A New York Rebellion: Gen Z’s Political Awakening

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It’s been one week since New York City’s Mayoral Democratic Primary election, and the nation is abuzz with Zohran Mamdani’s win and what that means for the city, the state, and the rest of the country. Government officials are still moving forward with the approval of policies that go against Mamdani’s campaign platform and President Trump has made claims against his citizenship and threatened to arrest and deport him. And although this was just the primaries, news outlets have called Mamdani’s win an upset, making people wonder what will happen in November.

While former Governor Andrew Cuomo opted for more traditional campaign strategies — press events and policy announcements that pandered to Boomers and big business, a few candidates chose a new strategy: social media.

Millennials like former New York State Representative Michael Blake and New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie tapped into these social media platforms sharing stories of their entrance into politics, engaging with the Knicks fans, and sharing behind the scenes of their campaign while answering questions about the cost of being a New Yorker. However, if running a campaign on social media was an Olympic sport, Zohran Mamdani would take the gold. His grassroots campaign across the city consisted of participating in rallies for immigrants and trans kids, visiting local churches and small businesses, and connecting with social media influencers. His content was impeccably produced with bold graphics and clear messaging, winning the demographic that was most overlooked: Gen Z.

These voters, many casting ballots for the first or second time, are one of the most diverse and outspoken generations in U.S. history, with the potential to tip the scales in November’s mayoral election. These voters care deeply about issues like climate change, affordable housing, racial justice, and mental health. Despite their passion and them being the rising group of voters, some have felt unnoticed and unheard by the candidates seeking to lead the city, specifically the older generations.

Jonathan Hyman, 22, a recent graduate of the City College of New York believes that Gen X and Boomer candidates may not be able to make the best decisions for younger people stepping into adulthood. When ranking candidates, Cuomo was not in his top five because Hyman said “He’s definitely done his time in public office, and I don’t think it would be conducive or beneficial for the people of New York City to have him become mayor.” It wasn’t just Cuomo’s inability to connect with his generation, it was the baggage that came with him — the allegations of sexual assault, poor management during the COVID-19 crisis, and mismanagement of funds.

Gen Z’s political influence is growing and in 2023, Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) estimated that by 2024 there would be 41 million Gen Zers eligible to vote. During the 2022 presidential midterm elections, voter turnout for this younger demographic surpassed that of Millennials and Gen Xers at the same age, making up approximately 8% of the electorate. In New York, their participation in city elections has historically been lower, but local organizers say that it is rapidly changing as younger candidates are emerging and addressing issues that matter to them.

Having spent a year canvassing politicians to support prior to the sudden impact of Mamdani, Akash Singh, 22, says that his plan for the election was to only rank Mamdani. And though he knows every candidate is not perfect and disagrees with Mamdani’s stance on defunding the New York Police Department, Singh said, “we need a fresh set of eyes. A younger person in office.” For Singh, a recent graduate of John Jay College, his choice to vote for Zohran Mamdani was more than just about his campaign platform and social media presence, it was about representation. “He’s brown. He speaks Hindi and I can show my mom, and she understands it. It’s cool.”

In November, Mamdani will go on to face Cuomo and disgraced NYC Mayor Eric Adams, both of whom are running as independents. He will also be up against Republican Curtis Sliwa and lawyer, Jim Walden, another independent.

Cuomo’s campaign raised more than $3.1 million in funding that was used primarily to boost his campaign and attack Mamdani through advertisements and mailers, and he still lost by 12 points. Adams has taken a new approach to his campaign by attempting to gain recognition by taking a page from Mamdani’s playbook. He’s recently taken to posting reels on his Instagram account seemingly to make himself more likeable by having sit-downs with famous millionaire streamer Kai Cenat, sharing summer drink recipes, and claiming to have Katy Perry’s Fireworks on his playlist. “It’s not gonna work,” says Singh.

Though this is not the first time in mayoral election history that younger persons have opted for the seat, this year however, at least half of the candidates were Millenials. In 2021, there were none. In a 2024 article published by the University of California, writer Edward Lempinen says that Millennials and Gen Zers are fed up with the current state of politics. Researchers from the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans, said both generations share beliefs on issues plaguing the country and are set to make up half the electorate by 2028. They aren’t waiting until then to make a difference, instead they are focused on the smaller elections to support in the bigger, more substantial ones in the coming years.

“We are tired,” says Cheyenne Sassine, 22, a Communications Technology student at CUNY York College. “We have not existed in a world where school shootings were not a thing. We’re seeing the death of our planet. We’re seeing, like, a government that doesn’t care about young people and we’re sick of it.” The Mayoral election in November will be her third time voting and she firmly believes that Mamdani has a chance at winning despite not being massively funded, and taking on slander from within the Democratic party.

Sassine first learned of Mamdani in January of 2025 from a reel he posted to social media. He was participating in Coney Island’s Polar Bear Plunge while discussing rent freezes. “That was just so silly to me,” she said.

Coming from a family that openly discusses and participates in politics, her father is a member of the Working Families Party and chair of the Southeast Chapter of New York Communities for Change, Sassine shares that there were a lot of things that did not sit well with her including DEI raids, the Trump administrations overreach into everything, and democrats supporting undesirable candidates. “So many people came out of the woodwork to not only bash [Mamdani], but endorse Cuomo. It was insane. Why is Bill Clinton crawling out of whatever hole he was in? It boggles the mind.”

Hyman, Singh, and Sassine all say that the consensus amongst their peers is that Mamdani is their next mayor. But for most of them, their parents and other elders go for name recognition, voting for what’s familiar to them like Cuomo and, possibly, Adams. According to an Emerson College poll, Cuomo leads among voters aged 50 and up.

They each say that they are not surprised that Mamdani won and the outcome of this primary is already causing a shift in the collective energy around the world. In the comments section of Mamdani’s posts people from Los Angles, Brazil, and South Korea are referring to him as “My Mayor.” Sassine says, “I hope that this signals to every other city and every other primary what’s going to happen in the next two years and [to the politicians] that if you do not start listening, we will vote you out because that is the power of the people.”