Less than an hour after polls closed at 9PM ET, 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was announced as the winner of the New York City mayoral election. Reporting from the Democratic Socialists of America election results watch party at the Astoria Beer Garden in Mamdani’s home district of Astoria, Queens, NY, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez captures the moment Mamdani’s victory was announced.

Credits:

  • Videography: Maximillian Alvarez
  • Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript

Crowd:  [Cheering]

Maximillian Alvarez:  I’m here in Astoria, Queens, in Zohran Mamdani’s home district. Zohran Mamdani was just named the winner of the New York mayoral election a little after 9:30 PM tonight on Nov. 4. I’m here at the Democratic Socialists of America watch party at the Astoria Beer Garden. I’m going to take you through this watch party to give you a sense of the jubilation that I’m seeing and hearing right now.

Crowd:  [Chanting] Mamdani! Mamdani! Mamdani! …

[Cheering]

[Chanting] Fuck Cuomo! Fuck Cuomo! Fuck Cuomo! …

Maximillian Alvarez:  The mood is very jubilant here. A lot of folks expecting this result, but now that it’s here, a whole lot of celebration and excitement.

The message coming from onstage, and very much the tenor of the day, including from Mamdani himself, is that the fight is just beginning.

Crowd:  [Chanting] USA! USA! USA! …

Maximillian Alvarez:  It’s all about what happens now. The 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani was just named the first Muslim mayor of New York City, the second Democratic socialist mayor of New York City, defeating Andrew Cuomo.

Crowd:  [Chanting] Zohran! Zohran! Zohran! …

Maximillian Alvarez:  Chants of “tax the rich” are breaking out.

Crowd:  [Chanting] Tax the rich! Tax the rich! Tax the rich! …

DSA! DSA! DSA! …

Maximillian Alvarez:  This is Maximilian Alvarez for The Real News Network signing off from Astoria, Queens, and Zohran Mamdani’s home district. Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City.

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Maximillian Alvarez is an Izzy-Award-winning journalist and the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Executive Director of The Real News Network. He is the founder and host of Working People, "a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today," which he started after his family lost their home and life savings during the Financial Crash of 2008 and the ensuing Great Recession. Alvarez is the author of The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke, a collection of interviews with US workers recorded during Year One of of the Covid-19 pandemic. His forthcoming book—tentatively titled “American Sacrifice: Working People Fight for The Lives (and Our Future) in America’s ‘Sacrifice Zones’”—is under contract with Haymarket Books. From April 2022 to March 2024, Alvarez hosted and produced The Art of Class War series on Breaking Points. From September 2016 to January 2019, he was a regular contributor and then a columnist for The Baffler magazine. Prior to joining TRNN, Alvarez was an Associate Editor at the Chronicle Review at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Prior to that, he was a graduate student-worker and rank-and-file member of the Graduate Employees’ Organization (AFT Local 3550) at the University of Michigan, where he earned a dual-PhD in History and Comparative Literature, taught undergraduates, and published academic articles in Media Theory and La Deleuziana: An Online Journal of Philosophy. Prior to that, he worked a litany of low-wage jobs in different restaurants, warehouses, factories, retail stores, etc. Alvarez’s writing has been featured in outlets like The Nation, Poynter, In These Times, Boston Review, The Baffler, Current Affairs, Dissent, Protean Magazine, The New Republic, Truthout, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. As an analyst and commentator, he has appeared on programs like PBS NewsHour, Breaking Points, Democracy Now!, The Laura Flanders Show, NPR’s 1A, The Hill’s Rising, This Is Hell!, Krystal Kyle & Friends, The Michael Brooks Show, The Jacobin Show, CounterPunch Radio, Citations Needed, Bad Faith with Briahna Joy Gray, Know Your Enemy, Srsly Wrong, Left Anchor, Revolutionary Left Radio, The End of Sport Podcast, Pod Damn America, The David Pakman Show, The Megyn Kelly Show, The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow, The David Feldman Show, and The Marianne Williamson Podcast.