Zohran Wins Primary - What Is The Playbook?

11 Jul 2025 Reading time: 8 minutes

Victory! Zohran Mamdani is the Democratic nominee for NYC mayor. Oh, and he sent Cuomo back to the suburbs… for now at least.

This post is not really meant to go into a ton of analysis and detail of the voting numbers - and is more so snippets from primary sources or more about the politics itself.

The source that has been most helpful, since before the election was even close to over has been Michael Lange’s blog.

I had a lot of hope, and more-or-less felt good about the chances going into election day. It was palpable around the city - the energy for Zohran, and also knowing scale of the volunteering difference (again, seeing it – I saw dozens of Zohran canvassers the last week or so).

Did I expect it to be over, and Cuomo conceding election night?? No.

What exactly are some of the most unique (and most interesting to me) about what Zohran accomplished?

1. Zohran’s volunteering force

Zohran managed over 50,000 volunteers who knocked on over 1.5 million doors.

This is shocking, compared to this - the paid Cuomo canvassing operation was a joke. As I previously mentioned - I saw a few dozen of canvassers on the streets for Zohran just in the last week or so. I never saw any Cuomo canvassers or staff, ever.

2. Obliterated the most well known NY political dynasty

Cuomo was known by every single voter - if not just because of his (pretty horrible time being Governor), but also for his father who was extremely popular.

Mamdani went from someone that literally no one knew, to polling to 1%, to absolutely obliterating Cuomo in the primary. Remarkable.

3. Drove unprecedented youth & new voter turnout

One of the reasons that the polls were off - was because the youth & new voter turnout was absolutely super charged.

The difference between this primary and the one 2021 is shocking.

4. Performed extremely well with places that support Trump

This, and the previous point are the two most important points - this is why we can define a playbook (later on in the article) based on learnings from Zohran’s campaign.

In addition to many segments of the Democratic base - Zohran did exceedingly well with this segment as well.

The economic populism that underline very few (right now) Democratic campaigns has some precedent for doing well in this cohort.

"Mamdani pointed to Bernie Sanders’ forty-two percent on Staten Island in the 2016 Democratic Primary as proof that an economic populist could resonate anywhere.""

Source: Michael Lange - The Zohran Coalition

Bernie Sanders performance in the (by far) most conservative and Trump supporting borough foreshadowed Mamdani’s extremely strong performance (especially for someone so relatively “far left”).

I won’t go into more detail here around specifics - but take a look at this on specific figure from the same article:

Source: The Zohran Coalition - Michael Lange

You should definitely view that article for more details and analysis.

It should not be shocking to anyone paying remote attention to politics over the last decade or so, that Zohran did this relatively well with people who voted Trump.

Interestingly enough, right after the 2024 election - Zohran all but predicted his own win and this exact phenomenon in a street interview series he did: Election Reflection: Zohran Street Interviews From Nov 15, 2024 – definitely check this out before reading on because it is also important for the next section.

So how did he do this? AKA what is the playbook?

There were many people other than Cuomo and Zohran running in the primary - some very progressive candidates in the mix as well. So why Zohran?

There are many reasons, and they are all intertwined and interdependent - but lets go through the main ones.

1. Authenticity

If you see any of his videos, hear him speak, etc - it is immediately obvious that he is not just another politician. He is genuine and does not double speak like the others; he does not follow the same old scripted bullshit that you get from establishment PR trainers.

Many times during the primary, opponents or the mainstream media tried to make it about Israel — Zohran refused to compromise his views and conscience on this issue; despite what the talking heads think about the popularity or not of these views.

Another example is Zohran’s self description as a Democratic Socialist. Of course, this opens up attacks from others on the grounds of him being a “Socialist”, but he maintained this description and kept it in his social media profiles. How phony would it be if he moved away from it after self describing himself as such for so long and during his last campaign for the state assembly.

These two things are but examples of this, but there are plenty more from during the campaign.

Yes, ideology / people’s views on things do have an effect, as they always have (and yes Zohran’s policy focus was a large factor as well), – but ideology alone is not the most critical thing when winning elections in the modern era. This is critical to understanding why people who have otherwise unpopular policies can often win elections and vice versa.

Ultimately, voters trusted Zohran meant what he said and believes in the things he is campaigning on. That his ideas didn’t come from the same establishment Democratic policy making and focus group muck that everyone is tired of, but instead are genuine.

2. Focus on Affordability

The primary issue across the country and especially in this city - is affordability. Housing, transportation, groceries, everything.

Relentlessly talking about affordability, and the ability to both accurately and succinctly bring back most issues to the affordability crisis (especially in interviews or the debates) – is a large part of why this message was not lost in the fray. People are struggling, and with the authenticity they see in Zohran, they trust he will fight like hell for them and their families.

3. Authenticity and Focus on Affordability Drove Grassroot Efforts

As previously mentioned - the massive 50,000 volunteers that knocked on over 1.5 million doors was unprecedented. People don’t volunteer to knock that many doors for no one, or for someone they do not believe is authentic and actually able to help them and others.

Yes, the door knocking was massive. But also, if you look at advertising spend - you’ll notice the campaign spent almost all of its advertising money on traditional media sources.

For such a modern, youth filled movement - this feels odd? Right? Wrong – there was no need for much spending on social or primarily digital platforms because the campaign was able to generate tens of millions impressions naturally (earned media) on social, primarily with well done video content. These channels were saturated by the enthusiastic “Zohran base” reposting, sharing with others, etc - and then catching on virally.

4. The Attacks from The Establishment, Landlords, Billionaires

Throughout the campaign, but especially when it looked stronger and strong for Zohran - landlords, billionaires (many associated with Trump or heavily donated to his campaign), and the establishment of both parties went on the offensive to smear, attack, and work against Zohran - to the tune of tens of millions of dollars (vs Zohran’s ~8-9 million).

I won’t even go into the ridiculous, racist, and shameful lies that these groups attacked him with, here. If you haven’t seen, definitely give it a Google.

The fact that these groups were so alarmed and went on such a large offensive made it clear that Zohran actually was for the people and not the rich - this is a good sign to working class people. Not only this, every time news would come out about this, it gave Zohran more ammo on social, it gave volunteers extra reasons to knock a dozen more doors that week, etc.

Total backfire - thanks, morons!

All of these things gave so many who had lost it (even in the process itself), hope.

As you can see in the voters that Zohran won, the approach, etc – it is not about how far left the policies are, “Socialism”, or really ideology at all.

OKAY I have made all of these points - what is the short bulleted list of “The Playbook”

A deep and authentic commitment to:

Policies that put working class people over multimillionaires/billionaires.
Taking no corporate or special interest money.
Extreme focus on affordability.

This playbook gives any Democrat at the very least a fighting chance even the deepest of red areas, and is the key to winning back every branch of the Federal Government.