Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign was an effort New Yorkers had never seen before — an army of volunteers and ads that made use of the skills he learned at the feet of his mother, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair.
And while she didn’t win the golden statue, her son did, ushering in a new generation wielding power at City Hall.
“He’s able to make people feel as if they’re heard”
While Mamdani’s opponents relied on the usual run-of-the-mill commercials, Mamdani used Bollywood music and dialogues, techniques he learned from his movie director mom, to capture the attention of voters. He used social media posts to attract an army of volunteers, whose job was to reach out to voters in all five boroughs.
Law professor J.C. Polanco says the way Mamdani ran his campaign, ignoring the time-tested norms of yesteryear, gave him a freshness that appealed to people who were tired of politics as usual, a politics that wasn’t working for them…