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Zohran Mamdani ran for VP of his high school and lost—now he's winning the Democratic primary for NYC mayor
New York State assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the probable Democratic nominee for New York City's upcoming mayoral election, is only 33 years old — but his political career spans back to at least 2009.
That's when, as a student, he ran for vice president of The Bronx High School of Science. It was "ultimately an unsuccessful run," Mamdani said on a 2017 episode of the "AirGo" podcast, noting the other vice-presidential candidate "whooped my ass in that election." A social studies teacher later told him that his rap campaign video cost him the election, Mamdani added.
Mamdani currently serves in the New York State Assembly as a representative of the 36th district, based in Queens. He likely secured the Democratic nomination for the city's mayoral race in November during primary voting on Tuesday, running a campaign that has so far has focused on lowering New York's cost of living. His policy proposals include free buses and a freeze on the city's 960,600 rent-stabilized apartments, for example.
If elected in November, he'll be New York's youngest mayor since political platform has predictably evolved since his high school campaign, when he promised his constituents fresh juice and gym credits for attending school-sanctioned sporting events, he said on the podcast.
In some ways, though, the candidate himself remains the same, says Daniel Ahmadizadeh — the winner of that year's Bronx Science presidential election, and Mamdani's former classmate.
Ahmadizadeh, who now works at a Brooklyn, New York-based artificial intelligence startup, says he's watched Mamdani's campaign on TV and seen the same "genuine, kind, and driven person" he knew growing up.
"He's carried the same spirit into public service [with] that same smile," Ahmadizadeh tells CNBC Make It. "In a world that rewards shortcuts and billionaires, he's taken a principled path and really given me hope."
"I don't think we were ready for him in high school," he adds.
Mamdani's estimated net worth is roughly $200,000, according to Forbes. His parents' net worth is "likely more significant," the publication noted on Tuesday — Mamdani's mother Mira Nair is an award-winning filmmaker, and his father Mahmood Mamdani is a chaired professor of government at Columbia University.
The presumptive Democratic nominee plans to raise tax rates on corporations and the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers to pay for his policy proposals, according to his campaign's website. Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of those wealthy New Yorkers reacted negatively to Mamdani's primary victory: Many Wall Street investors, for example, were "alarmed" and "depressed" by the outcome, CNBC reported on Wednesday.
Mamdani graduated from Bowdoin College in 2014, and started working as foreclosure prevention housing counselor in New York. He reportedly volunteered for an unsuccessful New York city council campaign in 2015, according to the Washington Post, before running for — and winning — his Assembly seat in 2020.
The Mamdani campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but voters in the city's Democratic primary turned out in force for him. The race's other top candidate, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, conceded less than three hours after polls closed.
"We have won because New Yorkers have stood up for a city they can afford," Mamdani said in a victory speech on Tuesday. "A city where they can do more than just struggle. One where those who toil in the night can enjoy the fruits of their labor in the day."
