NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani takes to Twitch to chat with New Yorkers

Long before Zohran Mamdani became the 112th mayor of New York City, she understood that if you wanted to reach young voters, you had to reach them online.

Now, in Mamdani’s classic style, the mayor has taken this approach further. Thursday, Polygon revealed that Mamdani is also starting a Twitch livestream series called “Talk to People“Beginning on Thursday, May 21, at 4:10 pm ET, where he will answer questions directly from viewers via Twitch chat. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Xand Bluesky.

More than 10,000 people listened to the original music as Mamdani answered questions from viewers via Twitch chat, creating a rare direct line between a politician and an online audience. The strange addition to the river was encouraging A birdwho joked with Mamdani and helped him manage Twitch’s culture, including teaching him to refer to viewers as “chat.”

Whether Twitch is the right platform to discuss politics is still a debate, but it created a relaxed vibe where Mamdani cooperates with viewers in wanting the Knicks to win and debate tacos well in NYC, with shoutouts that Los Tacos No. 1 and Taqueria Ramirez. There were also big talks, such as raising taxes on the wealthy and his push for free and fast buses, including plans aimed at speeding up routes by six minutes.

Overall, it was a great start to Mamdani’s Twitch career, and it says a lot about the changing relationship between politics and the internet. Younger audiences consume more political information through producers, podcasts, podcasts, and the Internet than through traditional sources.

Twitch in particular has evolved more than sports in the past few years, becoming a popular political platform where audiences watch discussions about events in real time, such as influencers like. Hasan Piker. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez he successfully embraced the platform in 2020 when he joined the Among Us Livestreams aimed at encouraging young people to vote.

In a statement to Polygon, Mamdani said, “By launching the country’s first live stream hosted by an elected official, where I will answer questions from New Yorkers live on Twitch, we are opening a direct line between our government and the people, especially the long-ignored younger generations.”

Yesterday, Mamdani teased to go Instagram and the words: “5.21.26. 4:10 PM. Live.” Moving on to the next image gave fans more insight and a picture of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous chat, FDR radios speaking directly to Americans in their homes.

The comparison seems deliberate. Just as Roosevelt embraced radio as a means of communication in his time, Mamdani seems to want to reduce the distance between the government and the people by showing that people spend most of their time online.

The new livestream series is on-brand for Mamdani, whose political rise has been closely linked to social media since the beginning. Before becoming mayor, he made a name for himself in New York politics as a regular candidate for the Internet. As a member of the New York State Assembly representing Astoria, Mamdani became known for his regular videos explaining housing policy, travel issues, and his ability to speak plain language. His videos are popular among younger voters who can often subscribe to old political messages.

Over time, Mamdani has built one of the most powerful followings in American urban politics, amassing more than 15 million followers on Instagram, TikTok, and X.