Who is Zohran Mamdani, now running second to Cuomo in polls for NYC mayor, and what is his platform?

In Brooklyn's East Williamsburg neighborhood, at a concert hall that was once a steel plant, a capacity crowd of nearly 2,000 supporters of democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was being handed yellow, campaign-branded bandannas bearing New York City icons: a pigeon, a MetroCard, a taxicab, a hot dog.

Inside: a political rally, one with a DJ and a queer Pakistani American musical performer and emceed by actor and former White House staffer Kal Penn. After the selfie station, but before the fully stocked cash bar, were stacks of placards bearing all-caps planks of the platform that has helped elevate Mamdani to be the second-most popular Democrat running to replace Eric Adams.

"FAST & FREE BUSES." "CHILD CARE FOR ALL." "FREEZE THE RENT." "CHEAPER GROCERIES." "A CITY WE CAN AFFORD."

Mamdani’s supporters gathered that Sunday night earlier this month — mostly 20- and 30-somethings who have canvassed the city for him — waited hours to hear an address by Mamdani, 33, a naturalized American citizen, born in Uganda to Indian parents and living in Astoria, Queens. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and Bowdoin College and now represents a portion of northwest Queens in the state Assembly.

"Too many of us are struggling under the weight of work that takes too much but doesn’t pay enough, all while costs continue to rise, our minds chained to anxiety, our days with too little time, and our bodies with even less energy to pursue the things that bring us joy," said Mamdani, whose campaign has been powered by social media savvy, a left-leaning platform, small-dollar donors and an embrace of his roots.

Mamdani has consistently polled second and raised millions of dollars in campaign contributions in a field dominated by establishment politicians — including the sitting mayor, current and former comptrollers, the city council speaker, and, of course, the ex-governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, who has maintained a commanding, double-digit lead.

Reaching out to young voters 

It's unclear how much appetite New Yorkers have for Mamdani's policy ideas, including paying for his programs with higher taxes on large corporations and residents earning over $1 million; a police-supplementing Department of Community Safety with a $1.1 billion budget; and turning the subway system's empty storefronts and other underground vacant spaces into drop-in hubs for the homeless and mentally ill.

JC Polanco, a former political candidate and city Board of Elections president who is now a professor at the University of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, said Mamdani’s support is particularly strong among younger Democratic voters. Polls of the political stances Mamdani takes bear that out — with backing far higher among younger voters than older voters, Polanco said.

And then there is Mamdani’s outreach on social media, particularly TikTok, where he has starred in clips articulating his policy positions, but also in others: eating a burrito on the Q train to break the Ramadan fast, then, after a hotly debated firestorm about the propriety of eating a messy meal off a subway seat, glibly apologizing over "#burritogate."

Said Polanco: "You can never out-social media Mamdani, I mean, it’s impossible. His ability to captivate an audience with social media is just like no other, and who’s on social media? Young people."

Younger age demographics, particularly 18- to 29-year-olds, vote least often; older people, who tend to support Cuomo, vote the most often, according to city Campaign Finance Board data.

Palanco, a former Republican turned Independent, questions whether Mamdani’s support among voters has peaked. "The financial capital of the world, I don’t think, is gonna vote for a socialist anytime soon," he said.

Adams and Cuomo have suggested that Mamdani, a practicing Muslim, is antisemitic for his support of the Palestinian cause and criticisms of Israel. Mamdani has sponsored the "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act" and has accused Israel of perpetrating a U.S.-funded genocide. He has vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against whom there is an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes, if he came to the city, and supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to pressure Israel to end unequal treatment of Palestinians.

Adams, who is an Independent candidate in November's general election but not in next month's Democratic primary, will also run on the "EndAntiSemitism" party line. Cuomo said the topic of antisemitism is the New York City mayoral race's most important issue.

Mamdani rejects claims pro-Palestinian advocacy is akin to antisemitism.

"Look, I think many New Yorkers — far more than the political class would have you imagine — have been rightfully horrified by a genocide that they’ve seen over more than 15 months of," Mamdani said last month in a livestream interview on Twitch.

"And I’ve long stood up for universal human rights and extending them to Palestinians, because I think that any politics worth its salt has to be one that is universal — that doesn’t draw an exception."

An emailed statement Thursday by Mamdani campaign spokesman Andrew Epstein says Mamdani wants to increase hate-crime prevention spending eightfold.

"Zohran has denounced antisemitism at every juncture, has rightfully called October 7th a horrific war crime," Epstein's statement said, adding: "The attacks lodged by Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo are purely political. Neither of them is actually invested in addressing the needs of Jewish New Yorkers, only using their struggles to advance their own careers. It’s shameful."

Cuomo still clear leader

The primary election, by ranked choice voting, is June 24, with early voting running from June 14 to 22. A Marist College poll released last week put Mamdani’s first-choice support at 18% among likely Democratic voters. Cuomo is the first choice of 37%, support that has continued to rise in the months since his candidacy was rumored.

Mamdani's campaign — which has maxed out for the primary and cannot under the cap legally take any more — has raised $1.49 million from 17,772 contributors, an average of $84 per contribution — which balloons to $8.18 million under the city's matching funds program — according to a Campaign Finance Board summary.

By contrast, Cuomo has raised $1.53 million from 2,710 contributors, an average of $568 per contributor, the summary shows. He has received less in matching funds under the city’s program, which favors donations from city residents and smaller-dollar ones. He has also been penalized for likely improperly coordinating with a Cuomo-supporting super PAC — which has a goal of raising $15 million and can skirt the limits imposed by the city on traditional campaign donations — and matching funds have been delayed due to his campaign's paperwork mistake. Cuomo spokesman Jason Elan said that once the finance board database is updated, the fundraising tally will show a haul topping $3.5 million, plus matching funds.

Cuomo resigned from office in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations, which he denies, and his administration's controversial pandemic-era order sending infected COVID-19 patients back to nursing homes. He has made defeating what he calls the far left a centerpiece of his campaign, although he rarely mentions his rivals' names.

Asked about Mamdani, Elan sent a statement, which did not mention Mamdani by name, that Cuomo has "got the experience and the record to put this city back on the right track and the stakes are too high to entrust this job to a 33-year-old silver spoon socialist whose short political career has been as a legislative backbencher who has no record or management experience whatsoever."

For his part, Mamdani has poked fun at Cuomo’s penchant for running for office away from the public — holding events that are barely announced or unannounced entirely, refusing to partake in most mayoral forums and then only if he doesn’t appear on stage with other candidates, and answering sporadic press questions. 

At the rally earlier this month, Mamdani supporter Ryan Rodriguez, 23, of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, came hours before the candidate's speech. Rodriguez, a Baruch College student, says the race's most important issues include high rent (Mamdani wants to freeze rent at regulated apartments), soaring grocery prices (Mamdani wants to open municipal grocery stores )  and transportation costs (Mamdani wants to make public buses free).

"All things that Zohran is trying to tackle," Rodriguez said.

Allegra Rosenbaum, 32, who works in marketing and also attended the rally, said Zohran draws a more working-class base of support, whereas Cuomo’s comes from the upper-middle class and is a "million-billionaire kind of candidate."

Rosenbaum said she believes that affordability is a key issue in the race, and Mamdani can help.

"I think he is one of the few candidates in the race who really believes that an affordable city is possible," she said, sipping a Coke. "He gives me hope for a better New York — it’s really expensive to live here — and I think he gives me hope for a more affordable city."

Moments later, an emcee leads a call-and-response: "Zohran ... Zohran ... wants to freeze ... the…?"

"Rent!" the crowd chanted.

Wearing a Mamdani hat and bandanna and drinking canned white wine, children’s book author Jan Carr, 71, of Union Square, said she has voted in every primary mayoral election since the mid-1970s and supports Mamdani this year. Mamdani, she said, is charismatic and will "stand up" to President Donald Trump.

"The things he’s suggesting are unusual, but I feel like he can effect them," she said, "and I feel like he has the energy to effect them, and I trust him."