London Mayor Sadiq Khan hailed the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral elections, telling 300 city mayors gathered in the Brazilian city’s museum of modern art that ‘Hope is not gone’
London Mayor
Sadiq Khan hailed the victory of
Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral elections, telling 300 city mayors gathered in the Brazilian city’s museum of modern art that ‘Hope is not gone’. Khan’s remarks came while he was wrapping up a two-day climate summit in a steamy if overcast Rio de Janeiro.
There can be parallels drawn between Khan and Mamdani. While Sadiq was the first Muslim mayor of London, the latter will be the first Indian and Muslim to assume the role of NYC mayor. Hearing about Mamdani’s win. Khan suggested that the feat had given him hope.
“In recent years, there’s been a growing chorus of commentators and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic attacking London and New York for their liberal values,” Khan told the Guardian. “They paint a picture of a lawless dystopia in an attempt to sow fear and division. But ask most Londoners or New Yorkers, and you’ll find that this narrative falls on deaf ears.”
“Many of the challenges our cities face are similar, but they are not identical. But we are united by something far more fundamental: our belief in the power of politics to change people’s lives for the better,” he added.
The mayors of two cities
Khan eventually took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to laud Mamdani’s win. “New Yorkers faced a clear choice – between hope and fear – and just like we’ve seen in London – hope won,” Khan told The Guardian that the polls in both cities are extremely crucial.
“It’s never been more crucial for our cities to challenge those who weaponise our diversity and instead stand firm in the belief that no matter who you are, or where your family is originally from, you can achieve anything,” Khan said. “In our cities, hope and unity will always triumph over fear and division,” he added.
New Yorkers faced a clear choice – between hope and fear – and just like we’ve seen in London – hope won.
Huge congratulations to @ZohranKMamdani on his historic campaign.
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) November 5, 2025
There are some similarities between the two men. For all that Mamdami, 34, has been characterised as a diehard socialist, his policy platform bears a distinct resemblance to that of Khan, who would describe himself as of the “soft left” on the British political spectrum.
While campaigning, both proposed types of rent controls. Mamdani wants a $30 an hour minimum wage in the city, while Khan has long supported a voluntary London living wage, which at £14.80 per hour is more than £2 beyond the UK’s statutory minimum.
Both leaders aim to make their cities affordable, as both NYC and London grapple with the issue of the cost of living. Mamdani proposed free bus transit, while Khan has frozen fares for years. Both men have also been ardent supporters of the Palestinian cause, condemning Hamas’s October 7 attacks but describing Israel’s war as ‘genocidal’.
It is pertinent to note that Khan, 55, the London-born son of Amanullah and Sehrun Khan, a bus driver and seamstress respectively, arrived in the UK from Pakistan back in 1968.
He achieved a historic third term as mayor on the Labour ticket in May last year. Mamdani, the son of a Ugandan academic, Mahmood Mamdani, a specialist in colonial and post-colonial history, and Mira Nair, the acclaimed filmmaker, came to the United States when he was 8 years old.
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