All the Mayor’s People
Every few years or so I sit back and drop my jaw for 2 hours 18 minutes as I let Alan J. Pakula’s 1976 masterpiece All the President’s Men seep into every cell of my eyes, mind and body. That film ticks pretty much every box I have for my ultimate checklist for story telling (I’ll give the absence of anything sci-fi in the film a pass) and core values of integrity, empathy and justice, especially against the odds.
Maybe even more so if the odds are seemingly stacked against you, that sheer defiance being the flag that flies to proclaim your self respect, proudly flying it in the face of the established powers who clearly have zero respect for anything or anyone, including themselves.
For those unaware, the film tells the real life story of two journalists working at The Washington Post who ultimately unseated one of the most corrupt presidents in US history, though given the POTUS list, that’s not unusual, and seems to be the default. What is unusual is that he resigned. Sometimes it would be nice if history repeated itself.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman respectively) uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that lead to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Through dogged determination, infinite perseverance, obsessive levels of scrutiny, fanatical journalistic integrity to slowly chip away at a seemingly insurmountable force, as they literally went from door to door of the multiple levels of people they had listed as being involved in the campaign funding.
There’s a phenomenal line in the film where the character Deep Throat, who is hesitantly and secretly helping guide Woodward, says ‘Follow the money.’ Unfortunately those words weren’t said in the real life events, but they have become a synonymous clarion call with other attempts to uncover corruption, encouraging any and all participants in similar projects to shine light into the financial shadows of power. A call that should be widely supported by everyone.
And so to the wonderful inspiration of integrity that is both the subject and author of Run Zohran Run by Theodore Hamm.
I first became aware of Zohran Mamdani after Donald Trump was elected in November 2024. From my socialist Irish Republican perspective (living in London for more than a couple of decades), I watched in disbelief the reaction to the results. Not that Trump had won, but that the Democrats thought they could win. The apparent disorientation of the Democratic establishment seemed to turn dementia into a contagion. The fact that they believed the general public would give ‘Genocide Joe’ and Kamala Harris a pass on said atrocity was truly a thing of horrific wonder.
Added to that were the views of the privileged establishment and political dynasties that the economy was doing rather well thank you very much, everything was swell ‘n hunky-dory in the good old US of A. That was most definitely not the case of the ordinary person on the street, or nationwide, but especially in New York city where the cost of living was forcing people to leave, or contemplate leaving the place they were born and grew up.
It was this beacon of a city where I watched Zohran do the seemingly most un-Democrat party thing possible, directly asking ordinary people why they voted the way they did. And equally un-Democrat (or any neo-liberal party in any country), he listened to them, unlike Hilary Clinton labelling people ‘deplorables for not voting for her in 2016. He didn’t condemn them, call them stupid, racist (they were from all racial backgrounds), and he didn’t thrust focus grouped sound bites at them. He respected them and most importantly, wanted to work together to address their valid issues.
Not long before I had read one of my favourite books ever by organisational psychologist and a professor at Wharton, Adam Grant. His book Think Again focused on the fundamental necessity (if we are to advance) to unlearn some of our thinking, prejudices, and inherent bias with the objective of updating our potentially myopic views. It’s safe to say the book blew my mind, particularly with a core principle being motivational interviewing, where individuals with seemingly opposed viewpoints would discuss topics using curiosity and non-confrontational questioning, which could help everyone rethink previously held views.
I’ve no idea if Zohran had read this book, but I was watching a report about him on Breaking Points (an excellent independent US-focused political news and commentary show on YouTube) and he was deftly doing exactly what Grant had been promoting, talking to everyone and anyone on the streets of New York. Not promoting his own views, but asking theirs. Why did they vote for Trump? It was truly extraordinary, eye opening and it was a phenomenal cleansing of previous political discourse, sort of like Hercules flooding the stables to clean them, using questions rather than water.
Zohran had started his political career in New York in 2017, nicknamed the ‘Summer of Hell’ as the MTA’s subways system was in complete disarray with incessant stoppages, delays and cancellations. A 25 year old Mamdani was on his daily commute via the subway when they ended up stranded in a tunnel for a significant time. Given that he admittedly suffers from claustrophobia he felt himself starting to spiral with anxiety.
Rather than turning his panic inwards, he turned to his fellow commuters. He spoke to the passengers around him explaining his situation and could they speak to him to calm his anxiety until they started moving again. And the New Yorkers on that subway did what New Yorkers do, they helped each other. Years later on the street corners of that very same city he was returning that kindness in asking what was causing their anxiety, and why they voted for the Republican candidate Trump?
This profound universal empathy wasn’t the only time he actively shared a situation with those who were suffering. In support of South Asian taxi medallion holders in 2021 Zohran once again showed the ultimate commitment to his fellow city folk that are often overlooked.
Many Yellow Cab taxi drivers had been driven into a huge debt crisis due to spiralling levels of the cost of the medallions they needed to legally operate with, a crisis created by the Bloomberg administration. This resulted in drivers having to take out loans from predatory lenders, leading to bankrupted medallion holders committing suicide. The medallions were also massively devalued as the city allowed Uber/Lyft and other similar services to swarm the streets. Of course these companies had invested millions in lobbying to get the permission in the first place.
In protest Zohran joined many drivers in a 15 day hunger strike outside City Hall seeking debt relief, which they thankfully eventually won. This was not some hollow statement that often comes from politicians aiming to placate dissent, this was sincere active belief in values and a moral compass for the betterment of all, much of which stems from his Muslim beliefs, where even the act of fasting during Ramadan, he was fully aware of the tangible act of sacrifice for the greater good, dignity and appreciation of what we have and don’t have. A somewhat radical counter to the incessant Islamophobia and racism that is directed at him by right wing neo-liberal/capitalist media on a daily basis, and has only intensified to hysterical levels as time has passed.
With the rigour and research that feels like historical door stepping, knocking on the door of each day for years that has built up to Zohran’s mayoral campaign and historical win, Hamm imbues the spirit of the Watergate duo detailing the facts (a staggering amount of them) of what has moulded Mamdani. With each additional nugget it’s much like the Peter Jackson The Beatles: Get Back documentary where you hear a note or sequence that you immediately sit up as you recognise from the future where this is going, and the iconic reward that is just around the corner.
It is also a deep insight to nature vs nurture vs nepotism of the elite. All the ingredients such as Zohran’s Indian-Ugandan heritage, living in the vast cultural melting pot that is New York, a political academic father, renowned director mother, even his attendance at a highly regarded college where one of his favourite professors and leading scholar of Brooklyn during the civil rights movement Brian Purnell contributed to the growth. It was here that one of Purnell’s courses utilised the multi-award-winning seminal TV series The Wire as an entry point to discussing urban political economy. That series forever redefined narrative storytelling, authenticity, sociology and was later echoed by the don’t judge, learn aspects of Adam Grant’s observations. All these were only a portion of the elements that were forming Zohran’s moral and intellectual coda, that he would need to take on the self-ordained political establishment.
Add to that school debating skills, creating and performing a rap promo to be vice president in his junior year (which he lost), yet years later establishing himself as a rapper called Young Cardamon who utilised multiple languages to clearly express his message while publicly performing. With so many early factors and attributes that remix into New York, the birthplace of rap, would ultimately have its first rapper mayor, though politics is more his flavour now. Added to that is the fact the music genre was itself born out of older traditions such as West African griot storytelling, Jamaican toasting, Black American spoken-word poetry and a distinct can-do New York attitude. All the basic ingredients were clearly there ready to cook.
But Zohran wouldn’t be preparing this meal on his own, unbelievably far from that, if he was the head chef in this equation, he would be helped with thousands of volunteer campaigners, effectively sending thousands of line cooks out into the streets of every borough of the city, ultimately knocking on millions of doors, to directly talk to the people, and more importantly listen.
All this is only tagging the surface of the depths to which Hamm has invested his distinct journalistic and political awareness skills to begin the story of what Zohran Mamdani has done and is yet to achieve. He is now mayor elect having won the 4 November election with 50.4% of the vote, comfortably ahead of Andrew Cuomo who ran a very distasteful, and questionably racist, anti-Muslim campaign, resulting in 41.6%. Cuomo was absolutely the establishment candidate, who had to run as an independent as Zohran won the Democrat primary. Make no mistake, the elites of all parties wanted Cuomo.
Over 2 million voters turned out in 2025, the highest turnout in decades, bringing in a very clear support from most demographics (older elite were definitely not supporting him), with a phenomenal 75% of 18-29 year olds voting for Zohran, even higher in non-white groups. The melting pot that is New York has profoundly declared it didn’t want the establishment crumbs any more, and it did want the rent freeze, free child-care and free buses that Mamdani promised.
There is zero doubt that his win will have political ramifications throughout New York, the US as a whole and around the world. For decades neoliberalism has been the only option presented in most countries, where the main parties are often the two sides of the same coin, a coin that was being eagerly handed over to elites, with career politicians selling off countries effectively for pennies of their worth. It is very clear as in the rise of Zack Polanski and Zara Sultana in the UK that the younger generation, in conjunction with the vast majority of under 60s across the board, have had enough of this, and it’s time for a real change, before it’s too late.
Armed with the knowledge of Run Zohran Run!, there is so much that can be done, especially in how to counter truly awful propaganda where billions are spent to make us believe lies that absolutely serve against us. I’ve deliberately not commented on such campaigns against Zohran that are deftly covered in the book, as they are mind blowing, in gall, audacity, contempt and bile. I was genuinely staggered that anyone would fall for them, thankfully, most clearly didn’t, but they are incredible to read nonetheless.
The future is not yet written, thankfully there’s a great deal of hope it won’t be written by the people of the last couple of decades, and that it will be by the ever growing unity, empathy and humanity that is beginning to shine again, despite the horrors of genocide at the behest of the elite. And I look forward to Theodore Hamm covering that future.
Run Zohran Run by Theodore Hamm is available from Or Books here.