Mamdani supporters celebrate win at Sunset Stoop watch party

Neighborhood bar and event space Sunset Stoop, 4114 5th Avenue, was thrumming with optimism for the future of New York City when it hosted a watch party for the mayoral election Tuesday night. Since the early days of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, the bar has been a community hub for supporters of the soon to be 111th Mayor of New York City, who will be the first Muslim mayor and, at 34 years old, the youngest in a century.

The bar was filled to the brim with Mamdani voters, each donating to the Envision Freedom Fund, a non-profit organization that has been helping ICE-impacted families and provides legal assistance to those in need. It was a particularly fitting cause to support on this evening, as New York is known as the city of immigrants, Sunset Park is a predominantly immigrant neighborhood, and by the end of the party, an immigrant had won the mayoral election.

Attendee Elana Mendoza, an immigrant herself, was celebrating her first opportunity to vote in New York after being granted U.S. citizenship earlier this year. She chose to come to the Sunset Stoop event because “It just feels like a community here,” adding, “We have to do our part as people of New York.”

Sunset Stoop owner and neighborhood native Roberto Beltre was doing his part long before the polls opened for early voting in late October, as he hosted a fundraiser for Mamdani at the bar back in January. Sunset Stoop continued to be an unofficial arm of the campaign, hosting watch parties for the mayoral primary election in June, as well as for several of the debates.

For Tuesday’s election, many of Mamdani’s own canvassers chose to watch at Sunset Stoop. “It feels good to be a part of something bigger,” said Kristin Borden, who has been canvassing for Mamdani since April.

In his victory speech at the recently restored Brooklyn Paramount in downtown Brooklyn late Tuesday night, Mamdani said, “Hope is alive.”

In the backyard of Sunset Stoop, illuminated by string lights, that same hope was palpable. With each update announced, viewers jumped, screamed and cheered. However, attendee Beth Bruno, a 68-year-old Brooklyn local and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), emphasized that for Mamdani and his supporters there was much work ahead. “We know they're going to come after us and we're going to stand together and we're going to just push right back,” Bruno said. “This is not the end of the fight.”

At the Brooklyn Paramount, Mamdani was already challenging President Donald Trump “We believe in standing up for those we love,” he said. “Whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall.”

Mamdani, a democratic socialist, will be sworn in as mayor on Jan 1, 2026. He sees parallels between his future plans and the legacy of former mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who is remembered for reforming New York City by creating infrastructure projects like building public housing, consolidating the subway system, and expanding social welfare programs.

Mika Steele, a native New Yorker who watched the returns at Sunset Stoop, says Mamdani’s election will be good for the city. “Tomorrow looks like smiling at my neighbors on the subway and on the street, and saying, ‘hey, we did it,’ even if you didn't believe that he is a good candidate,” Steele said.

Mamdani ran his winning campaign on a rent freeze, free bus fare, universal childcare, and taxing big corporations and the wealthiest New Yorkers. More than a million people voted for Mamdani as mayor, including 60% of Sunset Park voters, according to the New York Times. Hannah Rose Ryan was one of around 15,000 voters in the neighborhood to do so. “I see a much more beautiful New York ahead of us,” Ryan said. “Something that hasn't been seen in a long time.”

In keeping with Mamdani’s success in Sunset Park, Alexa Avilés, another democratic socialist, won the District 38 City Council election by 46 points against Republican Luis Quero. In City Council District 43, Democrat Susan Zhou won unopposed.