Many Brooklyn voters said they were pleased that Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral election on Tuesday, and also pinned their hopes that buses will eventually become free.
Voting for the first time, Yaseen Elrowmein, 18, a student at New York College of Technology, CUNY, said he cast his ballot for Zohran Mamdani in Sunset Park.
"Most of the people I know voted for him,” said Elrowmein, who also said he’s looking forward to Mamdani’s signature campaign promise to make the city’s buses free. “He said he would try to make them free. That would benefit me a lot because I take the bus to get to my college."
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo tried to cast doubt on the 34-year-old’s experience, but voters told BK Reader that his youth was part of the appeal.
“I think just having a younger mayor is an improvement,” said Lauren Collings, 44, a painter from East Williamsburg. She called Mamdani someone who's better in touch with the Brooklyn community.
Lauren Wright, 22, a model who recently moved to Boerum Hill from California, said his rise in New York City politics was meteoric.
“He just kind of came out of nowhere," she said. "And now he has this mass following and it's very real. It's very truth based. And I think that that is really inspiring to people.”
Jeff Llyod, a retiree from Sunset Park, said he voted for Mamdani because, at this point, he's supporting “anything that's different.”
“Nobody wants the governor to come back and be mayor. He's a pain in the butt,” said Llyod.
He hopes the incoming mayor will do something about skyrocketing rents. “Nobody who works here really can live here anymore. I used to love Brooklyn. Now it's just 'Brooklyn.' It's not the same. If [Mamdani] can bring it back where you can live here and thrive here, it's good.”
Yvette Harris, 60, who works in the NYPD communications department, said she was moved by the optimistic messaging from Mamdani's campaign.
“Everybody that was surrounding him was uplifting,” said Harris. "Our future is going to be more brighter.”
Douglas Jordan, a retired legal clerk, said he hasn't voted in any election in the past 20 years because he thinks voting is "not as important as making people do their jobs.”
That said, Jordan said he expects Mamdani to do his.
“Yeah, I take [the bus] every day and I hate to have to pay, and I pay a reduced fare, but it still should be free,” said Jordan.
