A Bronx video, a year apart: How Zohran Mamdani’s street conversation became his road to City Hall

When Zohran Mamdani returned to Fordham Road in the Bronx last week, the transformation was striking. A year ago, he stood there with a Sharpie-written sign, 'Let’s Talk Election,' asking New Yorkers why they had backed Donald Trump or chosen not to vote at all.

Few stopped to speak.

Now, the same street stopped for him.

A Parks Department worker yelled, 'It’s the president!' as Mamdani, now New York City’s mayor-elect, made his way up the familiar hill in Rose Hill Park. Cars honked, strangers shouted his name, and a woman in a hijab kissed the campaign pamphlet he handed her.

On November 4, a day before votes were counted, Mamdani posted the same video on X (formerly Twitter) with one understated line:

“A few days after the presidential election one year ago, we went to Fordham Road