A year ago, Zohran Mamdani was a political nobody. On Tuesday, as New Yorkers head to the polls, he is the overwhelming favourite to become the city’s next mayor.

Guardian US writer Adam Gabbatt charts his rise from his radical campaign promises to his savvy social media videos, and explores how this most unlikely of candidates – a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, Muslim, born outside the US – has propelled himself to the summit of the city’s politics.

It has not, as he explains to Nosheen Iqbal, been an easy ride, with a mayoral race mired in racism and Islamophobia. In the past few weeks, his rival Andrew Cuomo agreed with a radio host that Mamdani would celebrate “another 9/11” if it happened on his watch.

Guardian columnist Mehdi Hasan discusses how Mamdani has managed to transcend it all, and whether he shows the beleaguered Democrats a path forward in how to start resisting Donald Trump.

This is a replay of our global news podcast, Today in Focus

Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, campaigns in Manhattan, New York CityDemocratic candidate for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, dances with a supporter while campaigning at a senior center in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City, U.S., October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters