Scott Lucas: The light shines again in America after Zohran Mamdani's election

The mayor-elect of New York City is a beacon of a new politics, an alternative to the Trump-dominated rhetoric and division across much of US political culture and the national media, writes Scott Lucas

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, centre, with Elana Leopold, left, and Melanie Hartzog, right, in New York last week. Photo: AP/Heather Khalifa

Zohran Mamdani, 34, put his right hand over his heart and took in the cheers of a rapturous crowd at the Brooklyn Paramount music hall in New York City.

Born in Uganda to Indian parents, a practising Muslim, little-known a year ago, he had just been elected mayor. He beamed as he drew out each word: “The sun may have set over our city this evening, but as Eugene Debs once said: ‘I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.'”