Typically, to win a mayoral election in the United States’ most populated city, you’d need to be backed by a multitude of independent expenditure committees (PACs), wealthy donors, and business interests. What these three have in common is that they are all willing to pour millions of dollars into an election campaign in order to both make a specific candidate win and another lose. According to the New York City Campaign Finance Board, in the past 20 years, every candidate that had spent and received the most money on campaigning won. The table below shows the city’s mayoral candidates from the past 20 years that received significant vote shares, their campaign spending, their election results as a win or loss, and their spending rank as the most, middle, or least. For older cycles where Campaign Finance Board summaries are limited, estimates are based on official post-election summaries.
But as can be seen in the table above, you don’t always need to be the candidate backed by the most money to win. For the first time in decades, the mayoral candidate who spent and received the least amount of money for campaigning won the election and is now the mayor of New York City. Zohran Mamdani, the city’s youngest mayor since 1892, was elected on November 4th, 2025. He also serves as the city’s first Indian American and Muslim mayor. You may be asking, how does one achieve such a feat? How does one win an election, when according to Inside Wealth CNBC, PACs have spent over $40M trying to keep that from happening? Mandani has shown the United States that his genuine passion for improving the lives of others is what brought him to where he is now, and that it was a long journey he lived through.
Before the Election
Zohran Mamdani was born on October 18th, 1991, in Kampala, Uganda. His father is Mahmood Mamdani, a professor at Columbia University, and his mother is Mira Nair, a filmmaker. He lived in Uganda for his first five years before his family moved to New York, where he spent most of his childhood. He first attended Bank Street School for Children, then Bronx High School of Science, where he co-founded the school’s first cricket team. After high school, he enrolled at Bowdoin College in Maine in 2010. At Bowdoin, he co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. In 2014, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies.
After college, he moved back to New York, working as a foreclosure prevention counselor in Queens to assist the owners of low-income and immigrant households that were under threat of eviction. In 2015, he volunteered on a campaign for Ali Najmi, who was a candidate in the City Council’s 23rd district special election. His involvement in the campaign was due to hearing progressive and political hip-hop music, being inspired by the music, and a particular rap group’s co-founders to become more engaged with politics. In 2017 he worked on campaigns for progressive-leaning municipal candidates such as Khader El-Yateem, doing so in affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Getting Into Elections
In 2020, Mamdani ran for the New York State Assembly seat for District 36, defeating a five-term incumbent. He was re-elected in 2022 and again in 2024. During his time in the Assembly, his policy focused on housing affordability and transit access. Among his efforts was the backing of a program for fare-free buses in NYC, as well as proposing green-building provisions. His work was aimed more toward improving living conditions for NYC residents than it was toward being re-elected, which is what many believe got him elected for multiple terms anyway.
In October 2024, Mamdani announced he would be running for Mayor of NYC in the 2025 election. His campaign brand was made up of references to his heritage and working class origins. For example, the slogan “Roti and Roses” connected roti, a South Asian working-class staple, and roses, a symbol that represents socialist movements. His platform included a rent freeze for rent-stabilized units, widespread affordable housing, fare-free buses, universal public child care, city-owned grocery stores, and raising the minimum wage to $30/hour by 2030. He also proposed raising taxes on corporations and individuals making over $1M a year. In June 2025, he won the Democratic primary. And finally, on November 4th, 2025, he won the general mayoral election for NYC.
Amidst this busy political career, a younger Zohran had a passion for the arts, specifically music. It was what inspired him to begin his involvement in elections after all. Starting in 2015, he wrote and sang rap music. His first few songs were created as part of a campaign for class vice president in high school. He adopted the stage name Young Cardamom and collaborated with his childhood friend, Ugandan rapper Abdul Bar Hussein, who went by HAB. Their first track, “Kanda (Chap Chap)”, used chapati, a flatbread with South Asian origins that was deeply rooted in everyday Ugandan life as a metaphor for identity and migration. In 2016, they released a six-song EP, “Sidda Mukyaalo” (Luganda for “No going back to the village”). The tracks included “Wabula Naawe,” “P.S.V.,” “Shuruwat,” “Chotti Bahu,” “Askari,” and “Obulamu.” The EP featured multilingual lyrics in Luganda, English, Nubian, and Swahili, reflecting the multicultural heritage of immigrant communities in Queens. He later rebranded as Mr. Cardamom in 2019, releasing a single titled “Nani,” a tribute to his grandmother. The music video for the song features actress and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey playing his grandmother. The video is set in New York, with scenes including the Astoria Boulevard subway platform and neighborhoods in the area. Mamdani has stated that the skills he developed while making and promoting his music have helped him prepare for organizing political activism.
Mamdani lived and still lives a life of activism. He once advocated for and now works toward policy that supports NYC residents who have been struggling, whether it be with rent, groceries, or getting to work, and has been successful thus far. His story is one that progresses from grassroots political organization to representing a district in the State Assembly and then launching a successful campaign for mayor, all while maintaining a rap career. His story shows that New York’s political landscape, one predetermined by capital in the past, can be defeated. His campaign succeeded because enough voters prioritized policy over financial backing. His work in housing, transit, and improving the lives of residents built a strong record that attracted support independent of major donors. His path from local activity to state legislator to mayor shows that electoral outcomes can shift when a candidate’s credibility and groundwork outweighs millions of dollars spent to keep them from winning.
Sources-
(2025). Nyccfb.info. https://www.nyccfb.info/media/press-releases/campaign-finance-board-issues-second-public-funds-payments/
NYC Campaign Finance Board: Campaign Finance Summary. (2025). Nyccfb.info. https://www.nyccfb.info/VSApps/WebForm_Finance_Summary.aspx?as_election_cycle=2025
NYC Campaign Finance Board: Campaign Finance Summary. (2021). Nyccfb.info. https://www.nyccfb.info/VSApps/WebForm_Finance_summary.aspx?as_election_cycle=2021
NYC Campaign Finance Board: Campaign Finance Summary. (2017). Nyccfb.info. https://www.nyccfb.info/VSApps/WebForm_Finance_Summary.aspx?as_election_cycle=2017
NYC Campaign Finance Board: Campaign Finance Summary. (2013). Nyccfb.info. https://www.nyccfb.info/vsapps/WebForm_Finance_Summary.aspx?as_election_cycle=2013
(2006). A Report on the 2005 Elections [Review of A Report on the 2005 Elections]. New York City Campaign Finance Board. https://www.nyccfb.info/PDF/per/2005_PER/2005_Post_Election_Report.pdf
Metzger, B., Berg, M., & Tangalakis-Lippert, K. (2025, November 5). List: Billionaires who spent big to stop Zohran Mamdani. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-billionaires-spending-stop-zohran-mamdani-new-york-2025-10#mike-bloomberg-1
Frank, R. (2025, October 30). Billionaires are spending big to stop Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral bid. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/30/mamdani-cuomo-nyc-mayor-bid-billionaire-spending.html
Bloomberg’s campaign spending, by the numbers – City & State New York. (2020). Cityandstateny.com. https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2020/02/bloombergs-campaign-spending-by-the-numbers/176362/
