"In his victory speech after winning the New York mayoral election last week, Zohran Mamdani came out swinging. The speech included, among other dramatic flourishes, a reference to the socialist titan Eugene Debs, shoutouts to the city's Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru and Fiorello La Guardia, sprinkles of Arabic and it was all delivered with the cadence and command of a hip-hop emcee."
"A healthy portion of the credit should go to Julian Gerson, the speechwriter on the Mamdani campaign who typifies the young, leftwing lieutenants powering this insurgent operation a 29-year-old outer-borough dweller (in his case, Brooklyn) with unerring message discipline. He is especially unabashed when it comes to the words he puts in his boss's mouth that draw inspiration from socialist greats and the multicultural city that the Mamdani campaign holds dear."
Zohran Mamdani delivered a victory speech that blended socialist references, multicultural tributes, Arabic phrases, and a hip‑hop cadence. Julian Gerson, a 29‑year‑old Brooklyn-based speechwriter, shaped the speech with disciplined messaging and deliberate cultural nods. Gerson collaborated with Mamdani and consultant Morris Katz, beginning work a week in advance and isolating until a draft was ready the Saturday before the election. Mamdani did not see a draft of the concession speech, which Gerson found unpleasant to compose. Gerson prioritized quotes from figures like Eugene Debs and aimed to make the campaign feel like a love letter to New York.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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