Mamdani’s demographics: Who makes up his coalition?
Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City, won thanks to a diverse coalition of voters, particularly rooted in young and varied Brooklyn neighborhoods.While he acknowledged the support of blue-collar working people-such as Yemeni bodega owners, Mexican grandmothers, Senegalese taxi drivers, and Uzbek nurses-his base was also strongly supported by college-educated, young, and diverse residents from areas known as the “Commie Corridor” in Brooklyn and Queens. Mamdani gained significant backing from Black voters, especially younger age groups, surpassing his main opponent in many traditionally black neighborhoods like Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Additionally, many recent transplants and immigrants, who make up a significant portion of the city’s population, strongly supported him. Mamdani, an immigrant himself who became a U.S. citizen in 2018,emphasized his immigrant identity and vowed to fight for those often overlooked by customary city politics. His populist campaign promised initiatives like free public transit, no-cost childcare, and rent freezes, resonating with a broad, multifaceted coalition that propelled his victory.
Mamdani’s demographics: Who makes up his coalition?
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani drew votes from a diverse coalition of voters in the nation’s largest city.
His voter base took strong roots in Brooklyn neighborhoods chock-full of young, diverse people. These voters drove him to victory by coming out in droves. Nevertheless, he credited mostly blue-collar working people.
In his victory speech, he praised a number of diverse groups, including families and working people, whom he felt had been forgotten by the city.
“We will fight for you because we are you,” he said. “Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city, who made this movement their own. I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties.”
He also credited those with the characteristic scars of working people. “Fingers bruised from lifting boxes on the warehouse floor, palms calloused from delivery bike handlebars, knuckles scarred with kitchen burns … you have dared to reach for something greater,” he said.
But working people, many without college degrees, didn’t make up a commanding majority of his coalition. His populist movement was aimed at exactly those voters with promises of fast and free buses, no-cost childcare, and rent freezes. While many backed Mamdani, college-educated, young, and diverse people of Brooklyn and Queens in the so-called Commie Corridor propelled his win.
Here’s more about who really propelled Mamdani to victory.
Black voters
Cuomo had been elected governor of New York twice with the support of black voters. In the mayoral primary, he won the majority of neighborhoods with black voters in the city.
But when Tuesday night came, with Cuomo now running as an independent, they abandoned him.
Mamdani won neighborhoods with mostly black residents by more than 25 points, running up the score in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant. He won the former by 45 points and the latter by 57.
The socialist only mentioned black voters in the context of President Donald Trump in his speech, other than his reference to specific nationalities. Mamdani said he would stand up for several groups, including “one of the many black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job.”
He had made inroads with black voters in the closing days of his campaign, helped by myriad endorsements by black leaders in the Democratic Party, including Attorney General Letitia James, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
In the election results, Mamdani particularly dominated with young black voters, according to CNN exit polls. He won 84% of black voters 18-29 and 64% of those 30-44. He also won the 45 to 64 age bracket, with Cuomo narrowly capturing those 65 or older.
The shift of Black voters from Cuomo to Mamdani, which could have been driven by their allegiance to the Democratic Party, likely played a large part in his victory.
College graduates and the ‘Commie Corridor’
New York election analyst Michael Lange, who correctly predicted that Mamdani would win with a majority of the vote, coined the “Commie Corridor” term.
The area encompasses parts of Brooklyn and Queens, including prominent neighborhoods such as Astoria, Williamsburg, and Long Island City. Most residents in those neighborhoods skew younger, which vastly favors the 34-year-old Mamdani. Most are also college-educated and renters.
The perfect storm of diverse, young, and college-educated are all variables that favored Mamdani n the 2025 mayoral election. He won Astoria by nearly 40 points, Williamsburg by 26 points, and Long Island City by 42 points.
A CNN exit poll showed Mamdani won those with bachelor’s and advanced degrees by 57%.
Mamdani did so well in these areas that, as Lange says, “You can see the Commie Corridor from space.”
Recent transplants
Mamdani won support with many recent New York City transplants. A CNN exit poll showed that he won by a margin of more than 70 points among voters who had lived in the city for less than five years.
Many of those people were likely immigrants who had recently moved into the city. Mamdani himself was an immigrant and came to the city when he was seven. He was born in Uganda.
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He hadn’t become a U.S. citizen until 2018. The socialist touted his immigrant status in his victory speech and proudly wielded acceptance of immigrants on the campaign trail:
“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”
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