OCTOBER 31, 2025 | OPINION | By Margaret Freeman
Not once in my 19 years on this earth have I wanted to live in New York City more than I do at this very moment. It’s not because I crave the hustle and bustle of the city or hear the allure of Broadway calling my name. No, I want to live in NYC to vote for Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani is running for mayor of NYC against Republican Curtis Sliwa and Independent (although formerly a Democrat) Andrew Cuomo, who was governor of New York from 2011 to 2021, when he was forced to resign due to a series of sexual assault allegations.
Born in Uganda and raised in New York City, Mamdani was elected to represent District 36 in the New York State Assembly in 2021. He is a Democratic Socialist pushing for policies similar to those of Senator Bernie Sanders: making the city more affordable by lowering the cost of food and public transportation and stabilizing rent costs. While I believe that making life in big cities more affordable is an important issue to be focusing on in this economy, that is not why I am so invested in this mayoral election. I care about this election because of Mamdani’s platform.
From the very first video I saw using Mamdani’s speech from a mayoral debate in June, I was hooked. The catchy “My name is Mamdani, M-A-M-D-A-N-I, you should learn how to say it” audio has been playing in my head ever since. Similar to the sensation of ‘Brat Summer’ supporting presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024, Mamdani has seized the opportunity to spread his message online. Catchy audio of him slamming Cuomo’s past actions and resurfaced clips of Mamdani rapping are interspersed with short videos of him actually explaining his policy proposals. His TikToks have spread across the country, creating a grassroots movement that is just as much for Mamdani as it is against Cuomo.
In the last debate on Oct. 22, when given the chance to ask Cuomo a question, Mamdani said that one of the women who accused Cuomo of sexual assault was in the audience and asked him what he had to say to her. Mamdani also called out Cuomo for saying that NYC was being shorted by the state government when Cuomo was governor. Mamdani explicitly calling Cuomo out was refreshing after what seems like months of silence, or at the very least weak pushback, to the rise in political corruption and misconduct, existing from the state to the federal level.
Seeing a politician who is so willing and able to call other politicians out gives me hope. How can the country be expected to remain a democracy when those in power are not willing to say that something is wrong when they see it? Mamdani has built his platform on being a voice for the voiceless, and that seems to be a promising strategy.
Mamdani’s internet following also reflects a generational shift in voters. By spreading his campaign on social media, Mamdani is able to reach a younger demographic who seem to be turning out in droves for him at the polls. According to NPR, Mamdani is leading the race in double digits while Cuomo struggles to keep up, with most of his base being over the age of 50.
Now, as much as I’d like to believe the pundits when they say how far ahead Mamdani is in the polls and how he is likely going to be the winner, I still have my reservations. As we saw in the 2024 election with Kamala Harris, the online Democratic echo chamber can be deceiving. The algorithm feeds people videos based on what it knows they want to see, making it seem like a politician is as prevalent to all voters as they are to the individual, especially when people have been seeing positive content about a candidate but that person still loses the election. People must be just as invested in a politician at the ballot box as they are on their phones.
Fun videos have been making Democrats complacent in politics, creating unseen gaps for other candidates to swoop in and win. So while it may seem to me from thousands of miles away that Mamdani will secure the victory, this mentality can lead to a lack of voter turnout for him. Though I can’t vote for him myself, I wait with bated breath for the results on Nov. 4, hoping for Mayor Mamdani.