Zohran Mamdani Age, Wife, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Zohran Mamdani

• Zohran Mamdani was born in an affluent family, as his father was a professor and his mother was a filmmaker.

• His father gave him the middle name Kwame after the first prime minister of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah.

• In 1996, when he was 5 years old, his family moved to Cape Town in South Africa.

• His father worked at the University of Cape Town while he studied at St. George’s Grammar School.

• In 1998, when Zohran was 7 years old, his family shifted to New York City in the United States.

• He did his early schooling at Bank Street School and later studied at the Bronx High School of Science.

• After finishing school, he went to Bowdoin College in the US. In 2014, Zohran completed his graduation in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College.

• During his college days, he also helped start a student group called Students for Justice in Palestine.

• After finishing college, he worked as a foreclosure prevention counsellor in Queens.

• From 2014 to 2015, he helped low-income families save their homes from being taken away by banks.

• In 2015, he started working in politics by volunteering for Ali Najmi’s City Council campaign in New York.

• In 2017, Zohran joined the Democratic Socialists of America, a political organisation that supports working-class people.

• That year, he also worked for Khader El-Yateem’s campaign in Brooklyn.

• He became the campaign manager for Ross Barkan in 2018, who was running for New York State Senate.

• Zohran Mamdani also became a citizen of the United States in 2018.

• In 2019, Zohran worked as a field organiser for Tiffany Cabán’s campaign for Queens District Attorney.

• Mamdani decided to stand in elections himself in 2020. He ran for the New York State Assembly seat from District 36, which is in the Astoria area of Queens.

• He defeated the sitting Assembly member, Aravella Simotas, in the Democratic primary election.

• On 1 January 2021, Zohran officially became a member of the New York State Assembly.

• In 2023, Zohran helped to start New York City’s first fare-free bus pilot project. The project ran from September 2023 to August 2024 on five different bus routes.

• It was successful, with weekday ridership increased by 30 per cent, and attacks on bus drivers decreased by 39 per cent.

• On 23 October 2024, Zohran announced that he would run for the post of Mayor of New York City in the 2025 election.

• During his campaign, he promised free public buses for all, a rent freeze on regulated houses, and city-owned grocery stores to reduce the cost of living for poor and middle-class families.

• In June 2025, Zohran received strong support from two well-known politicians. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez. He also walked with them in the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.

• As of June 2025, Zohran Mamdani was one of the leading candidates in the New York City mayoral race. His main competition is former governor Andrew Cuomo.

• In an interview, he called Bill de Blasio the best NYC mayor in his lifetime and Fiorello La Guardia the best of all time.

• He lives in a one-bedroom house in Astoria and pays about $2250 rent per month.

• He doesn’t own a car.

• He likes eating the toasted poppy seed bagel from Absolute Bagels with scallion cream cheese and pulp Tropicana on the side.

• In his teenage years, he bought a high-top brown Nike Dunks for $90 from the defunct East Village sneaker boutique Dave’s Quality Meat, but he played soccer on concrete in socks to preserve his shoes.

• His clothing style is influenced by Bernie Sanders and Jawaharlal Nehru. He also likes clothes from Uniqlo and a military store on 31st Street and Broadway in Astoria.

• While studying in school and college, he wanted to be a journalist and often published newsletters for students.

• He is a fan of hip-hop and formed a hip-hop duo as Young-Cardamom with his childhood friend Abdul Bar Hussein, a.k.a. HAB.

• Their first song was Kanda (Chap Chap), and their EP Sidda Mukyaalo was a socially conscious hip-hop album in six different languages.

• He first married Syrian artist Rama Duwaji as per Islamic traditions in Dubai. They later made their marriage official on 12 February 2025 in a law clerk’s office.