Two Comedians Back Zohran Mamdani’s Mayoral Campaign
When supporting a political candidate, some voters offer money, and others help with their jokes. Comedians Cassie Willson and Shenuque Tissera are getting behind Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor. Last month at Littlefield, a venue in Brooklyn, they hosted a fundraiser stand-up show.
“There is so much optimism behind this campaign of like, here is a candidate who has ideas and policies for working class New Yorkers. He is like, outwardly a socialist” said Willson, who also works as an online content creator.
Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, has had a well-followed instagram campaign, also thanks to volunteers like Willson. He’s only served in the assembly for four years, but he has almost the same number of small donors as City Comptroller Brad Lander, who had been part of the City Council for more than a decade.
Outreach efforts like Mamdani’s might be central to winning the June democratic primary, says Political Scientist Donald Green at Columbia University.
“The challenge for a number of the candidates right now is that they are relatively unknown to large numbers of New Yorkers.This means that the main job that they have to do between now and the primary is to acquire name recognition,” said Green, who had been interviewed before former governor Andrew Cuomo entered the race last weekend.
Cuomo leads the polls because of how known he is in New York City: how much “name recognition” he has among voters. Cuomo is, in terms of name recognition “a celebrity candidate who completely overshadows them”, Green explained.
Willson and Tissera hope their contribution helps make Mamdani a more recognizable candidate. “I really want this to work, and I am going to be really sad if it doesn’t,” said Tissera. He added: “Part of it is also on me to get the word out and do everything I can to like, tell people that Zohran exists and we can win.”
City Council speaker Adrienne Adams has also entered the race, joining a pool of ten candidates competing for the nomination at the June 24 primary.
Cate Zanardi is a local politics reporter for City Newsroom. Previously, they covered environmental risk, housing, and activism for radio and print. They hail from Bologna, Italy.
