Forget the medium and focus on the New York City mayor-elect’s message – centrists can’t compete with rent freezes, free buses and support for Palestine
W
hile there are many reasons for Zohran Mamdani’s success, the New York City mayor-elect’s meteoric rise was in no small part down to his campaign’s blazing social media game. Across TikTok, Instagram and X, his ads have racked up tens of millions of views, turning his charismatic potential into an electoral earthquake that has shaken the foundations of the Democratic party. Many politicians on both sides of the Atlantic will be asking: what is his secret formula?
For me, the answer is clear. Since I was only 14, I’ve been an online leftwing commentator, building a platform of more than 700,000 followers on Instagram with no money or institutional backing. On social media, radicalism isn’t a potential liability – it’s your strongest selling point. This is a reality that the most adept politicians – from Mamdani to Donald Trump – understand very well. Above all else, what matters online is your authenticity and commitment to standing by the things you believe in, no matter how many outraged headlines they may produce.
When the New York Post criticised Mamdani for being too supportive of Palestinian human rights, it might have thought this would be his undoing. But screenshots of their headlines were used by me and many others to rally support online, where standing up for Palestine is a badge of honour and sensationalist smears from the billionaire-owned press only serve to validate a person’s position as a defender of the voiceless.
