As Zohran Mamdani walked the streets of the Upper East Side for a campaign event to greet early voters, he could barely walk a few steps without being stopped by his supporters.
Two smiling young women looked starstruck and told him they followed him on Instagram. The millennial Democratic nominee for mayor thanked them before posing with another young man who had readied his phone for a selfie.
Throngs of press surrounded Mamdani and captured his every moment, from running into the street to shake hands with a taxi driver shouting "we support you man," to hugging another man who said he was grateful to him for reaching out to his community.
With a comfortable lead in the polls, the 34-year-old is on the brink of making history when New Yorkers vote on Tuesday, as the youngest mayor in over a century and the first Muslim and South Asian leader of the city.
A relatively unknown figure just months ago, few could have predicted his rise, from hip-hop artist and housing counsellor to New York State Assembleyman and frontrunner to lead the biggest city in the US, a job which comes with a $116bn budget and global scrutiny.
