A Very Online Campaign for a Very Online NYC
Also inside: Leaders We Deserve defends its strategy in digital ads, an in-depth look into the brains behind Trump’s online presence, and more
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I’m always on the lookout for campaigns and causes doing interesting and innovative things with their digital strategy… so, this week, as you may have guessed, we are going to be unpacking the digital campaign of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has made waves by asking people *not* to donate with him and doing a YouTube video with streaming star Hasan Piker.
More on that below, but first…
Digital ad spending, by the numbers:
FWIW, U.S. political advertisers spent about $11 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:
After creating some major controversy with his podcast earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom is back in action with his Campaign for Democracy PAC: they dropped $43,378 on a direct-to-camera video ad with a petition ask running on Facebook + Instagram, in which Newsom talks about how CA became the first state to sue Trump over his tariff chaos back in mid-April.
Speaking of controversy, Leaders We Deserve spent $24,883 on Facebook + Instagram ads this past week from their founder, David Hogg (who, btw, seems to have ended his feud with James Carville this week), that defend and explain his decision to primary incumbent Democrats and “usher in the next generation.” The ads also ask people to pitch in and are running nationwide.
Meanwhile, political advertisers spent just over $2.2 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:
We’ve been tracking the Department of Homeland Security’s Google and YouTube ad spend over here since March, and WIRED recently put out a piece on how they have now spent over $500,000 on Google + YouTube ads in April alone, telling people to self-deport. Specifically, they spent $63,000 of that amount in the past week, and their Google + YouTube ads target states like California, Texas, and Florida.
On X (formerly Twitter), political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $2.8 million on ads in 2025. According to X’s political ad disclosure, here are the top spenders year to date:
GoodParty.org, AKA @goodpartyorg, started running some new X/Twitter ads this past week recruiting Independents candidates to join their cohort.
…and lastly, on Snapchat, political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $674,500 on ads in 2025. Here are the top spenders year to date:
Tired of burning money with Care2 or Meta ads?
It’s 2025, and groups like Common Cause, Earthjustice, and Amnesty International are leaning on Civic Shout to acquire ROI-positive donors and activists. See how you can, too.
A Very Online Campaign for a Very Online NYC
I always try to keep my eye on campaigns and candidates that are doing some major innovation when it comes to digital… so, as you may have already guessed, today we’re going to talk about Zohran Mamdani, NY State Representative, Democratic Socialist, and candidate for NYC mayor, whose digital strategy has a lot of people nationwide paying attention to his race.
There are two things that initially made me clock Mamdani online: the first was this Instagram post in which he urged people to stop donating because his campaign had hit its maximum. Now, while this is 100% still a stunt… it was pretty shocking, given that most candidates would never say that even as part of a bit (and as digital stunts go, it seemed to work pretty well, putting Mamdani in the national spotlight).
The second thing was arguably a much bigger deal still: you may be familiar with the mega-famous YouTube and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker AKA @HasanAbi (perhaps from this profile from the NYT this past week that described Piker as “A Progressive Mind in a Body Made for the ‘Manosphere’”). Piker has 2.8 million Twitch followers and 1.5 million YouTube followers, and he posted a 65-minute, broad-ranging, political and cultural conversation with Zohran Mamdani on his YouTube channel in early April that has garnered over 105,000 views. Just to give you a sense, here are the timestamps of the video by topic:
All in all, my initial impression of Mamdani was that at a time when Democrats are all talking about connecting with culture, especially when it comes to reaching young men, he seems like a candidate who is actually trying to walk the walk – even if that means taking some risks.
To get a sense of whether or not it’s working and where his audience is online, here’s a look at his followers:
Across these platforms, Mamdani has, in total, ~337,000 followers. That is pretty healthy: for comparison, Andrew Cuomo, who still seems widely considered to be the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for the NYC mayoral race, has ~640,800 followers across these platforms, and Brad Lander, seen as Mamdani’s main progressive competition, has ~85,000 followers. (Although, I will note, given the Piker collab… I’m a tiny bit surprised Mamdani hasn’t grown more on YouTube.)
Turning a closer eye to what Mamdani is actually posting, here is a peek at his top three most popular posts in order (according to InsTrack) on Instagram, which is his most-followed account:
All three posts seem pretty action-packed with a lot of resistance energy and a healthy dose of trolling – though he’s obviously campaigning, Mamdani, the 33-year-old millennial guy, does still seem to come through. What remains to be seen, of course, is how this all resonates with NYC voters.
One more factor to note here: Mamdani seems very aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders (both identify as Democratic socialists) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (both are, of course, from NYC), in terms of actual policy and of investing in and innovating with their digital strategies. Sanders and AOC are, of course, in the midst of their record-breaking Fighting Oligarchy tour and have yet to endorse anyone in the NYC mayoral race… so the question of whether or not they will bring Mamdani into their mega-viral fold remains.
Tired of burning money with Care2 or Meta ads?
It’s 2025, and groups like Common Cause, Earthjustice, and Amnesty International are leaning on Civic Shout to acquire ROI-positive donors and activists. See how you can, too.
More from around the internet:
CJR is out with an in-depth look at Alex Bruesewitz, the 28-year-old who has been the brains behind Trump’s online brand since 2022 and who has been guiding far-right rising stars online since 2017.
In the world of platform updates, people were really excited about the new Instagram Edits app, which got 7 million downloads in its first week. And speaking of new things, I mentioned Skylight a few weeks back and just posted my first video this week. Initial impressions: the editing experience feels *very* clean but definitely needs a few tweaks, and viewership on the platform still seems pretty low.
The SAG-AFTRA board (which leads the major labor union of 160,000 media professionals) voted to establish a committee for digital content creators.
It’s been 11 years since everyone was dumping buckets of ice water over their heads on camera… but here’s a look at how the Ice Bucket Challenge helped shape the Internet (and why it’s back over a decade later).
If your AI chatbot tells you it’s a licensed therapist… please do not believe it.
Our weekly clips round-up is back! Every Tuesday, paid subscribers will get a debrief on the stories about politics, tech, social media, media, and journalism you need to be tracking. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can right here ⬇️
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