Arab world praises New York's mayor

THE newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is married to Rama Duwaji, a woman of Syrian descent.

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NEW York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani celebrates alongside his wife, Rama Duwaji, during an election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York, this week.

(AFP)

For many in Syria, that practically makes him family.

That he’s also a Muslim and a supporter of the Palestinian cause doesn’t hurt either, and his election victory has inspired warm feelings and an outpouring of humour in the Arab world.

“I love how Syrians are now calling Zohran Mamdani our brother-in-law,” wrote Karam Nachar, editor-in-chief of Al Jumhuriya, an independent Syrian media outlet.

Mamdani’s wife Duwaji, a 30-year-old illustrator and designer, was born in Texas to Syrian parents and grew up partly in Dubai.

Abdel Karim Bakkar, a Syrian scholar with more than three million Facebook followers, said he was “thrilled that the new mayor of New York City is our brother-in-law, but even more thrilled that he speaks for the marginalised, the working class and the poor”.

Uganda-born Mamdani will become New York City’s first Muslim and socialist mayor when he takes office in January, and in his victory speech he responded to US President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration platform by celebrating the Big Apple’s diversity.

In a viral campaign video showing the 34-year-old addressing New Yorkers in fluent Levantine Arabic, he grins and pours himself a glass of mint tea: “Now, I know what you’re thinking, I might look like your brother-in-law from Damascus.”