The simplicity behind Zohran Mamdani’s success is worth paying attention to - Ismail Mulla

Wrong. As the campaign rolled on and the more he spoke, the more the world took notice. Mamdani was different. While his opponent in the primary, Andrew Cuomo, was playing checkers, this kid, and I reserve the right to call him kid as he is younger than me, although I stress to add by not much, had brought his chessboard.

Instead of taking his checkers set home, Cuomo ran as an independent and was left check mate in the 2025 New York City mayoral election.

It was seen as an upset. Mamdani had become New York City's first Muslim and first Asian American mayor. The world had noticed. The more closely people look the more it becomes clear why he had succeeded.

Instead of engaging in the politics of the old guard, he had reframed the whole election. Shifting the emphasis of the old power plays of the past, even excoriating former Democratic Mayor Eric Adams along the way, and boiling it down to the essence of what politics means for people’s everyday lives. It wasn’t just what he was communicating. On both sides of the pond, we have had politicians promising to tackle the cost of living crisis that has become a bane for so many. It was how he was communicating it.

Regular readers will know my dislike for social media platforms. But Mamdani has with ruthless efficiency tapped into this zeitgeist. And it crosses over well from social media to traditional media.

Mamdani speaks as if he’s creating a TikTok reel. Sharp, concise and direct to the audience. Not just on social media but every news conference or TV appearance he has made.

There’s always a lot of chatter when politicians gain traction amongst young people. Not long ago Barack Obama was seen as the poster child for political engagement with young voters.

Mamdani, however, makes even Obama look like old money in the age of digital currency.

It’s one thing speaking to the electorate, it’s another delivering for them. And people are right to caution that it is early days yet for Mamdani, he was only inaugurated on January 1. But even his greatest detractors have to say that he has started delivering policy at break-neck speed. Rolling out free and low-cost childcare in New York City, tackling the storm season that has threatened to grind the city to a halt and even working with the tempestuous Donald Trump.

All the while communicating with New Yorkers in a language that they not only understand but speak themselves. He’s avoided the trap of becoming lawyerly and detached from the grassroots that swept him to the position of Mayor.

The snow shovelling scheme, where New Yorkers were offered $30 an hour to get out and clear the streets of snow, was a masterstroke in proving this direct link between democracy and people’s lives. The irony is that the policy was already there, Mamdani just had to enact it.

The real tests await. For example, has he got the nous to balance the books because the public purse only stretches so far?

Where Mamdani excels is the energy that he has. He’s not only got youth on his side but a sense of authenticity. Authenticity that hasn’t been manufactured out of him by a cabal of advisers seeking to turn him into a drone.

Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s not as if Mamdani has not enjoyed a life of privilege. He himself has never shied away from that fact. It helps when your father is an academic and filmmaker mother is considered Bollywood royalty. But he clearly has lived by the side of the people that he seeks to represent and empathises with their concerns.

He’s even got Trump eating out of the palm of his hands. Who’d have thought taking in mock newspaper headlines flattering the President would see a major housing development greenlit? It all seems too easy. Maybe it is and the world’s just complicated everything unnecessarily.