How Zohran Mamdani Pulled Off the Biggest Political Upset in Years

In a stunning landslide, New York City just voted for its first democratic socialist for Mayor in the Democratic primary. Gen-Z is pumped. Most Jews are not.

Just a few months ago, almost no one had heard the name Zohran Mamdani. In February, he was polling at 1%. Last night, he won in a landslide so decisive, so biblical that Andrew Cuomo conceded before the night was over.

Even the polls that got it right still got it wrong.

The assumption was that Cuomo would hold a commanding lead in the first round of voting, with Mamdani narrowly overtaking him deep into ranked-choice voting, somewhere around round seven or eight. Yeah… no.

That is not what happened.

Instead, Mamdani delivered a mandate. A very loud message from the voters of New York that they were done with the old guard. The young people of New York SHOWED UP in record-breaking numbers for their charismatic, sexy, socialist heartthrob. He’s now the unofficial Fresh Prince of progressive socialist politics for a politically conscious youth movement hungry for a model of new leadership.

It’s all the more remarkable considering the 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani is a figure so controversial that both The New York Post and The New York Times editorial boards found themselves on the same side of an issue, telling voters, in no uncertain terms, do not vote for Zohran Mamdani. Even the Chicago Tribune wrote an editorial essentially saying, “New York, don’t become Chicago.”

And well, New York did it anyway.

This is a historic shake-up that will be studied for years much the same way Trump has transformed politics. If Zohran’s elected in November, you will FEEL the change.

Much of Zohran’s success further points to old media’s growing irrelevance compared to podcasts and other forms of New Media, where Mamdani found a massive audience.

how did mamdani pull this off?

Well, for starters, he built a literal, on-the-ground, door-knocking army of more than 50,000 volunteers—many of whom wore shirts that said “Hot Girls/Guys for Zohran.” Together, they knocked on 1.5 million doors.

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Cuomo’s ground game, on the other hand, was basically nonexistent until a few weeks ago.

Still, though. How does someone with virtually no experience rise form obscurity to winning the primary?

Let’s take the politics out of it for a second.

Pretend this is a job interview.

Some guy walks into the room. He’s mid-career, early-30s, and says, “Hey, I’d like to be the CEO of one of the biggest companies on earth.” And you’re like, “Oh wow, cool, where’d you work before?” And he’s like, “Oh, I’ve been at this place for a couple years... I don’t really show up, though. I actually have the worst attendance record of anyone on staff and have never managed anyone. BUT. I have a lot of thoughts about how this place should run. Also, whatever you do, don’t even consider the other guy who knows this place inside and out. He sucks.”

Everyone agrees. So, you listen.

He doesn’t have a great resume, but he has the type of charm that makes you forget what the original question was that you were asking.

And somehow, not only does he get past the recruiter and initial interview, but the hiring board made up of young people is like, “You know what? That’s our guy.”

The lesson here is simple. Politics isn’t really about qualifications. It’s not even always about reality. It’s about narrative. It’s about who can tell the best story and make you believe it’s yours, too. And Zohran sold a story like the showman he is. Like a guy who’s been waiting his whole life for the spotlight. If you didn’t know, his mom, Mira Nair, is one of India’s most acclaimed filmmakers. Of course, he understood the assignment for this moment.

And the assignment wasn’t “Who would make the best mayor?” That was the test for Cuomo and Brad Lander. The real assignment was “Who can run the best campaign? Who can make enough people feel something so strongly they show up and vote?” Zohran completely changed the game with his hilarious Instagram Reels. He made field organizing look cool and sexy.

How are most Jews Feeling?

Oh, the Jews are not well. The WhatsApp notifications haven’t stopped since last night.

So yeah, a lot of people are having a lot of FEELINGS right now. Shock. Rage. Denial. Existential dread. (Deep breath in. Hold. Release. You’re doing great.)

Is he antisemitic?

One of the biggest mistakes the Jewish community has made in recent years is allowing antisemitism to be defined as “Jew-hate.” (Which… can we pause for a second to ask how we managed to turn ‘Jew’ into an adjective? Who approved that? Deeply unsettling. But okay.)

The problem isn’t just the wording. The problem is the framing. Because most antisemitism today doesn’t look like hate. As if the only way to qualify as antisemitic is to openly declare hatred of Jews.

Zohran’s antisemitism is a more invisible, structural kind of bigotry that manifests as exclusion, erasure, minimization, and a casual disregard so normalized that most people don’t even notice it—except the Jewish people dealing with it.

This is not a phenomenon entirely unique to Jews. For years, Black Americans had to explain that racism isn’t just about someone calling you a slur. It’s about a system designed to make you invisible unless you’re willing to contort yourself into the version the dominant culture is willing to accept. That framework was dismissed as too academic until, seemingly overnight, in 2020, it wasn’t.

Jews could learn from that framing, because what we’re seeing today, especially in certain activist circles, isn’t always straight-up hatred. (though plenty of that exists, too: Exhibit A being the Capital Jewish Museum murders). It’s more often about a kind of sneering disrespect. A worldview where Jews aren’t seen as a vulnerable minority with a valuable voice, but as the privileged ones who are simply being difficult.

And that’s the thing with Mamdani. Is he a “raging antisemite”? No. I don’t think he hates Jews. But it’s also clear he doesn’t hold that much respect for most Jews either.

Zohran’s type of antisemitism reframes pro-Israel Jews (aka most of us) as the unreasonable ones. Because everyone else—every cool person, and right-thinking progressive—can clearly see how brilliant and fun and morally flawless Zohran is.

Zohran has such little respect for Jews that when the Holocaust Museum and virtually every major Jewish organization condemned his recent remarks comparing the word “intifada” to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, he not only never apologized or clarified, he simply didn’t address the issue. He ignored the Jewish community entirely. He didn’t even bother typing out one of those half-assed Notes app apologies. Because with the coalition he’s built, he doesn’t have to care what the Jewish community thinks. Our approval means nothing to him.

This is the kind of antisemitism Mamdani has mastered. He has built a coalition so large and powerful that he can afford to alienate most of the city’s 1 million Jews.

And it’s hard not to imagine what a Mayor Mamdani administration would look like in this context. Will he take meetings with the ADL, AJC, UJA, JCRC—the whole Jewish alphabet soup? Maybe. But it’ll be tense. The energy won’t be a friendly partnership. It’ll be more like diplomatic talks between two separate nations. Jewish institutions will function as their own little state, forced to negotiate its place in a city their community helped build for generations.

Did he win because of antisemitism?

No, I don’t think so. Palesitnian activism is core to his political origins, but he won because he’s an incredible showman. He won because the Democratic establishment did what it does best—completely failed to offer voters anyone remotely inspiring.

Instead, the front-runner spot was assumed by a credibly accused sexual harasser. A guy backed by Republican billionaires. A guy who lied about nursing home deaths during COVID. A guy who became the walking, talking embodiment of everything broken about the system.

Shockingly, that’s not what most voters wanted.

Zohran won because he actually talked about the things real people in this city care about. He told a better story. And that’s how you win. He’s also hot AF.

I couldn’t tell you a single thing Cuomo campaigned on because I never once saw him campaign. I never saw a single poster for him in the last 6 months. No rallies. No flyers. No emails. No sad little subway ad. Where the hell was he? Did he think osmosis was gonna do the job?

Meanwhile, Zohran’s bright, punchy blue-and-orange posters were everywhere.

He looked like the future. And like it or not, in politics, showing up is half the battle

Let’s break down some of the demographic shifts, bc this is where things gets really fascinating.

Cuomo won big with Black + lower income voters

Despite running on a “tax the rich” message, Mamdani won with… the rich.

Mamdani ironically cleaned up in the most gentrified parts of the city. It starts to make sense when you look a little closer. He appealed to a very specific kind of privileged New Yorker—the young, highly-educated, very online contingent for whom voting socialist is the ultimate virtue signal. The kind where you get all the moral satisfaction of supporting the revolution without actually having to suffer the consequences of the policies.

Mamdani won with everyone except Black + Jewish voters

If you take a look at the map below, you’ll see that Cuomo performed best in neighborhoods that were furthest away from Manhattan’s spotlight. Eastern Queens, South Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island. And in Manhattan virtually the only real pockets of support came from exactly where you’d expect if you’ve spent five minutes understanding New York’s Jewish community: the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side.

Now let’s look at a section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a case study.

Here you’ll find expensive East River waterfront property where a one bedroom apartment can go for $5k-$7k. These are not scrappy revolutionaries. These are finance bros with Patagonia vests and $300 sneakers. They went for Zohran.

The results by borough tell story

Cuomo’s sad little island of support was in the Bronx and Staten Island—the two remaining boroughs that have mostly resisted the wave of gentrication and the $19 avocado toast that comes with it. Cuomo-land doesn’t come with influencers or matcha latte coffe shops. Just actual New Yorkers who’ve lived there forever. Mamdani made a huge impression on young people who live in the closest proximity to Manhattan and the fun, trendy parts of the city.

One of NYC’s most Jewish neighborhoods, the Upper West Side gives a picture of just how divided people were. This is one of the few areas with a near even distribution.

Any way, I could keep ranting all day. Thank you for reading. More to come.