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.

At a time when polarization often drowns out nuance, a new report from More in Common titled “Shared Ideals, Divergent Realities” offers a revealing portrait of Americans’ views on democracy in the Trump era.

Despite a political climate dominated by division and distrust, the findings underscore a striking and perhaps hopeful truth: Americans across the political spectrum still overwhelmingly support democracy and constitutional norms. The danger lies not in disagreement over those ideals but in our profound divide over who — and what — endangers them.

The report, based on a representative national survey and in-depth qualitative interviews, shows that 63% of Americans—including 69% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats — believe democracy is “definitely the best” form of government for the United States. Over 70% agree the president should always act within the bounds of the Constitution, even if it limits his ability to get things done. These are not small numbers. They reflect shared civic values at a time when such agreement often feels out of reach.

But while Americans agree on the importance of democracy, they diverge sharply on how to apply it—particularly when evaluating the actions of President Donald Trump. For most Democrats, Trump’s return to power signals a clear threat to democratic norms. Nearly 80% believe he aspires to become a dictator. By contrast, 60% of Republicans say it is the courts — not the presidency — that pose the greater threat to democracy. In this mirror-world divide, the same actions are interpreted either as anti-democratic power grabs or as much-needed efforts to root out corruption and inefficiency.

Federal budget cuts by the Trump administration exemplify this split. Most Republicans view them as responsible governance — long overdue trims to bloated bureaucracies. Many Trump voters express genuine frustration with wasteful spending and see the cuts as fulfilling campaign promises. Yet even within the Republican base, some express unease with the execution. They worry about chaos, lack of planning, and unclear criteria. “I agree that some cuts are needed,” one independent Trump voter from Ohio notes, “but not in the haphazard methods deployed at the start.”

Democrats, meanwhile, view the same cuts through a lens of fear and suspicion — seeing them as politically motivated attempts to undermine government capacity and redirect resources to Trump’s allies or private interests. “Many of the cuts have been done as political retaliation,” says one Kamala Harris voter from Connecticut, “just for a headline.”

The research also captures a significant warning signal: overall, Americans are more concerned than confident about the health of democracy under Trump. This concern is strongest among Democrats and Independents, nearly half of whom believe Trump harbors dictatorial ambitions. Even among Republicans, a noteworthy minority — 23% — say Congress isn’t doing enough to provide oversight of the executive branch.

And here lies another emerging fault line: the role of Congress. While many Trump-aligned respondents say Congress is acting appropriately or should defer to the president, others from across the spectrum express alarm at legislative passivity. A lack of visible checks and balances, some argue, creates fertile ground for democratic erosion.

This isn’t just about policy; it’s about trust, legitimacy, and the mechanics of governance. Americans of all political stripes want leaders to respect the Constitution and uphold democratic rules — but differ dramatically on who is breaking them and why. These divergent interpretations challenge advocates of democracy reform to move beyond sweeping, partisan warnings and instead speak to shared values and specific concerns. The report urges those working to defend democracy to “focus on moments and issues that evoke bipartisan unease,” rather than blanket condemnations.

In other words, this is not the moment for alarmist rhetoric. It is a moment for precise engagement. Most Americans, even many who support Trump, do not want to throw away the guardrails of our constitutional system. They are not immune to democratic concerns — hey just may not see them where others do. That’s not apathy. That’s perspective.

To bridge these realities, we must anchor the pro-democracy movement not just in defending institutions but in listening. We must ask: What do different Americans believe the government should do? What do they fear losing? And how can we meet them in those spaces of shared concern?

The public doesn’t need to be convinced that democracy is worth saving. They already believe it. The challenge is showing — clearly, calmly, and credibly — when and how it’s being undermined. Only then can we shift from abstract ideals to a renewed civic commitment strong enough to weather even the most divergent of realities.

Kristina Becvar is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and executive director of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund. The Fulcrum is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news platform covering efforts to fix our governing systems.