Whether you like him, his politics or not, most commentators can agree that mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has charisma.

With his Gen Z wife, artist Rama Duwaji, the pair present a breezy, youthful image that feels to some more like a brand campaign than a political movement. Their loved-up wedding photos—shot on film during New York 's subway rush hour—has ignited discussion about whether we are seeing a new kind of politician: "aesthetically literate," culturally fluent, and effortlessly cool.

The couple have been grouped with other image-forward figures like Jack Schlossberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and even 84-year-old Bernie Sanders, whose meme-ified mittens went viral a few years ago. But are we really witnessing the rise of the “aesthetically literate” political figure? Or has a

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