Many have called New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, the youngest ever to hold the office. But that’s not quite right. An Irish American politician held the same title, and he was even younger. The time dates back more than a century.
Throughout his campaign, 34-year-old Mamdani pushed back against critics who said he lacked experience and wasn’t ready for the job. On Tuesday, he won the election. It marked a major moment in U.S. politics. Mamdani is indeed the city’s first Muslim mayor. But he’s been misidentified by some as its youngest.
John Purroy Mitchel was once known as the “Boy Mayor of New York.” He was 34 when he took office. That made him the second-youngest person ever to lead the city. The youngest was Hugh J. Grant, who became mayor in 1889 at just 31.
BREAKING:
Zohran Mamdani wins election and becomes the first Muslim mayor of New York City. pic.twitter.com/m66x6qLxar
— Globe Eye News (@GlobeEyeNews) November 5, 2025
Mitchel was the grandson and namesake of Irish nationalist John Mitchel (1815–75). The elder Mitchel was a fiery writer and political activist, central to the Young Ireland movement and the 1848 rebellion. He was also known as the Young Irelander Rebellion. He founded the newspaper United Irishman. There, he wrote revolutionary pieces and argued that the Great Famine of the 1840s was a genocide carried out by the British authorities. His writings led to his arrest for treason-felony.
John Mitchel and his wife, Jane “Jenny” Verner, were exiled to the United States, where they raised their family. Mayor John Purroy Mitchel was the son of their second child, James. He grew up in a devout Irish Catholic home and it has an influence on his politics and ambition. His mother’s father, the Venezuelan consul in New York, made Mitchel the first mayor of New York City of Hispanic descent.
Mitchel won the 1913 election by a landslide as he took over from another Irish American, William Jay Gaynor. His popularity remains debated. He was praised for fighting corruption but criticized for focusing too much on military preparedness before the U.S. entered World War I. According to Fordham Prep School, that stance made many New Yorkers feel he was out of touch with local concerns.
John Purroy Mitchel, known as the “Boy Mayor,” was three months older than Zohran Mamdani is now when he won office in 1913. pic.twitter.com/JNLVkhDUaz
— Bernice Hantzmon (@berniceh59) November 8, 2025
He lost his reelection bid and later joined the Army Air Service as a flying cadet. In 1918, tragedy struck when his plane suddenly nosedived during training, and he was killed.
Today, traces of Mitchel’s legacy still exist across the city. At Central Park Reservoir, a granite slate and gilded bronze monument honors John Purroy Mitchel. That stands as a reminder of an important chapter in New York’s Irish history.
