special tabs: tracking all the digital media appearances of Zohran Mamdani!

Building a running list of all the podcasts, social media shows, & pop-culture-focused appearances he made in the run-up to his primary victory

As I’m sure everyone already knows, 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani is the winner of yesterday’s NYC mayoral primary, beating out the expected winner (and notorious NYC nepo-politician) Andrew Cuomo. If you know me IRL, you know that as a born-and-raised New Yorker, I have been more excited about Zohran than I’ve been excited about anything in a very long time.

That’s for a lot of reasons – and one of them is that I think the Mamdani is *finally* leading the way for the Left to run campaigns that highlight an authentic and inspiring candidate. Because Zohran + team absolutely KILLED their digital media strategy (both paid and organic).

To that end, today, I wanted to track down all the new media + culture-focused appearances that he made – because, to my strategist brain, this victory makes clear that this is the way to campaign in 2025.

BUT before we dive in, there is one very important caveat I want to make, and I think

Rachel Karten

of

Link in Bio

put it best:

If you’ve been in NYC in the past few months, you would know that Mamdani was everywhere – he truly seems to be the man who never sleeps in the city that never sleeps. As much as he was very online, he was also showing up a community meetings, small businesses, and more all over the city. I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize how important that is.

Ok, onto the tracking! Here’s a chronological list of the new media + culture-focused appearances that Zohran Mamdani made during his NYC mayoral primary campaign.*

Podcasts

• Chapo Trap House, 2/6

• New York’s Finest: Retired & Unfiltered, 4/23

• City & State, 4/24

• Odd Lots, 5/23

• Throwing Fits, 6/6

• Ebro in the Morning, 6/6

• I’m Right, You’re Wrong, 6/9

• The Breakfast Club, 6/11

• Pod Save America, 6/13

• The MeidasTouch Podcast, 6/16

• The Bulwark Podcast, 6/17

• Plain English, 6/22

Culture-focused media

• Interview, 4/3

• GQ, 4/14

• Mary Beth Barone’s show, 5/9

• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, 6/23

Social Media Shows

• The News Moment, 2/14

• Gaydar, 5/16

• Subway Takes, 6/22

* If I missed any, send them my way, and I will update this list!

It bears noting that Team Mamdani had been working on this digital strategy for many months, as far back as February (and not just scrambling to get him out there during GOTV). Yet another lesson to learn here!

Photo cred: Jonah Rosenberg for The New York Times