New York City Mayor Mayor Zohran Mamdani is changing the conversation months after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made his wife a political target.
Activist Rama Sawaf Duwaji, the first lady of New York married Mamdani months before he entered office after four years of dating.
In a rare personal moment, her Democrat husband unleashed a confession about his marriage that few people knew, giving the public a different look at the couple beyond the political firestorm.
Mamdani built a career as a state lawmaker and a former foreclosure-prevention counselor, while Duwaji worked as an illustrator and animator.
They fell in love after meeting unconventionally on a popular dating app, and the rest is history.
In a July 1 interview on Complex’s “360 with Jillian,” Mamdani blushingly gushed about his wife and their love story.
It started when Jillian the Superstar asked Mamdani what his parents taught him about love.
Before calling it “a whirlwind story,” he said, “My mother fell in love with my father in a country and in a continent that she’d never been to before.”
Mamdani was born in 1991 to professor Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. His parents raised him in Uganda and South Africa before moving the family to New York City in 1999. They publicly supported him after he became New York City’s first Muslim mayor in 2025.
For Mamdani, it was like a “fantasy” the first time he saw Duwaji’s photo on Hinge.
“I think I felt just as in love when I first met my wife and I had to kind of just hold it in for a little bit because I think I was in love from the moment I saw her photo,” he explained.
Smiling ear-to-ear, the New York mayor admitted that he even screenshotted her profile before she matched with him back.
Jillian asked what his initial message to her was when Duwaji matched with him.
He recalled his wife talking about Crème brûlée and offered to get the dessert together.
Jillian said, “smooth,” which brought another confession out of Mamdani.
He said, “I’m making it smoother than it was. I was like hands were shaking and you know thinking about it for like a couple of hours – ‘maybe I should, like maybe I should.”
Hinge’s infamous slogan is that it’s the app “Designed to be deleted,” Jillian asked Mamdani if he did so right after they matched.
He said, “Like, we talked about that after a few dates. And that’s when I made that decision as well.”
Fans gushed about Mamdani’s remarks and his wife in the comments of Complex’s post.
One person, referencing Rihanna’s “We Found Love,” wrote, “They literally found love in a hopeless place.”
Another fan wrote, “Wow.. just wow.. the future feels bright again.”
Someone else said, “No way he can be even MORE likable! How cute is that”
Another giddy fan said, “Why am I smiling and giggling like he’s talking about me?”
A fifth person typed, “Bro has a crush on his wife.”
One person who — like many users — seemingly struggled with dating on the app, joked, “I wanna know if he had the paid version of Hinge because the free one they all.”
Someone else who felt similar said, “Which version of the app did he use? Cause it can’t be the same.”
Duwaji rarely discusses their relationship publicly and mostly uses Instagram to showcase her artwork.
Before becoming New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani proposed in October 2024. The couple celebrated with a traditional Islamic nikkah in Dubai before marrying privately at the New York City Clerk’s Office. They later hosted a three-day wedding celebration at his family’s estate in Uganda.
Despite keeping much of their relationship private, Duwaji has found herself in the political spotlight after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took aim at her.
Leavitt seemed jealous of Duwaji, who received praise for her thirfty look during her husband’s swearing-in ceremony.
Mamdani’s 28-year-old wife wore in a Balenciaga wool coat, black knee-length shorts, and $630 Miista boots to his swearing-in ceremony. Many praised her understated style.
But Leavitt zeroed in on the price tag, arguing the boots undercut Mamdani’s left-leaning message on affordability.
“They want New Yorkers to hand over more than half their income to the government – while she wears designer boots worth your weekly paycheck.
Classic Communists – rules for you, but not for them. There are reasons Communism has failed everywhere it’s been tried. Good luck, New York,” she wrote alongside a picture from the New York Post.
