Zohran Kwame Mamdani (born October 18, 1991) is a

Ugandan }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

-born American politician. He is the assembly member for the 36th district of the New York State Assembly, in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. Mamdani was elected after defeating incumbent Democrat Aravella Simotas in the 2020 primary.

Early life and education

Mamdani is the son of academic

Mahmood Mamdani Mahmood Mamdani, FBA (born 23 April 1946) is an Indian-born Ugandan academic, author, and political commentator. He currently serves as the Chancellor of Kampala International University, Uganda. He was the director of the Makerere Institute o ...

, the director of the

Makerere Institute of Social Research Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...

(MISR), and filmmaker

Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural spher ...

. Born and raised in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York City when he was seven. He is a Muslim. Mamdani graduated from Bowdoin College in 2014.

Career

Mamdani worked as a foreclosure prevention counselor before running for office. After leading student organizing campaigns, Mamdani became formally involved in politics when he volunteered for New York City Council candidate

Khader El-Yateem Khader El-Yateem (Arabic: خضر اليتيم ; born October 20, 1968) is a Palestinian-American community organizer and Lutheran pastor. He is the Director for Evangelical Mission Assistant to the Bishop (South Region) Florida-Bahamas Synod, EL ...

, a Palestinian Lutheran minister running in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in 2017, then he was the campaign manager for

Ross Barkan Ross Elliot Barkan (born October 22, 1989) is an American journalist, novelist, columnist, and essayist. Early life and education Barkan grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He attended Stony Brook University and earned a master's degree from New Yo ...

's race for New York State Senate in 2018, and a field organizer for

Tiffany Cabán Tiffany Cabán (born July 24, 1987) is an American attorney, politician, and political organizer who has served as a member of the New York City Council for the 22nd District since the 2021 New York City Council election. She won the Democrat ...

's campaign for

Queens District Attorney The District Attorney of Queens County is the elected district attorney for Queens County in New York State, coterminous with the New York City borough of Queens. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state law ...

in 2019, before running for Assembly himself. On January 29, 2021, Mamdani hosted a video for the Gravel Institute discussing the housing crisis in the United States.

New York Assembly

In 2019, Mamdani announced his campaign for New York State Assembly in the 36th district, which encompasses Astoria and Long Island City in

. During the campaign, Mamdani was endorsed by the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

and ran on statewide

rent control Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves: * Price con ...

, fare-free transit, and

single-payer healthcare Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from ...

in New York. Mamdani's narrow victory over four-term incumbent Aravella Simotas took almost a month to call.

Political views

Mamdani started to consider himself a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...

following the 2016 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders.

References

1991 births Living people Bowdoin College alumni 21st-century American politicians Democratic Socialists of America politicians from New York Politicians from Queens, New York New York (state) socialists New York (state) Democrats People from Kampala Ugandan emigrants to the United States American politicians of Indian descent Ugandan people of Indian descent Asian-American people in New York (state) politics American Muslims Ugandan Muslims Muslim socialists {{NewYork-politician-stub

Early life and education

Career

New York Assembly

Political views

See also

References