Zohran Mamdani wins New York mayoral race

Americast

BBC

Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Election night is back in the US and this time around there’s a lot more for the Democrats to cheer about after the party’s rising star, Zohran Mamdani, won the New York City mayoral election and will become the first Muslim mayor of the biggest city in America.

The 34-year-old led his party to victory on the back of pledges to tax millionaires to pay for expanded social programmes and said that New York could be the “light” in a moment of “political darkness”. President Donald Trump has responded to Mamdani’s victory by writing on social media that the government shutdown and his name not being on the ballot were the reasons why the Democrats won.

But with Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill also winning their governors races in Virginia and New Jersey, there is a renewed sense of hope within the party that this could mark a turning point after the 2024 presidential election.

Justin, Sarah and Marianna assess whether the Democrats will be able to capitalise on their success, and how the Republican Party might respond.

HOSTS: * Sarah Smith, North America Editor * Justin Webb, Radio 4 Presenter * Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent

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This episode was made by Purvee Pattni and Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts
0:04.5	Newscast is on the face of it, a podcast about the news.
0:11.2	But it's also perhaps the world's most athletic podcast,
0:14.0	we have BBC correspondents dashing in and out,
0:16.3	ready to give us a deeper understanding of the biggest stories of the day.
0:19.9	Thankfully, we let them catch their breath before we actually start recording the podcast.
0:24.2	Listen to newscast every day on BBC Sounds.
0:27.8	I'm in New York City where there is a palpable sense of excitement tonight around the
0:33.3	remarkable victory of Zora Mandani, who has just been elected mayor of New York.
0:38.5	New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change.
0:48.7	A mandate for a new kind of politics.
0:53.5	A mandate for a city we can afford.
0:58.1	And a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.
1:03.7	This is a really historic win in New York City.
1:08.1	At 34, he is the youngest mayor in a generation, the city's first Muslim
1:12.4	mayor, who ran a really unusual, really exciting campaign. But Democrats have won other races as well.
1:20.1	They've won the governorship in Virginia and New Jersey with two very, very different candidates.
1:25.8	So what does all this mean for the Democrats going forward?
1:28.7	What does it mean for Donald Trump and his Republicans?
1:31.5	There is a lot to unpack.
1:33.1	Welcome to AmeriCast.
1:36.9	AmeriCast from BBC News.
	...

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