Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani will become New York City’s next mayor after he swept to victory in a decisive win.

His rise to political stardom was complete late on Tuesday night when he was projected to have won the mayoral contest, which will see him sworn in to replace Eric Adams in January.

In a fiery acceptance speech last night, Mr Mamdani, the first Muslim and South Asian mayor of New York, said: “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”

The 34-year-old is the youngest person in a century to be elected as the famous city’s mayor.

So how did he get here, what does he stand for, and why has he proved a divisive figure?

From rapper to mayor

Mr Mamdani, a state lawmaker, was relatively unknown when he announced his run in October last year.

His win in the summer in the Democratic mayoral primary against then favourite Andrew Cuomo – a former New York governor making a political comeback from a sexual harassment scandal – shocked the nation.

He was elected to the State Assembly in 2020, representing a district in Queens, becoming the first South Asian man to serve in the NYS Assembly, as well as the first Ugandan and third Muslim to ever be a member of the body

Before that he was on the city’s rapping scene, going by Young Cardamom and later as Mr Cardamom.

He made a song called #1 Spice with the artist HAB for the 2016 Disney film Queen of Katwe, which was directed by his mother Mira Nair, an award-winning filmmaker, while another song, Nani – a tribute to his grandmother – was released in 2019.

Mr Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and was raised there and briefly in South Africa until he was seven years old, when his family moved to New York.

He is the son of filmmaker mother Mira Nair, best known for 2001 comedy/drama Monsoon Wedding, and Mahmood Mamdani, an anthropology professor at Columbia University.

He went to a public school and attended the Bronx High School of Science, before receiving a degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College, where he co-started the school’s first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

He became naturalised as an American citizen in 2018, and worked as a foreclosure prevention housing counsellor.

The politician says that the job, which saw him help low-income homeowners of colour across Queens fight off eviction and stay in their homes, inspired him to run for office.

Mr Trump has alleged without evidence that Mr Mamdani is in the US “illegally,” and some Republicans have called for his deportation.

Mr Mamdani married Rama Duwaji, a Syrian American artist whom he met on the dating app Hinge, earlier this year.

How did Mamdani win?

His energetic campaign, with cost-of-living concerns at its heart, has made Mr Mamdani popular among working-class voters.

He has used social media to engage with a younger demographic, with slickly-produced videos earning him nearly 5 million followers on Instagram and 1.6 million on TikTok.

He has set out his vision of free buses, free childcare, new apartments and a higher minimum wage – paid for by new taxes on the rich.

Likewise, he has also shared plans to hire thousands of new teachers, renegotiate city contracts and freeze rent increases for the city’s one million rent-regulated apartments.

“We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible,” Mr Mamdani told supporters after his win.

Critics have suggested his ambitious plans won’t be affordable.

Mr Mamdani’s campaign was helped by controversies plaguing his competitors.

Who ran against him?

Mr Cuomo had been trying to make a political comeback from a sexual harassment scandal that saw him resign as governor of New York state in 2021.

His resignation came after a report from the state attorney general concluded that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women. Mr Cuomo has said he did not intentionally mistreat the women but had run afoul of what was considered appropriate workplace conduct.

The 67-year-old refused to back down after losing the Democratic primary to Mr Mamdani, and became a more likely winner as an independent than Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, owing to New York’s largely Democratic-leaning population.

Adding to Mr Mamdani’s chances was the fact that the incumbent Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, decided to drop out of the race for re-election in September. His reputation had taken a hit after he was charged with taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals last year. The charges have since been dropped.

Why Mamdani is a divisive figure on the left

Progressives have rallied behind Mr Mamdani throughout his campaign, with his economic populism and youthful charisma raising his popularity beyond New York.

He has had heavy support from popular US Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from before he won the primary in June.

For much of his campaign, Democratic leaders in Washington and moderate Democrats were seen actively distancing themselves from Mr Mamdani, with some considering his socialist views too radical.

He has been an outspoken critic of Israel, calling its military campaign in Gaza a “genocide” and saying Palestine should exist as “a state with equal rights,” while demanding hefty tax increases on the wealthy to make life more affordable for everyday New Yorkers.

His views have posed a challenge for the leftist leaders, who want to appeal to voters not just in Democratic strongholds like New York but also in swing states or places that lean toward Republicans, such as Senate contests next year in North Carolina and Ohio.

Party leaders like governor Kathy Hochul and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries eventually endorsed Mr Mamdani months after he won the nomination.

Mr Jeffries, a moderate New York Democrat, said he had disagreements with Mr Mamdani but supported him as the nominee, adding that the party should unify against Republicans and Donald Trump.

While he did not openly endorse the 34-year-old, The New York Times reported that former US president Barack Obama had called Mr Mamdani and offered to be a “sounding board”.

What has Trump said about Mamdani?

Mr Trump, unsurprisingly, has been critical of Mr Mamdani, calling him a “communist” who “doesn’t know a thing” and “probably never worked a day in his life”.

He even suggested Republican candidate Mr Sliwa should drop out to give Mr Cuomo a bigger share of votes, and on the day before the last day of voting, explicitly endorsed the independent candidate on Truth Social.

Throughout his campaign to be mayor, Mr Mamdani was critical of the Trump administration – in particular about the immigration raids seen in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, vowing to hire more lawyers for the city to challenge any National Guard or ICE deployment.

In August, he said a New York with him as mayor would be “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare”.

Mr Trump said Mr Mamdani’s election would bring “disaster” for the city.

And in a speech on Tuesday night after winning the election, Mr Mamdani fired attacks against Mr Trump, saying: “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”

As he was speaking, the president posted a blunt rebuttal on Truth Social, saying: “…AND SO IT BEGINS!”

At least seven people have died after a cargo plane crashed near an airport in Kentucky.

The UPS aircraft went down near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday evening, with images from the scene showing large fires burning and smoke billowing into the air.

Speaking at a news conference, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear described the incident as “catastrophic” and urged local residents to obey any shelter-in-place orders.

In a later social media post, he confirmed the number of dead had risen from an initial three to at least seven, with the number expected to rise further.

Three people were confirmed to be on the plane, and 11 were injured on the ground.

Mr Beshear described it as a “tough” night for the city.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said the crash happened around 5.15pm local time (10.15pm UK time) as the plane left the airport, bound for Honolulu in Hawaii.

It added that the aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 plane, primarily used by cargo airlines.

The airport is also home to UPS Worldport, the delivery firm’s largest package handling facility in the world.

All arriving and departing flights were temporarily suspended, the airfield was closed, and passengers were told to closely monitor their flights.

The airport is not expected to reopen until Wednesday morning.

Authorities said the plane was carrying 38,000 gallons of fuel at the time of the crash, which impacted two buildings.

More than 100 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze, said Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg.

Read more from Sky News:
‘Trump’s worst nightmare’ set to win in NYC
The 100-year trend that may be about to break

Sky’s US correspondent David Blevins noted the incident occurred during the US government shutdown, meaning the budget for paying air traffic controllers has not been finalised.

The failure to reopen the federal government after 35 days has, he said, resulted “in a shortage of staff” and added: “There will be many questions asked in the coming days by the National Transportation Safety Authority about what exactly has gone wrong.”

The US government shutdown has passed a record, becoming the longest in history, as the stand-off between the Democrats and Republicans on the Hill continues.

Starting on 1 October, the shutdown has been triggered by lawmakers failing to pass new funding bills.

It has now eclipsed the record set during Trump’s first term. That 35-day federal closure in late 2018 and early 2019 resulted from a fight over Trump’s demand for a border wall, which Democrats refused to fund.

This shutdown is mainly about healthcare, but the ramifications go far beyond that, with critical federal services struggling to function, affecting millions of Americans.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. But 60 votes are needed to pass any funding bill.

Central to any endgame will be a series of agreements that would need to be upheld not only by the Senate, but also the House, and the White House, which is not at all certain in Washington DC.

Here are some of the biggest impacts of the government shutdown so far.

Flight delays piling up

US airports are seeing a pile-up of flight delays due to staff shortages, as those who turn up are not being paid.

More than 3.2 million passengers have had flights delayed or cancelled due to air traffic control staffing issues since the shutdown began, according to Airlines for America, which represents some of the biggest airlines in the country.

Air traffic controllers, who coordinate aircraft within the airspace, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are classed as essential workers, meaning they must keep operating even though they don’t get paid until after it resumes.

It means nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay for weeks, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), along with 50,000 TSA officers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNBC on 3 November: “None of them can miss two paycheques.

“Their home finances fall apart, and they’re all going to have to look at taking second jobs or quitting and getting into another line of work. And the consequence of that is very real for our air system.”

And the next day, he blamed Democrats for the shutdown – Republicans currently have a majority in both houses – and told ABC: “So if, if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos.

“You will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.”

The FAA was already dealing with a longstanding shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers before the shutdown.

Many have questioned the safety of air travel amid such shortages, but the flights are intentionally slowed down amid staff shortages to make them more manageable.

Mr Duffy suggested the delays would become more extreme the longer the shutdown went on, with staff being “confronted with a decision” on whether they should stop turning up for work.

Food stamps reduced for millions of Americans

The shutdown is affecting the 42 million Americans who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP).

The federal programme provides food benefits, also known as food stamps, to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford more nutritious food than they would otherwise be able to afford.

The government planned to freeze payments to the programme, estimated to cost $8bn per month nationally, starting 1 November, saying it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown.

Judges halted the move and said the Trump administration would need to at least partially fund it.

The government has indicated it will use an emergency fund of $4.65bn to cover about half of the normal benefits.

Payments for November had already been delayed for millions of people, and now they will only receive half of their usual benefits.

Many Democrats suggest the government can afford to make the full payments during the shutdown but is choosing not to.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has accused Mr Trump and Republicans of attempting to “weaponise hunger” to pressure political rivals into accepting their funding proposals.

Whatever the reasons, the impact on struggling families is already being felt.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech on Monday 3 November: “The stories from this weekend were shameful, sickening.

“People overwhelming food banks, handing out groceries in lieu of Halloween candy, teachers paying out of pocket to give their students extra food. Across America, appalling scenes were seen of people worried they wouldn’t be able to feed their families and even themselves.”

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Corina Betancourt, from Arizona, a single mum with three children aged between eight and 11, says the SNAP benefits being reduced and delayed means she will need to rely more on her local food bank and find ways to stretch what she has further.

She says she is worried that there won’t be enough for her children to eat with about $400 this month instead of around $800. “We always make things work somehow, some way,” she adds.

Federal workers missing pay cheques

Some federal employees have turned to food banks as they are going without pay until the shutdown ends.

Roughly 750,000 of them have been furloughed, meaning they are on an unpaid leave of absence and can look for temporary jobs, but others, like aviation staff, are considered essential employees who are contracted to carry on working for the government even if they aren’t being paid.

Anthony Speight, who is furloughed for the first time in his 17 years as a federal employee, told Sky News’ US partner NBC News that he “never thought” he would have to ask the community for help, but was going to a food bank at the end of October.

“Bills continue to pile up. I have car notes, I have children to feed, I have a family to take care of, I have a mortgage to pay, so it’s a lot of uncertainty,” he said.

Read more:
Who is New York City’s new mayor?
Dick Cheney dies: ‘A noble giant of a man’

The Trump administration has taken steps to continue paying US troops, federal law enforcement agents and immigration officers.

Members of Congress continue to receive pay during the shutdown under the Constitution’s laws, though a handful of lawmakers have asked that their pay be withheld until the shutdown is resolved.

Heating help for low-income homes at risk

With temperatures beginning to drop across the US, some states are warning that funding for a programme which helps millions of low-income households pay to heat and cool their homes is also taking a hit.

The $4.1bn Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Programme (LIHEAP) helps 5.9 million households across all states, but federal funding is now delayed at a concerning time for those who rely on it.

“The impact, even if it’s temporary, on many of the nation’s poor families is going to be profound if we don’t solve this problem,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which represents state directors of the programme.

Many of those who are supported by LIHEAP also rely on food stamps.

Centres for preschool children lose funding

Head Start centres, which serve tens of thousands of the nation’s most in-need preschool children, have stopped receiving federal funding.

The early education initiative provides centres as an alternative to preschool to children up to the age of five from low-income households, homeless or in foster care, where they are fed two meals a day and receive therapy vital to their development.

But without federal funding, some have closed indefinitely, while others are staying afloat with emergency funding from local governments and school districts.

Keiliana Porter, a mother of three from Ohio, had to break the news to her four-year-old twins, Kalani and Kanoelani, that they could not return to school on Monday.

“It was like I was punishing them,” she said. “They just don’t understand, and that’s the hardest thing.”