Zohran Mamdani Campaign Notes | Opinion

The first precaution to take when talking about elections is that no two are the same. The place where they take place, the spirit of the time, the political culture, the traditions and even the weather forecast all influence an election campaign. That said, Zohran Mamdani’s online campaign, part of the movement that brought him to the office of mayor of New York, will be reviewed, studied and imitated by all. And in it you can find things that (hopefully) adapted to local idiosyncrasies and circumstances, we will see a lot in the future.

Concrete, simple and relevant. Virtually all Mamdani’s campaign pieces repeat four specific measures that the Democratic candidate presented as the basis of his election program: freezing rental prices (more than a million homes in the city are subject to some rent restrictions), making city buses “free and faster,” a municipal program to reduce the cost of basic necessities, and free daycare.

The important thing is that we care. One of the campaign’s most powerful videos was filmed a year ago in the Bronx, when Mamdani was a member of the New York State Legislature. In a corner of the neighborhood, the then deputy, practically unknown, asks his neighbors (those who deign to stop) for their opinion on the elections. In the era of what does it matter (in Dan Sinker’s expression), caring about people enough to listen to them with a smile can be enough.

Don’t run away from who you are. Zohran Mamdani is Muslim, born in Uganda, and considers himself a democratic socialist, a traditionally taboo term in the American political scene. He is also an advocate for trans people’s right to be who they are. All of these things can (and have been) used to attack the Democratic candidate. He embraced those definitions (especially that of socialist). The campaign includes a five-part series, titled “Until It’s Done,” in which Mamdani, with absolute seriousness, traces the history of social movements in New York through five prominent figures.

Additionally, one of his latest campaign videos was in Arabic, and he made several aimed at the Muslim community.

Don’t run away from what you are not. One of the hallmarks of Mamdani’s campaign was the use of humor, which suits the public personality of the Democratic candidate, jovial, friendly and witty. And the candidate used it during the election campaign above all to make fun of himself and his defects. In one of his videos, he admitted that his team told him he moved his hands a lot, so he spent the entire video with his hands in his pockets (with one person slapping him hard every time he took them out).

In another, he begins speaking in more than correct Spanish until he stumbles and is corrected by his colleague in the Legislature, Amanda Séptimo, which leads to a montage of the candidate’s problems with his Spanish (which is the second most spoken language in New York after English).

In the Arabic video, Mamdani also admits that he doesn’t speak the language very well: “I know what you’re thinking,” he tells the camera: “I might look like your brother-in-law from Damascus (Syria), but my Arabic needs more work.”

Networks yes, but go out. The social networks chosen for Mamdani’s campaign were Tiktok and Bluesky (not