Born in Kampala and raised for a time in Cape Town, Mamdani later settled with Nair and his father, academic and writer Mahmood Mamdani, in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York. A graduate of Bronx High School of Science and Bowdoin College, Mamdani would be the first Muslim mayor of New York City if elected. (This past Eid, he went iftar-hopping with one of the New York taxi drivers with whom he went on hunger strike in 2021.)
His rapid rise has now put Mamdani in second place for the most powerful position in city politics—still behind Cuomo, but ahead of more traditional Democratic candidates like Scott Stringer, Brad Lander, and Zellnor Myrie. But he remains, in presentation, the same self-effacing “regular guy” he’s been since he first entered politics in 2017, as a volunteer for Democratic socialist and Palestinian Lutheran minister Khader El-Yateem’s campaign for Bay Ridge city council.
Photographed by Dean Majd
Mamdani seemed at ease in front of the glamorous crowd on Friday, making jokes about being terrified of losing his hair, doing an impression of an NYPD officer who stopped him on the street to compliment his recent interview with The Kid Mero, and recounting a recent rare day off, spent at the movies with friends. (He saw Sinners and accidentally spilled popcorn on another patron, who later posted on social media about the experience.)