NYC NOW - How Young Voters Boosted the Mamdani Campaign and How They Persuaded Their Families to Vote for Him Too

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

Young voters across New York City hit the polls in record numbers to elect Zohran Mamdani as the new mayor. But they didn’t lead him to victory alone.

A new report says students in New York City detention centers aren't receiving basic educational services. And New Jersey Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill is set to resign this week from Congress. Also, how young voters led the Mamdani campaign to victory and persuaded their families to vote for him, too. From WMYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. New York City is failing to provide basic. educational services to youth and juvenile detention. That's according to a new report released by advocates for children of New York.

The group looked at two years of city data and found students in detention receive very little support when they come out. Rojini Singh directs the group's school justice project. She says the city needs to do more to make sure students have secure school placements when they leave detention. It's really difficult to find programs in school communities that are able to re-engage sees young people. Unless you have an education advocate or an attorney, you know, parents are left to sort of navigate this very daunting public school system by themselves. The report comes on the same

day as the City Council oversight hearing on school access inside juvenile detention. The city's education department did not return a request for comment. In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill will officially resign from Congress this week. The North Jersey Democratic made the announcement during a floor speech last week after winning the gubernatorial election. So my parting message to Jersey is, thank you, to my staff. Cheryl is set to take office in January as New Jersey's 57th governor. She'll succeed Governor Phil Murphy. A special election will be held to fill her house seat.

Up next, we take a look at the driving force behind Mayor-elect Zeram-Mandani's election win. Young voters. That's after the break. A lot has been said about Mayor Alexeran Mamdani's messaging towards young voters and how other candidates, they couldn't seem to make the same connection. Well, a new WMYC analysis found that young voters did in fact hit the polls in record numbers to elect Mumdani. voters under 40 increased turnout more than any other age group compared to four years ago. The number one thing that they are looking for is a candidate who is talking about issues that matter to them in their day-to-day lives. That's Rachel Jen Faza, a researcher and writer who focuses on youth culture and politics.

She says Mom Dani's focus on affordability really mattered to Gen Z voters who are facing inflation and high costs of living. Rachel says young voters want someone who's addressing the issues head on, even if the ideas aren't totally feasible. They said that it didn't bother them for two reasons. One, they said at least he's addressing the problem. He sees what the problem is and he has an idea. And two, he has a level of humility. He's willing to acknowledge that this might not work,

but he has an idea for where to start to try. She says younger voters also see themselves in Mumdani, who's 34 and no stranger to going viral on. on social media feeds. Just the way he talks, the way he communicates. It's the way they communicate. And that makes a huge difference. But despite Mamdani's popularity, Rachel says there was still a lot of division amongst

Gen Z voters. Gen Z is not a monolith, and Gen Z voters here in New York City are not a monolith. She says when it came to Israel and how to combat anti-Semitism, young Jewish voters she spoke to were nervous about Mamdani's campaign. She also says some young Republicans didn't. feel like any of the candidates spoke to them. Although I will say that I have even heard from young Republicans here in New York City that they were impressed by the campaign that Mamdani ran, even if they didn't agree with his

policies. And for the Gen Z voters who will be looking to Mamdani to fulfill his campaign promises as soon as he gets into office, I just always keep in mind that, you know, this generation is used to instant gratification, but that's not how politics works. That's researcher and writer Rachel Jan Faso. Merilegg Zeran Mamdani was on to something when he praised both young voters and the aunties who fueled his victory on election night. WNYC's Bridget Bergen has been reporting on how young Mamdani voters persuaded their families to vote for him too. When Zeran Mamdani celebrated his victory on election night, the first people he thanked were young voters, the next generation of New Yorkers.

Who refused to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past. But with more than 2 million people voting for the first time since 1969, he praised older generations as well. Ethiopian aunties. Yes, aunties. Aunties and uncles, the elders in many communities who are considered family. To understand how much a role families with younger and older voters played in Mamdani's win, WNYC analyzed turnout data. We identified 380,000 households with multiple voters.

64% of those households are in districts Mamdani 1. And that includes the home of 30-year-old Jepnit Singh, who was one of the mayor Alex's earliest supporters. We spoke by phone together on a recent Thursday night. I got my father on the line, too. Oh, you beat me. I told him 8.30, we got to be ready. So he was already on the phone for like the last two minutes.

Singh ran for city council this year, losing a primary in the same Southeast Queens district currently represented by city council speaker Adrian Adams. He also co-founded South Asians for Mamdani, which did door-to-door outreach in South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Jamaica, and other parts of the city with large numbers of South Asian voters. But the first voters he needed to persuade were those closest to him, Like his father, 65-year-old Parmajit Maltani, an Indian American who came to the United States in the 1980s. I was a supporter of Kuma first because of his fame, his reputation. Sure.

He's been governor in the state. But my son told me to join one time Mondani's campaign, joined the rally. I said, okay, I try one time. He didn't change his mind overnight, and he was skeptical of how much time. his son was dedicating to the campaign. What can I say? He has freedom from whatever he won't. My dad is being very generous with his words right now.

But Singh told his father about Mumdani's hunger strike in 2021 with taxi drivers facing crippling medallion dead. His dad drives an Uber part-time. When I had told him it's the same guy that stood with our uncle and so many other people that drive cab them, my father knows because they're from

the, you know, they hang out in the same lot. He's like, no way, that's the guy. Maltani came around. The whole family did. On election night, Singh says his father got a call from a friend he drives Uber's with. He's Pakistani. He's like, barramjit, congratulations. You know, we won.

It was amazing. Like, I never think about, like, a South Asian mirror. Still, like, it's unbelievable, you know. He was against Wormon. It's like it became such a. It felt so personal, and it really feels like a family member has won, and it will be going to Gracie Mansion. An election that for many remains, a family affair.

That's WNYC's Bridget Bergen. Every now and then, we'd like to highlight what's fresh and affordable at local farmers' markets. This week, we're spotlighting a Thanksgiving staple, cranberries. Amelia Tarpie is a program and publicity manager for GrowNYC Green. markets. She says green market farmers are largely not in the cranberry business. So they buy them from farmers across New Jersey and Massachusetts, which are two of the country's biggest producers. Cranberries are a quintessential Thanksgiving item to have, and they show up at the markets,

you know, just for a couple months out of the year. If you've never made your own sort of cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, it's so, so easy and well worth the extra effort. Also, you can make it many days ahead of time. Take your cranberries, perhaps an orange, some sugar, and some cardamom, and just a little bit of water, cook it down. You can get creative with what sort of flavorings you want to add. You can go spicier and add some jalapenos to your cranberries. relish, really nice to throw some ginger in there. We have fresh ginger at the markets right now.

The fun thing with cranberries is when they start cooking. The outer skin sort of splits open and it makes this really fun popping sound as you cook them. Obviously, we love apple and pumpkin pie, but you could always try the cranberry curd tart. It's actually a New York Times cooking recipe. You do sort of like a lemon curd for the bottom layer with a cranberry custard on top. Basically, you cook down the cranberries and strain out the pulp. And then, you know, you have this really nice, vibrant pink sort of custardy cranberry sauce that you put on top of the pie. And it's really like sour, punchy.

It's kind of nice to shake things up in your pie game for the Thanksgiving spread. Amelia Tarpie is a program and publicity manager for Grow NYC Green Markets. She says right now, green markets across the city are selling cranberries for about $6 to $8 a pound. So get them now and you won't have to think about it next week for your Thanksgiving festivities. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre. See you tomorrow. I'm going to be able to be.