06:52 GMT
Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from New York
Image source, ReutersThirty-four-year-old state assemblyman and self-identified democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is the new mayor of New York.
Largely unknown before winning the the Democratic primary over the summer, supporters hail him as representing a new wave of progressive politics, whereas others, like Trump, lambast him as a “communist”.
Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York with his family aged seven. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and later earned a degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College, where he co-founded the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
Mamdani will be the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, and has referenced his identity as a way to build support across the diverse city, posting campaign videos of himself speaking Urdu and Spanish.
He promises affordable housing, free public buses, rent freezes and universal childcare for children under five.
“This is a city where one in four of its people are living in poverty, a city where 500,000 kids go to sleep hungry every night,” he told the BBC at a recent event.
“And, ultimately, it’s a city that is in danger of losing that which it makes it so special.”