How Zohran Mamdani rode the authenticity wave to victory

Zohran Mamdani’s ascent from a relatively unknown New York legislator to the city’s mayor-elect has become a model for how authenticity and audience-driven storytelling can outperform conventional campaign spending. In a political climate saturated with algorithmic tactics and polished media strategies, Mamdani’s rise illustrates that sustained engagement rooted in empathy, clarity, and consistency can move public sentiment more effectively than orchestrated image-building.

The data behind the digital momentum

Over the past six months, Mamdani’s online footprint has expanded dramatically. On Instagram, his follower count rose from approximately 3.2 million in May 2025 to 4.72 million by October 2025—a 47% growth within half a year. The average post reached 965,000 views, with 62,800 likes and 1,500 comments, translating into an engagement rate of 1.33%. His content themes—politics, social justice, and community storytelling—consistently drew large volumes of organic discussion, often extending into local issues such as housing, labour rights, and accessibility.

On TikTok, Mamdani reached 3.3 million followers with a striking 11.5% engagement rate, averaging 372,700 views and 39,400 likes per video. His top videos between May and November 2025 collectively amassed over 22 million views, led by multilingual, issue-based content that blended civic participation with cultural representation. Posts around Election Day, neighbourhood canvassing, and inclusivity ranked among the highest in audience reactions, suggesting that participation and relatability—not performative favourability—drove engagement spikes.

The data shows that conversation volume grew steadily in tandem with real-world momentum. Metrics indicate how reactivity—both supportive and critical—signalled credibility. The more openly he engaged with complex issues, the more audiences perceived coherence between his words and actions, strengthening trust even among sceptics.

Clarity, empathy, and accessibility

Mamdani’s communication strategy hinged on simplifying complex policy into relatable narratives. His messaging avoided ideological jargon and instead contextualised challenges such as rent hikes, transit costs, and healthcare accessibility within everyday experiences. This linguistic accessibility made civic topics more conversational and less intimidating.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Riders Alliance (@ridersalliance)

Empathy was embedded not as sentimentality but as design: the campaign’s tone demonstrated situational awareness of real community struggles. For instance, posts addressing Muslim representation or late-night workers used direct, personal framing that encouraged dialogue rather than applause. This approach yielded sustained comment-level engagement—an indicator of active emotional resonance rather than passive content consumption.

For marketers and communicators, the takeaway is clear: engagement becomes meaningful only when the message lowers barriers to understanding. Simplifying without diluting substance builds inclusivity, and in turn, retention.

The demographic structure of Mamdani’s online audience reflects both local grounding and global curiosity. On Instagram, 59% of followers identify as female and 41% as male, with the dominant age group 25–34 years (50.7%), followed by 18–24 years (21.1%). On TikTok, the split is nearly even—50.09% female and 49.91% male—with a combined 76% between 18 and 34 years, confirming resonance among urban millennials and Gen Z.

A hugely growing audience from NY and in the age group from 18–44 makes up almost 90% of his followers, with 50% sharply concentrated between 25–34 years old. The takeaway: the youth are stepping in to show up at what became the largest turnout in New York mayoral elections in 50 years—and the unthinkable happened, as data would appear to point.

Top follower interests—television, photography, food, relationships, and technology—suggest that his reach extended beyond political circles into lifestyle and entertainment communities. Notably, his notable followers include public figures such as Mark Ruffalo, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jay Shetty, and Trevor Noah, broadening his visibility across influencer networks.

From audience to community

Where most campaigns treat social platforms as broadcast tools, Mamdani’s digital presence functioned as a participatory ecosystem. Supporters were not mere spectators; they were collaborators who produced derivative content—memes, duets, and stitched videos—that extended his messaging organically. TikTok’s native interactivity amplified this participatory model, transforming engagement metrics into community momentum.

This approach mirrors what many brands attempt through “user-generated content,” but often fail to achieve authentically, but to be fair to brands, politics and brands are different worlds and it's hard for brands to be ‘truly’ authentic.

In Mamdani’s case, contribution was not incentivised through giveaways or hashtags; it arose from shared alignment. The audience’s sense of ownership turned individual posts into crowd-narratives. This reinforces that community-driven engagement, not engineered virality, sustains long-term visibility.

Engagement as a measure of authenticity

Political content often attracts polarised responses. Mamdani’s analytics confirm that reaction diversity—positive, negative, and neutral—was a constant across posts. Yet, these interactions signified attention built on credibility, not controversy for its own sake. High comment density and follower retention indicate that audiences valued the transparency of his responses more than the tone of agreement.

In this light, engagement should not be mistaken for approval but interpreted as validation of relevance. Brands and political communicators alike can learn that consistent, coherent storytelling naturally provokes discussion—and that the volume of conversation can be a marker of authenticity.

Substance over spectacle

Mamdani’s digital narrative avoided algorithmic sensationalism. Instead of optimising content for virality through trending sounds or visual tropes, his posts maintained thematic consistency. Even humorous or fashion-oriented content (#ootd, #shopcats) tied back to personal relatability and local culture.

This restraint paid dividends. TikTok posts with minimal editing but clear civic calls-to-action—like “It’s pronounced cyclist,” which reached 1.54 million likes—illustrated that conceptual clarity can outperform high-production spectacle. Each viral instance wasn’t an anomaly but an extension of consistent storytelling tied to identity and message discipline.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@zohrankmamdani)

Mamdani’s campaign redefines how professionals should interpret digital success. It wasn’t driven by perfect aesthetics or influencer-style polish; it was anchored in a repeatable framework of consistency and sincerity. For advertising strategists, the implications are direct:

• Engagement ≠ Favorability: Measure not sentiment polarity but participation volume. A mix of reactions often reflects credibility.
• Prioritise clarity: Simplify language to increase inclusivity without losing meaning.
• Encourage co-creation: Let audiences become message bearers; ownership amplifies organic reach.
• Maintain narrative discipline: Trend-chasing dilutes trust; consistency reinforces it.
• Anchor authenticity in data: Track retention, repeat interactions, and comment quality—not just impressions—to gauge long-term resonance.

Turn digital transparency into social influence

The most telling insight from Mamdani’s win is that authenticity is not a style choice; it’s a quantifiable outcome of alignment between narrative and behaviour. His online growth, content performance, and audience retention metrics demonstrate how digital transparency translates into measurable influence.

By turning emotional intelligence into actionable communication, Mamdani proved that even in an era dominated by algorithms, audiences respond to coherence. Engagement becomes not a vanity metric, but a proxy for trust.

In politics, as in marketing, that alignment—between message, medium, and mission—is the foundation of sustainable influence. Mamdani’s story shows that the future of impactful communication will not be decided by who shouts loudest online, but by who listens most consistently and communicates with purpose.

-Kalyan Kumar, co-founder and CEO, KlugKlug