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What Politicians Can Learn About the Black Male Vote From Mamdani’s Big Win as Mayor of NYC

Professor: Why Mamdani Owes Black Men For his Big NYC Mayor Win

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New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani celebrates during an election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York on November 4, 2025. New Yorkers elected leftist Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor November 4, 2025 broadcasters projected, on a day of key local ballots across the country offering the first electoral judgement of Donald Trump’s tumultuous second White House term. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Everyone seems to hyped about the election of Zohran Mamdani as the mayor of NYC, but no one is talking about why uou can thank Black men for that win. They put the mayor-elect on their backs and ended up being the majority vote.

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We need to talk about why this is significant. Pull up a chair. I’ll have to get professorial for a minute.

Democrats have a history of chastising Black men and their voting habits. Remember last year when Barack Obama called out Black men as he hit the campaign trail for Kamala Harris? Or what about the time Hilary Clinton expressed her frustration with them after she lost to Donald Trump in 2016 in her book What Happened?

Obama going scorched earth and calling out men from his community was a terrible idea and turned out to be a moot point. 78% of Black men voted for Harris. And while she can blame whoever she wants for losing, she should not point the finger at us. 80% of Black men voted for her instead of Trump.  

I don’t know why Democrats love to jump on Black men when it comes to voting. In the past few election cycles, politicians have tried to chastise the men from our community into voting for them…and that’s just not a good strategy.

I have a radical idea for any politician who is trying to court the Black male vote. Instead of using shame as a tactic to get us to vote for you, maybe try speaking to the things we care about.

Black men want to live in a country where the police are not shooting us dead in the streets. We want jobs that give us a living wage. And we want what everyone wants: a chance to participate in the American dream. Something that is getting harder and harder to do if you are young and especially if you are Black.

As they head into 2026 and turn their eyes to the midterms, politicians should learn from how Black men turned out in the NYC mayoral election. We do not need to be sonned. We need to be appealed to like you do every other voting bloc.

Try that for a change. Maybe then we will vote for you.

Straight From The Root

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