The Real Lesson From Zohran Mamdani's Ascent

"All of these factors undoubtedly contributed to Mamdani's shocking ascent, but most of those positives might never have mattered absent the most significant but least discussed factor of all: public money. Thanks to New York City's nearly four-decade-old clean elections system that publicly finances candidates for municipal office, Mamdani has had nearly $13 million of government funds to run a competitive campaign against tens of millions of dollars that oligarchs spent to boost disgraced Democratic former governor Andrew Cuomo."

"Without that public money matching small-dollar donations to Mamdani's campaign, he might never have had enough resources to finance his reported $5 million television and digital ad campaign that spread his message, his $1 million of mail and literature that made him a household name, and his $2 million campaign staff that organized communities and flooded the social-media algorithm."

Zohran Mamdani rose from obscurity to become New York City's Democratic primary winner and general-election frontrunner. Multiple factors aided his ascent, including slick advertising, a populist affordability message, media-savvy self-promotion, and youthful charisma. The decisive factor was public financing under New York City's nearly four-decade-old clean elections system. That system matched small-dollar donations and provided nearly $13 million in government funds, enabling a competitive campaign against oligarch-funded opponents. The public funds financed about $5 million in television and digital ads, $1 million in mail and literature, and roughly $2 million for campaign staffing and operations. Without public money, the campaign would likely have lacked necessary reach and organization.

Read at The Nation