Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Assemblymember from New York’s 36th District, has recently defeated seemingly insurmountable odds to beat former New York State Governor and political heavyweight Andrew Cuomo in the race for the Democratic Party Nomination for the upcoming mayoral race in New York. This post discusses who Mamdani is, how he won, and what it means for young leaders around the world.
Who is Zohran?
Zohran Kwame Mamdani is a political leader who has served as a member in the New York State Assembly since 2021. He is a self-described “democratic-socialist” and a member of the Democratic Party of the United States. He is the son of academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair, he was born in Kampala, Uganda and has proudly showcased his African and Indian roots. Before entering politics, he worked as a hip-hop musician and a housing counsellor, later becoming an assemblymember. He announced his candidacy in 2024 and in the past few months he had a stark rise in popularity due to his recognition of crucial issues impacting the working class of New York City and his captivating personality,
The Trajectory of Zohran’s Political Career
Mamdani started his political career as only a volunteer, almost a decade ago. He went on to serve as a campaign manager for multiple progressive/democrat-socialist politicians in the later part of the 2010s. In October of 2019, he announced his candidacy to participate as a leader in grassroots politics in New York, representing the 36th District of New York. He won this election by advocating for an overhaul of the prevailing housing, prison and police systems. During his term he was an ardent activist for progressive change in the city and controversial international issues like the Israel-Hamas conflict where he advocated for the rights of Palestinians. Political opponents have used this as a basis to levy accusations of anti-semitism against Zohran. He went on to serve three terms until he announced his candidacy for mayor in October of last year.
Zohran’s Mayoral Campaign & Key Takeaways for Young Leaders
Mamdani’s political campaign was decisive, courageous and captivating. He challenged the oligarchy that presides over the American political system by relying on small, individual donations rather than major corporate contributions. According to the city’s campaign finance board Zohran raised a whopping 8 million dollars for his political campaign from more than20,000 donors. Conversely, his primary opponent-67-year-old Andrew Cuomo received funds from a relatively small 6,000 donors. This became a major talking point for Mamdani’s campaign as raising the maximum amount for campaign donations through individual contributions from his voter base allowed him to focus on the issues that matter to the citizens rather than corporate interests.
He ran his campaign on the issues young and working-class voters care most about, like rent, free public transport, free childcare and overall affordability. He has additionally proposed a revenue plan which hikes corporate taxes in order to make the top 1% of New Yorkers pay their “fair share.” His campaign additionally promised to provide equity for religious minorities, immigrants and the queer community- issues that are essential for young demographics and marginalised communities residing in the city.
Most importantly, Mamdani harnessed the power of social media, online streaming and the internet to get his message across to young voters and older demographics as well. His global vitality on apps like TikTok, Instagram, Youtube and Twitch. Polling indicates that he was able to harness young voters’ minds through his vast online presence, often posing and chatting with online streamers like the Democratic Socialist Hasan Piker. Mamdani’s viral clip of a virulent response to Cuomo calling him unexperienced in one of the Democratic Debates garnered tens of millions of views online.
Not only did he get tens of thousands of citizens to contribute to his campaign- he got even more to contribute there time by volunteering(upwards of 50,000). Zohran Mamdani’s campaign signifies a major shift from traditional politics which is based on large corporate funding and oligarchies. It sends a clear message that voters want a leader who will courageously stick to what he believes in. This has allowed Mamdani to develop a broad coalition which has a strong base of young voters across racial lines.
So what are the key takeaways for young leaders from Zohran Mamdani’s victory?
- Lead with the values and principals you believe in- authenticity is a powerful trait in a politician.
- Focus political campaigns around what people actually care about and the actually issues that impact them on a day to day basis.
- Use social media as a loudspeaker to captivate audiences young and old. Online streaming sites such as YouTube and Twitch are additionally great platforms to reach out to potential voters.
- Celebrate your individual identity and use it as a source of your confidence, people want young leaders who are confident in themselves and their ability to bring about real change.
- Build a grassroots network of volunteers, donors and voters to reach as many people as possible.
- And finally, smile, it’s truly infectious and not many politicians today are doing it.
Image Credits : Heuta.at, WikiMedia creative commons
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