At Mamdani victory party, a broad coalition of faith communities cheers Muslim mayor-elect

After the vote was in and Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old state assemblyman, had made history in becoming America’s largest city’s first Muslim mayor-elect, the comparisons to another seemingly out-of-nowhere political star began.

“Just like Barack Obama, who was an empowerment to the Black community, Zohran is an empowerment to the Muslim community,” said Juhaib Choudhury, the president of the Muslim Community Forum, at Mamdani’s election party on Tuesday (Nov. 4).

But Mamdani, who won 50.4% of the vote to defeat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican activist Curtis Sliwa, didn’t only bring Muslims to the polls to vote for him. Like Obama, Mamdani fashioned a broad coalition to achieve a generational turnover, one that, as Mamdani said from the stage of the Brooklyn Paramount, “toppled a political dynasty.”

Religion & Politics

Photos of the Week: Remembering the dead

Families gather to keep company with their dearly departed while celebrating Day of the Dead at a cemetery in Arocutin, Michoacan state, Mexico, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

In Opinion

And finally, Bestselling author Brendan Slocumb credits faith for saving his life during health crisis

For someone who was at death’s door a year ago, Brendan Slocumb is remarkably chipper.

A classical musician turned bestselling author at age 50, Slocumb is just a year out from a kidney transplant that saved his life. He credits the Christian faith he learned growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and the love of friends with saving his life, making him grateful for every new day.

“I should not be here,” Slocumb said. “I am well aware of that.”

The past five years have been a whirlwind for Slocumb. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown brought his life as a music teacher and performing violinist to a halt, leaving him with no source of income and just enough money in the bank to pay his rent for six months. While sitting on the couch, eating Doritos, doomscrolling and feeling sorry for himself, Slocumb said he came across an article about how to get a book deal. He dug out an old sci-fi novel he’d written years earlier and sent it to an agent.

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