As Zohran Mamdani delivered an emphatic speech on Tuesday night to mark his victory in the race to become mayor of New York City, he delivered a special shoutout.

"And to my incredible wife, Rama, hayati," he said, using the Arabic word for "my life". "There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment, and in every moment."

The crowd whooped and hollered loudly at Mamdani's mention of his wife, Rama Duwaji, a sign of her important role in her husband's campaign and the growing popular interest in her. As Mamdani finished speaking, Duwaji joined him onstage to another round of applause.

In the lead-up to election day, Duwaji, an animator and illustrator, continued to avoid the traditional political spotlight. She has not engaged in election and politics talk, save for a selfie on her Instagram story on Tuesday morning in which she posed with an "I voted" sticker.

Like her husband, Duwaji, 28, has had a busy past few months — except that hers have not involved anything officially resembling a trip on the campaign trail. Recently, her illustrations were featured in an article in Vogue spotlighting the city's garment workers, and in an article in New York magazine about the objects that Palestinians took from their homes when they fled Gaza.

"Rama isn't just my wife; she's an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms," Mamdani wrote on Instagram in May.

In February, they were married at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau, and in July, the couple held a wedding celebration in Uganda, where Mamdani was born.

Many of Duwaji's signature black-and-white designs express concern for humanitarian crises in Gaza, Sudan and Lebanon, and portray intimate scenes of West Asian life. She often posts her illustrations on Instagram, where she has inadvertently developed a fan base of her own.

Some of her 224,000 followers have been attracted by her artistic endeavors, others by her style, including a wardrobe featuring eye-catching vintage pieces, stacked gold jewellery, one-shoulder tops, flowy midi skirts and her signature black riding boots.

New York Times News Service