Canada’s left has learned nothing from Zohran Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani polled at just one per cent in the New York mayoral election when he began his campaign earlier this year, tied with the option “someone else.” But throughout his campaigns for the democratic primary and the general election, the popularity of the 34-year-old democratic socialist exploded.

He ran a campaign hyper-focused on affordability — advocating for free buses, childcare for all and a rent freeze — and defined by his constant smiling and genial attitude.

When New Yorkers went to the polls on Nov. 4, Mamdani trounced his competition, defeating sex-pest and disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo by almost nine percentage points. 

The cultural and economic capital of the world voted down an establishment politician who represented the status quo in favour of a bold newbie progressive. So, why the hell can’t we?

Politicians around the world, including in Canada, are now trying to imitate Mamdani in hopes of reproducing his success. 

Canadian politics does seem ready for a “Mamdani moment,” as some pundits have called it. We have a prime minister elected because he represented the status quo and establishment, but he’s slowly bleeding support, while the ongoing NDP leadership race is, in theory, the perfect testing ground for a Mamdani-style politician.

Candidates in the race are trying hard to position themselves as similar to Mamdani, at least in appearance. Two serious contenders in the race, Avi Lewis and Rob Ashton, have obvious Mamdani-inspired campaign designs. 

The day of Mamdani’s victory, Lewis posted on Instagram that he’s “deeply inspired by Mamdani’s campaign,” adding, “It’s the same energy and vision that’s driving our campaign.”

Lewis’s campaign launch video featured stylized text and edits of quick-cut videos of the candidate walking through his community, talking about the hardships regular people face — the archetype of a Mamdani ad.

Both Lewis and Ashton’s websites and signs feature rounded letters, soft colours and short, pithy taglines: unmistakably similar to Mamdani’s already-iconic designs. 

While they have similar politics to Mamdani’s and try their hardest to evoke him in their branding, the similarities end there. 

The takeaways from Mamdani’s campaign have flown over the heads of Canadian politicians. The interesting thing about Mamdani was never his policies — any schmuck can be a democratic socialist. The interesting thing about Mamdani is that he has those policies, and he won. 

Mamdani’s campaigning captured the world’s attention with a bold new vision, complete with progressive politics and a beautifully designed and orchestrated campaign. What Canadian progressives are failing to recognize is that for those two things to work, the campaign itself has to be effective. 

Mamdani did not win because he had the best social media or the catchiest slogans; he won because he used those tools to constantly deliver a message focused on issues affecting voters, in clear and convincing language. And despite having similar policies that could strike a similar tone, Canadian politicians don’t seem to put in an effort beyond aesthetics to use social media and modern campaigning to connect with voters. 

Both Lewis and Ashton’s campaigns were clearly deeply inspired by Mamdani in their planning stages. But the second they left the mood board and had to campaign beyond their launch video, they either abandoned or forgot what made Mamdani win: that his messaging was effective, not just pretty. Ashton and Lewis’s social media are filled with long, blurry videos with choppy audio, and multi-slide walls of text going over policy promises — Mamdani never once made a text post like that. 

It doesn’t matter if the policies contained within will convince voters, or if the post is colour-coordinated; what matters is that the policies are not reaching voters because the messaging is not effective. You can’t wrap the same sauceless, boring campaigning in Mamdani-style branding and call it a day. This surface-level imitation is part of what leads to these hollow campaigns.

“Mamdani” is essentially a buzzword at this point, a nebulous cure-all for the leftist politician. Just look at what he does (but don’t think about it), copy it, and surely his luck will rub off on you. 

But no win will ever be handed to you just because you have the right policies or the best lawn signs. Politicians have to meet voters where they’re at and effectively deliver their vision of the future, which Mamdani did, and his Canadian counterparts aren’t doing.

There are still nearly four months before the NDP leadership vote, and plenty of time to right the ship. 

What ultimately matters in politics is not your policy or your visuals, it’s how you make people feel. Canada is in desperate need of a brave new vision for the future. 

Our left has the policies and the signage to deliver it. What they lack is the ability to tie it together into a strong message, one that can convince Canadians.

That’s what they should be looking to Mamdani for.