Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@ramaduwaji / Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Topics: Zohran Mamdani, US News, Politics, News, Sex and Relationships, Wedding
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Zohran Mamdani, US News, Politics, News, Sex and Relationships, Wedding
Many New Yorkers are absolutely thrilled that Zohran Mamdani won the 2025 New York City mayoral election yesterday (4 November).
The 34-year-old democratic socialist cinched the win against former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, securing victory with more than 50 per cent of the vote, while Cuomo, 67, finished second with just over 40 per cent and Sliwa received just over 7 per cent, as reported by The Guardian.
The win from Mamdani, who is set to become the city’s most liberal mayor in generations, has also meant that the Big Apple has a brand-new First Lady - none other than Rama Duwaji, whom the politician tied the knot with earlier this year.
Duwaji, a 28-year-old Syrian-American illustrator and animator, actually met Mamdani on the dating app Hinge back in 2021 before they wed in the viral City Hall ceremony in February.
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Despite being married to one of the most important men in the major urban hub, Duwaji is an impressive individual in her own right after having received a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Her work has also been featured by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, the BBC, Apple, Spotify, VICE, and the Tate Modern in London.
Additionally, the first Gen Z First Lady has over 265k followers on Instagram, where she regularly shares her illustrations, many of which focus on pro-Palestinian messages, including depictions of Israeli violence, ethnic cleansing, and US complicity.
"Rama isn’t just my wife, she’s an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms," Mamdani wrote on Instagram back in May.
Amidst the sea of MAGA heads and Republicans alike absolutely losing their minds over the prospect of a woman deciding to keep her name after getting married, Duwaji has been absolutely inundated with praise after new fans discovered she never actually dropped her surname when marrying Mamdani.
"Mrs Mamdani lookin BADDDD AS HELL," hyped one X user, prompting a second to issue the correction: "Ms Duwaji, not Mrs Mamdani. Woke is back, we're not assuming women took their husbands' last names anymore lmao."
A third chimed in: "Every time someone says we don’t need feminism anymore because we’ve 'achieved equality,' remember it’s 2025 and people are losing their minds & spiralling over Zohran Mamdani’s wife not wearing a hijab or not taking his last name!"
When Mamdani made his historic win, he gave a special nod to Duwaji during his victory speech.
"To my incredible wife, Rama, hayati," he said, using the Arabic word for 'my life'.
"There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment, and in every moment."
Elsewhere in the touching speech, he declared to a roaring crowd at his victory party: "The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older.
"I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this."
"New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change," the politician said, vowing to 'wake up each morning with a singular purpose: To make this city better for you than it was the day before'.