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Long before Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s 112th mayor, he understood that if you want to reach young voters, you have to meet them online.
Now, in classic Mamdani fashion, the mayor has taken that strategy even further. On Thursday, Polygon exclusively revealed that Mamdani is launching a recurring Twitch livestream series titled “Talk with the People,” premiering on Thursday, May 21, at 4:10 p.m. ET, where he will answer questions directly from viewers through Twitch chat. It will also simulcast across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, and Bluesky.
Over 10,000 people tuned in for the initial stream as Mamdani answered questions live from viewers through Twitch chat, creating a rare direct line between a politician and an online audience. A surprise addition to the stream was influencer Moose, who joked with Mamdani and helped him navigate Twitch culture, including teaching him to address viewers as “chat.”
Whether Twitch is the right platform for serious political conversations is still up for debate, but it did create a relaxed vibe where Mamdani connected with viewers over wanting a Knicks win and debating the best tacos in NYC, with shoutouts to Los Tacos No. 1 and Taqueria Ramirez. There were some serious discussions too, like raising taxes on the wealthy and his push for free and faster public buses, including plans focused on speeding up routes by six minutes.
Overall, it was a good first introduction for Mamdani’s Twitch career, and it says a lot about the changing relationship between politics and the internet. Younger audiences increasingly consume political information through creators, streamers, podcasts, and online personalities rather than traditional media outlets.
Twitch especially has evolved far beyond gaming over the past several years, becoming a surprisingly influential political platform where audiences watch discussions about current events in real time, such as influencers like Hasan Piker. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez famously embraced the platform back in 2020 when she joined Among Us livestreams aimed at encouraging young people to vote.
In a statement to Polygon, Mamdani said, “By launching the country’s first recurring cross-platform stream hosted by an elected official, where I’ll answer New Yorkers’ questions live on Twitch, we’re opening up a direct line of conversation between our government and the people, especially younger generations who’ve been ignored for too long.”
Yesterday, Mamdani teased the move on Instagram with the caption: “5.21.26. 4:10 PM. Live.” Swiping to the next image gave followers a bigger clue with a picture of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous fireside chats, the radio broadcasts FDR used to speak directly to Americans in their homes.
The comparison appears deliberate. Just as Roosevelt embraced radio as the defining communication technology of his era, Mamdani seems intent on shrinking the distance between government and the public by showing up where people now spend much of their time online.
The new livestream series is on-brand for Mamdani, whose political rise has been closely tied to social media from the beginning. Before becoming mayor, he built a reputation in New York politics as a chronically online elected official. As a New York State Assembly member representing Astoria, Mamdani became known for casual videos explaining housing policy, transit issues, and affordability in plain language. His clips regularly went viral among younger voters who might normally scroll right past traditional political messaging.
Over time, Mamdani has built one of the strongest social media followings in urban American politics, amassing a combined over 15 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, and X.
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This really clicked with me. You articulated something I’ve felt for a while but couldn’t quite put into words. Thanks for writing it.