2025 was an off year for many elections, but it still featured some meaningful polls. The headliner of those was the New York City mayoral election.
This election always gets much attention due to New York City being the most populated city in the U.S., with over 8 million people.
Yet the 2025 election drew more attention than expected, with record numbers of voters. The city crossed the two-million-vote threshold for the first time since 1969 and had the highest voter turnout for a mayoral election in New York City this century.
The defining factor in this turnout was the social media presence this election had.
Notable names running in this election included incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, former Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, who was running a second time after his 2021 mayoral run.
However, these three would be overshadowed by Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old Indian Muslim who self-identified as a democratic socialist.
Mamdani announced his candidacy October 2024, after spending the previous four years in the New York State Assembly representing the 36th District.
Being of a younger generation than many of the candidates he was running against, Mamdani quickly gained the edge in the social media sphere.
His announcement video on Instagram received over 7,400 likes and was produced in a more social media-friendly style compared to a traditional TV advertisement.
Mamdani made his campaign goals clear, promising fast and free buses, rent freezes and free childcare.
The campaign message was “For every New Yorker who believes in the dignity of their neighbors and the government’s job to actually make our lives better,” said Mamdani in the announcement.
An effective campaign is often reliant on a donor base. Mamdani turned to social media to build a donor base.
It worked quickly. Within 24 hours, the campaign had raised over $139,000 with 1,402 donors.
By the end of this election cycle, Mamdani raised approximately $4 million while his biggest opponent, Andrew Cuomo, raised almost $6 million.
However, the breakdown of their funding varies greatly, with Mamdani’s funding coming from 97.5% small contributions, 2.5% large contributions, whereas Cuomo received 66.8% small contributions and 33.2% large contributions, as reported by the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
Social media allowed Mamdani to quickly connect with the citizens of New York City, with public appearances outside of Madison Square Garden as the New York Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the 1999 season.
He would make an appearance on the pagesubwaytakeswhere host Kareem Rahma interviews people for their takes on various topics while riding the New York City subway.
This came after a previous appearance on the same page before his official mayoral run, where Mamdani was asked for his opinion about New York City.
“Eric Adams is a terrible mayor, and he’s singlehandedly making life more expensive for New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.
Other mayoral candidates also utilized social media to connect to their constituents.
Cuomo released a generative artificial intelligence advertisement with the message “criminals for Zohran,” which was meant to attack Mamdani’s crime policies.
The other important candidate in the election, Curtis Sliwa, also gained popularity on social media because of some clips from the debates.
Sliwa told some unique stories that caught the attention of social media users. One example of this was his response when asked about whether he would take a cab or not.
“I try to avoid yellow cabs. As you know, I was shot in the back of a yellow cab in 1992 by the Gottis and Gambinos,” said Sliwa.
Despite being 71, Sliwa is familiar with some social media slang. In a question about ranked choice voting, Mamdani said he would “put myself number one and Curtis number two.”
“Oh, please, don’t be glazing me here, Zohran,” said Sliwa.
Mamdani’s embrace of social media led to his popularity among young voters. Mamdani received 75% of the votes from voters aged 18-29 and 65% of the vote among voters aged 30-44.
This would be crucial, as he won the election with 50.4% of the vote to Cuomo’s 41.6%.
Social media continues to influence elections, both big and small, without the involvement of politicians.
Mamdani has laid the groundwork for politicians moving forward, embracing social media to create a grassroots movement that can gain real traction.
