Young Muslim Voters in NYC Loved Zohran Mamdani. Their Parents Listened.

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Many Muslim Americans in New York City were impressed by Mr. Mamdani’s campaign and thrilled at being able to see themselves reflected in a mayoral candidate.

By Christopher Maag

It was late in the afternoon on Tuesday, and Bilquees Akhtar was still at work as an assistant to the principal of EPIC High School North in Richmond Hill, Queens. Suddenly her phone exploded with text messages and DMs on Instagram and TikTok from her five adult children. Each of them had already cast a vote for Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.

“MOM, WHY ARE YOU STILL AT WORK?” Ms. Akhtar’s 24-year-old son, Humza Mehfuz, wrote to her. “YOU HAVE TO VOTE!”