NEW YORK: Zohran Mamdani's election as New York mayor caps an extraordinary rise for the leftist local lawmaker who emerged from relative obscurity to lead a supercharged campaign for the US megacity's top job.

Since his surprise victory in the Democratic Party primary in June, New Yorkers have become used to seeing his bearded, smiling face on television - and on badges proudly worn by his supporters.

The 34-year-old election winner was born in Uganda to a family of Indian origin and has lived in the United States since he was seven, becoming a naturalised US citizen in 2018.

He is the son of filmmaker Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding," "Mississippi Masala") and Mahmood Mamdani, a professor and respected Africa expert - leading some of his detractors to call him a "nepo baby".

He followed a path paved by other youngsters from elite liberal families, attending the elite Bronx High School of Science followed by Bowdoin College in Maine, a university seen as a bastion of progressive thought.

Under the alias "Young Cardamom", he ventured into the world of rap in 2015, influenced by hip-hop group "Das Racist", which had two members of Indian origin who played with references and tropes from the subcontinent.

Mamdani's attempt to break into the competitive world of professional music did not last, with the performer-turned-politician calling himself a second-rate artist.