Democrat Zohran Mamdani has won New York’s mayoral race, NBC News projects, after the 34-year-old democratic socialist energized progressives in the city and across the country while generating intense backlash from President Donald Trump and Republicans, as well as some Democratic moderates.

Mamdani, who is of Indian descent, will be the first South Asian and first Muslim mayor of New York City.

In his victory speech after vanquishing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani claimed a broad mandate and set himself up in direct opposition to Trump, who made a late endorsement against him.

"In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light," Mamdani said.

"The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate," Mamdani said Tuesday night. "I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this. And yet, if tonight teaches us anything, it is that convention has held us back."

"Together, we will usher in a generation of change, and if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves," Mamdani said later, before challenging Trump directly.

"This is not only how we stop Trump, it's how we stop the next one," Mamdani said. "So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up."

Trump wasn't the only subject of Mamdani's speech, which he started by quoting the 19th- and 20th-century American socialist Eugene Debs and continued by promising the "most ambitious agenda" to address costs in New York City since the administration of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia nearly 100 years ago.

Mamdani defeated Cuomo, who ran as a third-party candidate after losing the Democratic primary in June, by about 9 points, with Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa trailing far behind. Mayor Eric Adams, who also mounted a third-party campaign for re-election after he won as a Democrat in 2021, dropped out of the race in September and endorsed Cuomo last month.