Anatomy of a campaign that rewrote the rules

Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City was hugely significant for progressives everywhere. It was a stratospheric rise from long-shot outside candidate to mayor of one of the world’s most important cities. Morris Katz, Mamdani’s senior adviser, was a key architect behind one of the most groundbreaking grassroots campaigns in recent US politics. He shares his main insights from the journey – the guiding principles that drove the campaign and the lessons learned along the way.

Early on in the race for mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani was very much an outsider, already written off by many experts and commentators as having little chance of securing more than a few percent of the votes.

His status as an underdog gave the campaigning team a great deal of freedom to experiment and take risks. Mamdani wasn’t just another typical politician – and this was something we intended to take full advantage of.

“Life doesn’t have to be this hard”

Adding to the odds against Mamdani was the fact that the issue dominating debates in the city at the time was crime. It would be difficult or impossible to win an election determined by the issue of public safety, when other candidates had strong track records in this area. Instead of allowing others to set the terms of the debate, we undertook to run the race we felt we could win.

We identified that affordability was a key issue for many people – but this wasn’t conveyed by polling since many had given up on the idea that city government could do anything about it. Many people in the city were struggling to make ends meet, to afford basic necessities let alone minor luxuries. The campaign’s central message became about people’s right to expect a decent quality of life – beyond just basic survival. We needed to convince them and gain their trust in the idea that the city government could really tackle an affordability crisis. So we put forward a vision of city government that lives up to its responsibilities to provide people with the services and necessities they need – something New Yorkers had all but given up on.

Mamdani promised to be a mayor who would take on bad landlords and real estate giants, offer a new brand of leadership and support people facing crisis. This message was in stark contrast to many of his political adversaries – privileged men with enormous wealth who embodied corrupt politics and cronyism.

Getting the word out

Once this priority had been set, we became laser-focused on getting it through to voters. Constant communication and intense message discipline were crucial for this. Slogans like “Freeze the rent” were repeated again and again and the central messages remained consistent throughout the campaign.

Equally crucial was building the right infrastructure and using the right channels to bring this message to the city’s residents. Our campaign deployed new and innovative practices, both in terms of field program and digital strategy. The field was not an afterthought but the core of the campaign – we mobilized 100,000 volunteers who knocked on over 2 million doors. We were determined not to miss any opportunity to recruit a potential supporter – everyone who commented on and shared posts was invited to become part of the campaign. These volunteers were an army but also a social club, with plenty of opportunities to socialize at specially dedicated events.

We made sure ours was a campaign rooted in an up-to-date understanding of current media and political communication dynamics. In our organizing strategy, influencers were just as important as traditional mainstream media to help amplify messages. We set out to make sure Mamdani and his campaign messages were everywhere you looked – on television, social media, in the papers, on the podcasts, and of course on people’s doorsteps.

Charm offensive

Mamdani didn’t shy away from potentially hostile environments or difficult conversations. He appeared on right-wing broadcast channels and conservative podcasts – engaging with those who disagreed rather than ignoring them, and speaking directly to their audiences. At the same time, we were careful to avoid distractions and avoid being baited into fights we couldn’t win.

We knew there was greater potential to win over people who had disengaged from politics, rather than staunch opponents. To reach those who had opted out, Mamdani popped up in unexpected places – at sports games and nightclubs, and between episodes of reality tv shows. The goal was to break out of the bubble of politics and into the orbit of culture and society. To create moments people would find memorable and surprising, and help them associate Mamdani with the things in their lives that brought them joy – not with the tired political establishment of the past.

By showing up in unexpected places to talk to ordinary New Yorkers, we showed the connection between people’s everyday problems and City Hall’s policies, to convince them that these could make a real difference to people’s lives.

All about the data

None of this would have been possible without the strategic gathering and use of data. This process began far in advance and was crucial to help us make sound decisions during the campaign. It helped us pinpoint where voters needed to be convinced and where they needed to be encouraged to turn out, so that messages could be tailored accordingly. We also took into account the linguistic and cultural features of neighborhoods in our communications tactics and material. At the heart of this was the idea that tactics that get a candidate in contact with people must go hand in hand with a message that resonates with those people.

Every week is a Get Out The Vote week

From the start, our campaign was rooted in mass communication and in getting out and speaking to people directly, to make them feel seen and heard. And that won’t end now that Mamdani is the mayor. The campaign never stops. The work continues: building sustained relationships with voters, expanding supporter lists, and fundraising as a long-term project to consolidate power.