Max Harris is a lawyer and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
OPINION: The victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral election this month has sent ripples around the world, especially across communities with an interest in the future of progressive politics.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist, having won the Democratic primary in June 2025, won 50.4% of the vote on November 4, 2025. Andrew Cuomo, who failed to win the Democratic nomination and was backed by far bigger financial contributions, came second with 41.6%.
Almost everyone – from graphic designers to messaging experts – wants to claim Mamdani’s win for their own purposes. A few weeks on, what are some of the lessons of the Mamdani campaign and victory? Of course, no account can be value-neutral, and I’ll interpret the result through the lens of my own values and experiences. But here are six lessons I’d draw from the Mamdani win.
The first is that Mamdani’s consistent and clear messaging on addressing affordability resonated. In the United States as in New Zealand, the prices of essentials of life – including food – have risen in recent years. There is evidence that corporate profits have played a role in rising prices.
Politicians have been unable to pretend they can do nothing about the cost of everyday life. Mamdani responded to this mood of the times in a disciplined and direct way, returning to affordability and a more affordable New York in almost every media opportunity.
Second, Mamdani championed bold, universal policy to respond to cost of living pressures. Among his proposals were free childcare for children aged six weeks to 5 years old, and fast and free buses, funded in part by higher taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. Notice that Mamdani didn’t just promote extending subsidised or “targeted” support. These are policies that benefit everyone, including middle- and upper-class voters who might be able to pay for childcare or public transport themselves.
The bargain in this is that middle-class voters who benefit from universal, publicly owned services are more likely to defend and cement these policies. This is part of why universal healthcare, universal education, universal superannuation, and free community libraries have endured for so long in New Zealand.
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Zohran Mamdani meets with Trump
VIDEO CREDIT: US NETWORK POOL
The third lesson of Mamdani’s win is that class politics can be pursued alongside a politics that centres anti-racism and anti-imperialism. Mamdani’s campaign focused on the fortunes of working people, with days punctuated by visits to unions and time spent with working people. But he was also willing to speak staunchly and with integrity on justice for Palestine, and on anti-migrant racism.
In one of Mamdani’s most powerful video messages with 11 days to go in the campaign, he spoke about Islamophobia, and said, “I will be a Muslim man in New York City each of those 11 days and every day that follows after that”.
Mamdani also maintained a progressive approach to criminal justice, with a smartly packaged offer of a Department of Community Safety. Mamdani showed that class politics, anti-racist and anti-imperialist politics, and a progressive approach to criminal justice can go together – as part of a broader fight for emancipation.
Fourth, it helped Mamdani’s campaign – but may not have been critical to his success – that he was affable, good-natured, and had a sense of humour. Mamdani was mocked on a Saturday Night Live skit for having a permanent smile etched on his face, even in the face of unfair attacks and racist scaremongering about him.
The important point was that Mamdani, in his manner, projected an openness to listen – including to those who may have voted for Donald Trump or who might not agree with his politics. His humour was also a corrective to the brand of left-wing politics that can at times be too earnest, or not willing enough to laugh at itself.
The fifth lesson to draw: Mamdani undoubtedly ran a slick social media campaign that itself sparked a further wave of popular memes – but this part of his campaign should not be seen in isolation.
Mamdani’s team used distinctive, nostalgic colours. The campaign deployed some nifty videos, including one in Hindi explaining ranked-choice voting using mango lassi drinks in an Indian restaurant. One repeated campaign motif involved Mamdani pulling up a chair at a desk set up on the street: vividly displaying Mamdani, literally at ground level, ready to go to work for the people.
And who could forget “the name is Mamdani, M-A-M-D-A-N-I” clip, sung to the tune of Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl? But this well-edited material served the campaign’s policy, messaging, and values – and it was the alignment between style and substance that ultimately meant the clips did the rounds.
Sixth, Mamdani’s campaign was organised. It drew on 50,000 volunteers, through the work of a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) organisation that grew after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and had learned from Bernie Sanders’ two presidential runs and other socialist local campaigns.
Mamdani’s campaign was well-structured, with four levels of field organising: canvassers, field leads, field coordinators and campaign staff. This organising was not technocratic, but itself reflected a belief in the power and social intelligence of ordinary people to build support for Mamdani across the city.
In a perceptive piece, Bhaskar Sunkara has said, “Zohran’s mayoralty will be a fight for what’s winnable right now. Our job is to let that fight expand, not narrow, our horizon…”.
The lessons of Mamdani’s win will continue to reverberate, from New York to New Zealand.
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