first Muslim mayor, as well as its first mayor of South Asian descent and its first African-born mayor.
