By STEVE PEOPLES and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE

NEW YORK (AP) — The stunning success of Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist, in the race for New York City mayor has exposed anew the fiery divisions plaguing the Democratic Party as it struggles to repair its brand nearly half a year into Donald Trump’s presidency.

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A fresh round of infighting erupted among Democratic officials, donors and political operatives on Wednesday, a day after Mamdani’s leading opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, conceded the Democratic primary. Mamdani appears on a glide path to the nomination, though ranked choice vote counting will determine the final outcome next week.

Many progressives cheered the emergence of the young and charismatic Mamdani, whose candidacy caught on with viral campaign videos and a focus on the cost of living. But the party’s more pragmatic wing cast the outcome as a serious setback in their quest to broaden Democrats’ appeal and move past the more controversial policies that alienated would-be voters in recent elections.

Indeed, Wednesday’s debate was about much more than who would lead America’s largest city for the next four years.

Giddy Republicans viewed Mamdani’s success as a political gift that would help shape elections across New Jersey and Virginia this fall and into next year’s midterms. And while such predictions are premature, national conservative media focused on the New York election with fresh zeal, suggesting that Mamdani’s emerging profile as a prominent Democratic leader will surely grow.

Trump took aim at Mamdani on social media, calling him “a 100% Communist Lunatic.”

“We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous,” the president wrote. “Yes, this is a big moment in the History of our Country.”

Some Democrats think so, too.

Lawrence Summers, the Treasury Secretary under former Democratic President Barack Obama, aired dire concerns on social media.

“I am profoundly alarmed about the future of the (Democratic Party) and the country” because of the New York City results, Summers wrote.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had endorsed Mamdani, scoffed at such Democratic critics and instead called for them to follow Mamdani’s lead.

“In many ways, Mamdani’s campaign really shows the direction in which the Democratic Party should be moving. And that is not to worry about what billionaires want, but to worry about what working-class people want,” Sanders told The Associated Press.

The Vermont senator warned Republicans against premature celebration.

“People like Mamdani are their worst nightmares,” Sanders said of the GOP. “It’s one thing for the Democrats to be strongly against Donald Trump. It is another thing to give working class people something to vote for — a positive agenda.”

Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani takes the stage at his primary election party, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Assuming Mamdani ultimately is the Democratic nominee, he would move to a November election against embattled Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and maybe even Cuomo again, should he also choose to run as an independent.

A member of the New York state Legislature since 2021, Mamdani won over Democratic primary voters with an optimistic message centered on the cost-of-living backed by a sprawling grassroots campaign that brought out thousands of volunteers across the city’s five boroughs. Initial precinct data shows that he did well in the city’s wealthier enclaves while Cuomo struggled in all but majority Black and orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, along with the more conservative Staten Island.

Mamdani’s rise was aided by Cuomo’s baggage. The 67-year-old Democrat was trying to mount a political comeback from a sexual harassment scandal that forced him to resign the governorship in 2021.

Mamdani has had to sidestep a field of landmines of his own making, centered on his policies and political rhetoric.

He called the New York Police Department “racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety” in a 2020 social media post. As a mayoral candidate, he softened his stance and said that the police served a vital role. Still, he pushed for the creation of a new public safety department that would rely more on mental health care services and outreach workers.

On Israel’s war in Gaza, he used the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions in the conflict. In the primary’s closing stretch, Mamdani also defended the phrase “ globalize the intifada,” which he described as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

He also faced criticism over his identity as a democratic socialist, a label he refused to back away from.

Mamdani’s agenda includes free city bus service, free child care, government-run grocery stores, a rent freeze for people living in rent-regulated apartments and new affordable housing — all paid for by raising taxes on the rich.

Matt Bennett, co-founder of the centrist Democratic group Third Way, warned that Mamdani’s policies are a political problem for the Democratic Party.

“The fact that Mamdani is young, charismatic, a great communicator — all of those things are to be emulated,” Bennett said. “His ideas are bad. … And his affiliation with the (Democratic Socialists of America) is very dangerous. It’s already being weaponized by the Republicans.”

Mamdani’s age and ethnic background also earned praise from allies across the country. He would be the youngest New York City mayor in more than a century and its first Muslim and Indian American mayor if elected.

After keeping quiet on Mamdani throughout his primary campaign, three of New York’s top Democrats, Gov. Kathy Hochul, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, praised the progressive upstart but stopped short of endorsing him after his victory seemed assured.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., hold a news conference on the GOP reconciliation bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Democratic leaders, largely considered moderates, applauded his focus on affordability and said they had spoken with him, although none explicitly said they would support him in the November general election.

Mamdani’s Democratic critics feared that he would make their task this fall and in next year’s midterm elections, which will decide the balance of power in Congress, even more difficult.

The group, Republicans Against Trumpism, a key Democratic ally in the 2024 election, predicted that Republicans would make Mamdani “the face of the Democratic Party, hurting moderates in swing districts and Democrats’ chances of taking back the House.”

In a Wednesday radio interview with WNYC, Mamdani acknowledged that his contest had become part of the national debate.

“It has been tempting I think for some to claim as if the party has gone too left,” he said. “When in fact what has occurred for far too long is the abandonment of the same working-class voters who then abandoned this party.”

Associated Press writers Matt Brown and Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — When he announced his run for mayor back in October, Zohran Mamdani was a state lawmaker unknown to most New York City residents.

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On Tuesday evening, the 33-year-old marked his stunning political ascension when he declared victory in the Democratic primary from a Queens rooftop bar after former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded.

While the race’s ultimate outcome has yet to be confirmed by a ranked choice count scheduled for July 1, here’s a look at the one-time rapper seeking to become the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor, and its youngest mayor in generations.

Mamdani’s mother is a famous filmmaker

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents and became an American citizen in 2018, shortly after graduating college.

He lived with his family briefly in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to New York City when he was 7.

Mamdani’s mother, Mira Nair, is an award-winning filmmaker whose credits include “Monsoon Wedding,” “The Namesake” and “Mississippi Masala.” His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is an anthropology professor at Columbia University.

Mamdani married Rama Duwaji, a Syrian American artist, earlier this year. The couple, who met on the dating app Hinge, live in the Astoria section of Queens.

Mamdani was once a fledgling rapper

Mamdani attended the Bronx High School of Science, where he cofounded the public school’s first cricket team, according to his legislative bio.

He graduated in 2014 from Bowdoin College in Maine, where he earned a degree in Africana studies and cofounded his college’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

After college, he worked as a foreclosure prevention counselor in Queens helping residents avoid eviction, the job he says inspired him to run for public office.

Mamdani also had a notable side hustle in the local hip hop scene, rapping under the moniker Young Cardamom and later Mr. Cardamom. During his first run for state lawmaker, Mamdani gave a nod to his brief foray into music, describing himself as a “B-list rapper.”

Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani takes selfies with supporters after speaking at his primary election party, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

“Nani,” a song he made in 2019 to honor his grandmother, even found new life — and a vastly wider audience — as his mayoral campaign gained momentum. His critics, meanwhile, have seized on lyrics from “Salaam,” his 2017 ode to being Muslim in New York, to argue his views are too extreme for New Yorkers.

Early political career

Mamdani cut his teeth in local politics working on campaigns for Democratic candidates in Queens and Brooklyn.

He was first elected to the New York Assembly in 2020, knocking off a longtime Democratic incumbent for a Queens district covering Astoria and surrounding neighborhoods. He has handily won reelection twice.

The Democratic Socialist’s most notable legislative accomplishment has been pushing through a pilot program that made a handful of city buses free for a year. He’s also proposed legislation banning nonprofits from “engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.”

Mamdani’s opponents, particularly Cuomo, have dismissed him as woefully unprepared for managing the complexities of running America’s largest city.

But Mamdani has framed his relative inexperience as a potential asset, saying in a mayoral debate he’s “proud” he doesn’t have Cuomo’s “experience of corruption, scandal and disgrace.”

Viral campaign videos

Mamdani has used buzzy campaign videos — many with winking references to Bollywood and his Indian heritage — to help make inroads with voters outside his slice of Queens.

On New York’s Day, he took part in the annual polar plunge into the chilly waters off Coney Island in a full dress suit to break down his plan to “freeze” rents.

As the race was entering the final stretch, Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan, documenting the roughly 13-mile trip by posting photos and videos of his interactions along the way.

Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is recorded by supporters while he speaks at his primary election party, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

In TikTok videos, he’s even appealed to voters of color by speaking in Spanish, Bangla and other languages.

Progressive promises

Mamdani has offered a more optimistic vision, in contrast to candidates like Cuomo, who have largely focused on crime and law and order issues.

His campaign has been packed with big promises aimed at lowering the cost of living for everyday New Yorkers, from free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for people living in rent-regulated apartments and new affordable housing — much of it by raising taxes on the wealthy.

The big promises have, unsurprisingly, endeared him to the Democratic Party’s liberal wing.

Mamdani secured endorsements from two of the country’s foremost progressives, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Pro-Palestinian views

Mamdani’s outspoken support for Palestinian causes was a point of tension in the mayor’s race as Cuomo and other opponents sought to label his defiant criticism of Israel as antisemitic.

The Shia Muslim has called Israel’s military campaign in Gaza a “genocide” and said the country should exist as “a state with equal rights,” rather than a “Jewish state.” That message has resonated among pro-Palestinian residents, including the city’s roughly 800,000 adherents of Islam — the largest Muslim community in the country.

During an interview on CBS’s “The Late Show” on the eve of the election, host Stephen Colbert asked Mamdani if he believed the state of Israel had the right to exist. He responded: “Yes, like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist — and a responsibility also to uphold international law.”

Mamdani’s refusal to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada” on a podcast — a common chant at pro-Palestinian protests — drew recriminations from Jewish groups and fellow candidates in the days leading up to the election.

In his victory speech Tuesday, he pledged to work closely with those who don’t share his views on controversial issues.

“While I will not abandon my beliefs or my commitments, grounded in a demand for equality, for humanity, for all those who walk this earth, you have my word to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree, and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements,” Mamdani said.

Associated Press writers Jake Offenhartz and Anthony Izaguirre in New York contributed to this report.

Follow Philip Marcelo on X at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

By Jason Feldman

Rochester Post-Bulletin

DODGE CENTER — “We Are” won out over “Row the Boat.”

Pierce Petersohn, possibly the most heavily recruited athlete from Triton High School ever, and certainly in the past 30 years, is heading east to play big-time college football. After a lengthy recruiting process, Petersohn announced his commitment to play for Penn State University on Wednesday.

“Let’s go, home!!” the high school senior-to-be wrote in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

Petersohn narrowed his choice to two universities on June 17, Minnesota and Penn State. He posted a graphic that day that included a photo of him in his Triton football uniform and helmet, with the logos of the Gophers and Nittany Lions on either side of him, and a simple message: “Where’s home?!”

His decision is music to the ears of Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin and his staff. After one more school year at Triton, Petersohn will head to Happy Valley, in State College, Pa., to join a football program that earned its first College Football Playoff appearance last season, when it went 13-3 and reached the national semifinals.

Prior to Petersohn’s commitment, Penn State’s 2026 recruiting class was ranked No. 8 in the country and third in the 18-team Big Ten Conference by 247Sports. Petersohn is the Nittany Lions’ 11th four-star recruit in the class, to go along with 10 three-star athletes.

The Gophers’ class is ranked 14th.

Penn State, Minnesota, Iowa State, North Dakota, South Dakota and Northern Iowa were among the programs that traveled to Dodge Center for in-school or in-home visits with Petersohn, his coaches and his family. Petersohn also received offers from Power 4 programs Iowa, Northwestern, Duke, and Kansas State, and FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.

Because he plays at a small school, Petersohn’s status as a must-have all-around athlete for Division I programs was no doubt helped by social media. That’s what the 6-foot-5, 200-pound quarterback/defensive back has been recruited as — an athlete. His combination of size, speed, intelligence and athleticism grabbed the attention of scouts at all levels of college football and track and field.

He was named the Athlete of the Meet at the Class 1A track and field state meet two weeks ago when he scored more points for his team than any other athlete in the meet. He was the runner-up in the 400 meters (:48.16), earned fourth-place finishes in the 200 (:22.18) and high jump (6-feet-4), and a sixth-place finish in the 100 (:11.24).

As a standout guard, he was named the Gopher Conference boys basketball Player of the Year after averaging 28.8 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 28 games last winter, when he became Triton’s all-time leading scorer.

Last fall, Petersohn led Triton to the Section 2, Class 2A championship, throwing for 1,470 yards, 17 touchdowns and just four interceptions, while rushing for 398 yards and nine touchdowns. He and the Cobras came within an eyelash of a trip to U.S. Bank Stadium, falling 23-22 to powerful Chatfield in the state quarterfinals.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Nestle said Wednesday it will eliminate artificial colors from its U.S. food and beverages by the middle of 2026.

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It’s the latest big food company making that pledge. Last week, Kraft Heinz and General Mills said they would remove artificial dyes from their U.S. products by 2027. General Mills also said it plans to remove artificial dyes from its U.S. cereals and from all foods served in K-12 schools by the middle of 2026.

The move has broad support. About two-thirds of Americans favor restricting or reformulating processed foods to remove ingredients like added sugar or dyes, according to an AP-NORC poll. Both California and West Virginia have recently banned artificial dyes in foods served in schools.

On Sunday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a bill requiring foods made with artificial dyes or additives to contain a new safety label starting in 2027. The label would say they contain ingredients “not recommended for human consumption” in Australia, Canada, the European Union or the U.K.

The federal government is also stepping up its scrutiny of artificial colors. In January, days before President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. regulators banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation’s food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk.

In April, Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would take steps to eliminate synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, largely by relying on voluntary efforts from the food industry.

Nestle has pledged to remove artificial dyes before. Early in 2015, the company said it would remove artificial flavors and colors from its products by the end of that year. But the promise didn’t hold.

Nestle said Wednesday it’s been removing synthetic dyes from its products over the last decade, and 90% of its U.S. portfolio doesn’t contain them. Among those that do is Nesquik Banana Strawberry milk, which is made with Red 3.

Nestle said Wednesday it wants to evolve with its U.S. customers’ changing nutritional needs and preferences.

“Serving and delighting people is at the heart of everything we do and every decision that we make,” Nestle’s U.S. CEO Marty Thompson said in a statement.