Zohran Mamdani Just Showed Why Influencer Content is So Damn Important

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani did so much right in his victorious Democratic primary campaign for NYC mayor. He identified the cost of living crisis in the city as the most salient issue to most New Yorkers. He offered a robust and popular suite policy proposals that addressed these issues specifically and worked his damn ass off to get them in front of as many people as possible. He brilliantly tailored his campaign for success within the context of the ranked choice nature of the primary. He built coalitions and very publicly practiced the very solidarity he preached with immigrants, with trans and queer folks, etc. His campaign deployed a monster voter outreach effort that knocked countless doors across the five boroughs.

He did it all. But one of his most potent weapons in a fight against all odds was the strategies around cultivating and deploying influencer content across platforms, particularly short-form video, to reach voters where they actually were spending their time.

There are too many examples to even begin to explore all of them, but a good place to start might be the Hot Girls for Zohran.

Hot Girls 4 Zohran is run by two friends, Cait, 24, and Kaif, 28, who live in Brooklyn and did not want their last names published due to privacy concerns. Cait, who is very active on X, says she has been harassed by users who don’t agree with her political opinions. But she’s fine with her face being out there – she posed for the account next to a box of Hot Girls 4 Zohran T-shirts.

Cait and Kaif say they are supporting Mamdani because he wants to make the city more affordable for the working class and courts individual donors over the super-rich. “We’re both fairly skeptical of institutional politicians, especially given the last election,” said Cait, who works in marketing. “We really just want to get his name out there.”

And hot girls help. Not in an ogling way, but as a tongue-in-cheek way for voters to self-identify and convince others to do so too. “It’s empowering for women, and it brings us together,” Cait said. “There’s an intersectionality to it.” Kaif says that they use the “girl” descriptor liberally – it’s more of a mindset than a gender classification. “So many men have also reached out to us asking for T-shirts,” he said.

And the Hot Girls are just one of many examples. What’s even more important in my mind is how the campaign treated and cultivated influencers and their content. They didn’t just seek out celebrity influencers, of which NYC has too many to count, they encouraged influencers in more niche communities - ethnic, linguistic, geographic/neighborhood, affinity, cultural, etc - that had established credibility with their audiences. They then did an outstanding job of strategically and creatively amplifying those voices through paid ads, sharing by the campaign’s accounts and those of higher profile supporters, often associated with the communities where the content originated, even through DMs.

And they didn’t just amplify content praising Zohran, they amplified content from influencers that was directing folks to canvassing efforts, or rallies, or debate watch parties, etc. They did a fantastic job of elevating influencer content that meshed with and enhanced their own (completely excellent) campaign content and helped tell the story of the campaign and the candidate to diverse audiences across platforms and, to be fair, across cultures in many cases, but they also leveraged that content to drive the type of direct engagement with volunteers and donors that makes campaigns actually work.

And they were better than anyone at amplifying user content that helped illustrate and educate around the specific policies and policy issues at the core of the campaign - housing, transportation, cost of living, and more. Having everyday New Yorkers explain issues that affect countless everyday New Yorkers in their own words and informed by their own genuine lived experience is, to quote the Mandolorian, “the way.”

Anyway, here’s what I think they got absolutely right:

Authenticity. Creators spoke about Mamdani in their voice, not scripted messaging. That made it feel honest — and made it land.

Integrated storytelling. Influencers didn’t just post one video. They invited their audiences behind the scenes: to canvasses, to rallies, to the campaign’s core values.

Tactical amplification. The campaign amplified creator content through ads, DMs, and shares from other movement leaders, giving it more shelf life and impact.

Cross-platform reach. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts — Mamdani showed up wherever voters were actually spending their time.

At a time when traditional campaign tools, especially around comms, are becoming less and less effective, it’s more important than ever to be creative in the types of content you produce and the types you amplify. And this is where influencer/user generated content becomes so important in terms of reaching harder and harder to reach audiences - disengaged voters, younger people, first-time voters, members of ethnic or linguistic communities. Elevating trusted members of these communities and amplifying their voices is crucial. It gets results in an time where billions are spent on TV to less and less effect.

Ask President Harris about that.

Or you can ask the next mayor of New York City.