Zohran Mamdani has won the 2025 New York City mayoral election, becoming the city's first Muslim mayor and its youngest in over a century. By his side throughout the campaign and on election night was his wife, Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji, who has largely stayed out of the public eye.
Mamdani and Duwaji, 28, first connected on the dating app Hinge in 2021. They got engaged in October 2024.
The couple celebrated with a lavish nikah and engagement party in Dubai in December 2024, held on the rooftop of Vida Creek Harbour with views of the iconic Burj Khalifa.
The venue was transformed into a white garden by LMF Dubai, featuring ivory roses, lisianthus, and trailing greenery. For the ceremony, Mamdani wore a navy blue kurta while Duwaji had on a silver-toned white gown.
“This engagement and Nikkah were more than an event — it was a floral installation set against Dubai's dusky skyline,” LMF Dubai wrote on Instagram, showing off the decorations.
They also reportedly held a civil ceremony in New York in February 2025. In May, Mamdani posted a series of wedding pictures inside a NYC subway, writing, “Three months ago, I married the love of my life, Rama, at the City Clerk's office. Now, right-wing trolls are trying to make this race — which should be about you — about her. Rama isn't just my wife; she's an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms. You can critique my views, but not my family.”
Rama Duwaji, who has largely stayed out of the public eye, is a talented illustrator whose work has been featured in The Cut, BBC, Vogue, and The New Yorker. Born in Houston, she moved with her family to Dubai at age 9 and later earned a master's degree in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
She reportedly helped design Mamdani's mayoral logos and shape the campaign's bold yellow, orange, and blue branding.
Duwaji was also present for key moments, including casting their primary votes together on Tuesday. She was also among the tens of thousands at his final rally in Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, where he delivered his closing speech with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.
In July, the New York mayor-elect celebrated his marriage to Duwaji with a three-day reception at his family's estate in Buziga Hill in Kampala, Uganda. The event had heavy security, including masked armed guards, multiple security gates, a phone-jamming system, luxury cars, and late-night festivities with music and dancing.
The Uganda celebration, attended by Mamdani's parents, Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani, was criticised online for its opulence.
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