Mamdani votes in NYC election
Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, as Mamdani checks in to vote at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School in Astoria, Queens, on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/Matthew Chayes
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani cast his ballot in Queens around 8 a.m. Tuesday. He was joined by his wife, Rama Duwaji.
Supporters of Mamdani arrived around 6:30 a.m. to his poll site, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, to watch him walk in to vote. A group of South Asian men — a demographic Mamdani inspires and draws outsize support from — stood together in the fall chill and surrounded him to pray once he and his wife came to the site.
Aftab Mannan, 62, of Jamaica, Queens, who has volunteered with the campaign for the last six months, told Newsday that Mamdani had electrified the electorate. “He comes from a community, the entire community, love him, the way he stands for justice and equality. He became the model of the youth,” Mannan said.
Duwaji’s change-of-address details didn’t make it into the Board of Election system in time, so she had to vote by affidavit ballot, a poll worker told her.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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