The Mamdani effect: how his win spurred more than 10,000 progressives to consider run for office

Zohran Mamdani gives a victory speech after winning the Democratic primary at an election night watch party in Long Island City, New York, on 24 June 2025. Photograph: Julius Constantine Motal/The Guardian

In mid-July, Erik Clemson signed on to a Zoom call from Honolulu, Hawaii, energized by a mayoral candidate in a city far across the country, to hear how he could run for office himself.

Clemson, a 39-year-old machinist instructor who has a YouTube channel where he explains the economy, had long considered a political run some time in the future, but Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory provided a push off the sidelines.