The race for TIME’s next Person of the Year is already drawing attention, with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani narrowly leading President Donald Trump in the early voting. Mamdani currently has 22% support, just ahead of Trump’s 21%.
Event Context
As per the numbers, Pope Leo is at 12% and Netanyahu is at 11%.
Mamdani, who is 34, was born in Kampala, Uganda and then moved to New York with his family age seven.
Match Outlook
TIME said Mamdani, the second-youngest mayor of the country’s largest city, still faces major challenges. Critics say his housing plans could affect investment. His relationships with key groups, including parts of the Jewish community, as well as the city’s financial challenges, will test whether he can turn his ideas into action.
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TIME’s annual person of the year selection is a tradition that dates back to 1927. Over the years, the magazine has recognized public figures including celebrities, activists and politicians with the award.
As per the last year’s selection, the person of the year doesn’t have to be an individual. In 2006, the magazine recognized a technological advancement by selecting “You” as its person of the year, a reflection of the emergence of online communities, as per USA Today.
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Time magazine chose “Architects of AI” as its Person of the Year 2025. The magazine said it chose to recognize artificial intelligence’s huge influence across society, from media to politics to the workforce.
One of the publication’s two magazine covers for its person of the year issue included tech leaders like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
The other cover was a painting by Jason Seiler that nods to the 1932 photograph, “Lunch atop a Skyscraper,” and depicts tech leaders Mark Zuckerberg, Lisa Su, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei and Fei-Fei Li.
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According to TIME, Mamdani gave the Democratic Party something it badly needed: a new source of momentum. His run for New York City mayor included viral videos across the boroughs, promises of rent freezes, free buses and childcare, and a grassroots coalition that led to huge turnout. This helped him go from single-digit support in early polls to a decisive win over Andrew Cuomo, putting him in the national spotlight.
The democratic socialist quickly became a standard bearer for progressives and a test case for the midterms. Last year, he told TIME his approach is “a politics that is direct,” where people can see exactly how policy applies to their lives.
