Just more than a decade before his upset win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine.
Mamdani made headlines Tuesday night with his victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primaries. Before the race, the 33-year-old progressive was virtually unknown in the New York politics scene, according to the Associated Press.
Now, despite his relative youth, he is the favorite to win the mayoral race in the heavily Democratic city of more than 8 million people, although it could be a tough race.
But those who attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick between 2010 and 2014 could have been familiar with Mamdani. He majored in Africana studies and graduated in 2014 — the same year Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained in Russia for more than a year, graduated from Bowdoin.
Even during his time on campus, Mamdani was the kind of person who could make friends with anyone, according to his friend and former classmate, Erica Berry. Berry graduated in 2014 as well and remains friends with Mamdani.
“You see that in sort of the range of people who are excited about him now as a politician,” Berry said. “Just a really intersectional cross-section of people who feel like he’s speaking to them and for them and making them feel excited about his vision of the future. I feel like that’s a very authentic side of him, like I don’t feel like there’s any posturing or any performativity.”
Berry said while she and Mamdani attended Bowdoin, the student body wasn’t particularly politically active. But, Mamdani brought his energy and passion to the students and inspired more activism.
During his time at Bowdoin, Mamdani founded the group Students for Justice in Palestine. That group has persisted on since his graduation, organizing a protest encampment at the college this past February to demand the school divest from arms companies that work with Israel.
Mamdani also worked at Bowdoin’s student newspaper, the Bowdoin Orient. At one time, he was a news editor alongside Berry, then moved to focus on opinion writing. His articles mainly critiqued the school’s administration, taking aim at its treatment of Arabic classes and the former college president’s criticism of a boycott by the American Studies Association of Israeli academic institutions, among other subjects.
While Mamdani is a politician, he’s been charismatic since Berry met him when he was 18, she said. She said he participated in a class alongside students who were incarcerated at Maine State Prison, and was a “profound listener.”
“He’s so good at bringing people together and making everyone feel heard,” Berry said. “He was just this tireless advocate for what was right, and was willing to have conversations which sometimes felt scary when a lot of people are meeting for the first time, and you’re in this bubble of a small liberal arts college in rural Maine.”
In November, Mamdani will be facing off against incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is seeking re-election as an independent. The other confirmed candidates are Republican Curtis Sliwa and another independent, Jim Walden.
Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.