'We have stepped out from the old into the new'

Immigrant Zohran Mamdani sweeps to New York mayoralty, much to the fury of Donald Trump, who vows to defund city

- ALASTAIR JAMIESON

Fresh from a historic victory in New York City’s mayoral election, Zohran Mamdani announced an all-female team to steer his transition into office, pledging to “work every day to honour the trust that I now hold”.

The 34-year-old former rapper will become the city's first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage, the first born in Africa and the youngest leader of the Big Apple in more than a century.

He campaigned on an agenda that includes free buses, free childcare and rent freezes.

But he wasted no time in challenging his archenemy, Donald Trump, who threatened not only to defund New York but also to arrest and deport Mr Mamdani if he won.

"If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him," the mayor-elect told cheering supporters.

Mr Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents and became a US citizen after graduating from college, cast himself as the embodiment of the resistance against the president's aggressive anti-immigrant agenda.