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Campaigning Wiki

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lang: en

Summary

In November 2025, Zohran Mamdani was elected Mayor of New York City, becoming the first Muslim and South Asian mayor. The campaign built from less than 1% polling at the start of 2025 to winning over 50% of the vote through grassroots organising, digital campaigning, and a focus on affordability. Key strategies included massive volunteer engagement, organic social media, and deep relationship-building with communities of colour and tenants’ unions.

Background

At the beginning of 2025, Zohran Mamdani was polling at less than 1% for the New York City mayoral election. The campaign focused on affordability and cost of living, aiming to reach communities often neglected or classified as ‘hard to reach’, including younger voters, tenants’ unions, and communities of colour.

What happened

The Zohran for NYC campaign started with listening to people’s experiences and needs, shaping both policy and messaging around affordability, such as freezing rent and universal childcare [source: commons-library]. The campaign invested heavily in organic social media, producing multilingual content and using a chatbot via ManyChat to send over 144,000 automated Instagram DMs, generating more than 45,000 clicks at an average cost of $0.03 per click [source: commons-library]. It also engaged creators with over 25,000 followers, who generated content that reached over 1.4 billion views [source: commons-library]. The field operation mobilized more than 104,000 volunteers, who knocked on 3.1 million doors and made 4.5 million calls, canvassing every community at least once a week [source: commons-library]. The campaign built relationships with South Asian and Muslim communities by attending small events, meeting people in mosques, temples, coffee shops, and shisha bars, and returning multiple times to build trust [source: commons-library]. Affinity groups like ‘Gays for Zohran’ and ‘Hot Dads for Zohran’ formed organically, and the campaign quickly connected with and amplified them [source: commons-library]. Mamdani’s clear stance on Palestine helped build trust with many communities [source: commons-library]. In November 2025, Mamdani won the mayoralty with over 50% of the vote [source: commons-library].

Key people & organizations

  • Zohran Mamdani
  • Mohamed Alharbii
  • Gabriella Zutrau
  • Australian Progress
  • MoveOn
  • ManyChat

Tactics used

The campaign combined a massive field operation with a strong organic social media presence, creating a feedback loop where canvassing informed messaging and digital content drove real-world engagement. This integration allowed the campaign to reach voters directly and build trust through sustained, personal contact. [source: commons-library]

Outcome

Verdict: won.

Zohran Mamdani won the 2025 New York City mayoral election with over 50% of the vote, despite starting at less than 1% polling. The victory was achieved through a combination of grassroots organising, digital strategy, and relationship-building that engaged communities often ignored by traditional politics. [source: commons-library]

Lessons

  • Invest in organic social media early and treat it as core infrastructure, not an add-on.
  • Build relationships with communities by meeting them where they are and returning multiple times to build trust.
  • Use automated tools like chatbots to turn social media engagement into actionable volunteer and voter contacts at low cost.
  • Empower affinity groups to form organically and amplify their reach rather than controlling them centrally.
  • Focus messaging on simple, repeatable themes like affordability that unite rather than divide.

Sources

Disclaimer: Included as a teaching example of campaign craft, not as endorsement.

Sources & verification

  • commons-library — grounding: primary — license: link-only
  • Rewritten: 2026-06-25 via worker_casestudies_v2.py

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