Mamdani Challenges Trump After Winning Election

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani wasted no time taking aim at President Donald Trump, signaling the start of what could become one of the defining political rivalries of the next three years.

"Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!" Mamdani told a crowd of cheering supporters in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, moments after being declared the winner of the city's mayoral race.

A new mayor takes on a powerful president

At 34, Mamdani becomes the youngest mayor in New York's history and one of the most outspoken critics of Trump's administration. He built his campaign around countering federal immigration policies and what he called the president's "betrayal of working-class Americans."

"If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him," Mamdani said. "And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power."

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly used his presidential platform to attack political opponents. Ahead of the election, he threatened to cut federal funding to New York City if Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, were elected.

Democrats gain ground after key election wins

Mamdani's victory came as Democrats swept a trio of major races on Tuesday, marking the party's first surge of momentum since Trump's return to the White House nine months ago.

The new mayor has promised an ambitious economic agenda to tackle New York's cost-of-living crisis, proposing a rental freeze, universal childcare, and expanded government intervention in the private sector.

Despite the looming confrontation with Washington, Mamdani struck a defiant tone. "So hear me, President Trump," he said. "To get to any of us, you will have to go through all of us."