These San Franciscans Volunteered for Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign
By Sasha Perigo
On Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern, polls closed in New York City’s mayoral primary. The sun had just set on a sweltering 99-degree day — the hottest June 24th in over a century. Three time zones away, in fog-draped San Francisco, the air was cooler, but the atmosphere was just as charged. As the final ballots were cast, progressives across the city stayed glued to their phones, waiting for early returns and hoping for an upset.
By 9 PM Pacific, they had their answer. Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist, had pulled off a stunning victory, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo, the establishment favorite, to win the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. The win was a resounding victory for the Democratic Socialists of America New York chapter (DSA NY), whose last national breakout came seven years earlier when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley.
When Mamdani launched his campaign in February, he was polling at just 1%. But in the weeks leading up to the election, Mamdani’s unapologetically leftist platform and social media success catapulted him into the spotlight.
His platform was clear — freeze the rent, make buses fast and free, and provide universal childcare. As a young Muslim Indian man born in Uganda and an outspoken advocate for Palestine, Mamdani didn’t resemble the political status quo. The fact that his opponent resigned in disgrace from his Gubernatorial position due to credible allegations of sexual assault and harassment only heightened national interest.
In San Francisco, Mamdani’s rise struck a chord. New York and San Francisco share many of the same challenges — skyrocketing rents, a lack of transit funding, and growing inequality — and each city’s elections ripple far beyond their borders. It’s common for organizers, consultants, and political staffers to bounce between the two.
So it wasn’t surprising that some San Franciscans didn’t just cheer Mamdani on from afar but joined the movement.
For this piece, I spoke with five San Franciscans who volunteered for the Zohran for NYC campaign either remotely or in person — Jen Snyder, Trevor Burke, Roísín Isner, Avery Yu, and Tuesday Rose Thornton. Each shared what drew them to Mamdani’s candidacy, what they learned, and what lessons they hope to bring home to San Francisco.
Jen Snyder, a San Francisco political strategist, Democratic Socialist, and former Chief of Staff to Dean Preston, recently relocated to New York City.
“For the time being,” she quickly caveated. “I’m still working on stuff in San Francisco! But it is a really fucking great time to be in New York.”
In New York, Snyder brought her skills to the Zohran for NYC campaign as a field coordinator.
“I did canvassing and visibility, poll site stuff. But mostly I was doing their phone banking,” Snyder said. “They were massive phone banks with hundreds and hundreds of people from all over the world. I was making sure everything went smoothly and that everyone’s questions were being answered.”
Back home in the Richmond District, Trevor Burke first heard about Mamdani on social media.
“I had never come across a candidate who is as knowledgeable and passionate about transit and urbanist-ish topics as Zohran and is also focused on key socialist issues, like making cities more affordable for everyone,” Burke said. “So those two things together made me very excited.”
At first, he said, he wasn’t sure if he should get involved in another city’s campaign. But when Snyder posted about her work in an internal forum for the Democratic Socialists of America’s San Francisco chapter (DSA SF), Burke reached out to offer help.
“I was shocked,” Burke said. “I had joined a few smaller phone banks in the past, mostly during the 2016 presidential election. But this one had like 450 people in the Zoom, and my computer was struggling to keep up with the chat.”
Roísín Isner, a born-and-raised San Franciscan and Democratic Socialist who worked on DSA SF-backed candidate Jackie Fielder’s campaign, sought out Mamdani’s phone banks on her own.
“People would shout out their locations in the chat at the beginning of each shift. It was a lot of people from New York, obviously, but also people from all over the country,” Isner shared. “They did a really good job of encouraging community. If someone had a great call, they’d drop it in the chat, and we would all cheer them on.”
On Election Day, Avery Yu and Tuesday Rose Thornton flew in from San Francisco to join their friend Snyder on the ground. Yu, a veteran political strategist who co-founded Red Bridge Strategies with Snyder, was drawn to Mamdani’s authenticity.
“It’s been so exciting to see a candidate who has been so unapologetically for working people and for Palestine,” Yu said. “He hasn’t sugar-coated any of those issues. He’s been bold and upfront about them.”
Thornton, an eviction defense lawyer, first became interested in Mamdani’s campaign after reading his housing platform.
“Every single day, I’m working with tenants who fell behind on their rent,” Thornton shared. “It’s getting more expensive to live in San Francisco every year. I’m a lawyer, and I still qualify for affordable housing. … I think it’s something that we take for granted and don’t realize doesn’t have to happen.”
Yu and Thornton have both worked on progressive campaigns in San Francisco before. But this one felt different.
“It’s something we both enjoy doing,” Thornton said. “And so we thought, why not be part of this historic moment and put our energy toward getting Zohran elected?”
Top of mind for all of the San Franciscans who volunteered for Zohran is how to channel his electoral success locally. For Isner, Mamdani’s election is a signal that Democratic socialists shouldn’t shy away from their beliefs.
“We should be brave about which candidates we consider viable,” Isner said. “People think that if a voter isn’t a Democratic socialist, they won’t vote for a Democratic socialist. And that’s just not true. Candidates who are viable are candidates who can excite voters.”
Several volunteers drew sharp contrasts between Mamdani and San Francisco’s new mayor, Daniel Lurie, who took office in January. Lurie, heir to the Levi’s fortune, spent $8.9 million on his campaign, making it one of the most expensive self-funded mayoral runs in U.S. history. His mother, billionaire philanthropist Mimi Haas, added another $1 million through an independent expenditure committee.
Mamdani, meanwhile, broke small-dollar fundraising records and brought in a total of 20,000 individual donors throughout his primary campaign. New York City utilizes a public campaign funding program, where small-dollar donations are matched by public funds at a 1:8 ratio. Mamdani received the maximum amount of public funding possible, just over $7 million, towards the city’s mayoral campaign spending cap of $8.3 million.
“What’s compelling about Zohran is that he had an incredibly clear message from day one — freeze the rent, make buses fast and free, universal childcare,” Burke told me. “And when I look back on San Francisco’s mayoral campaign, I can’t pinpoint anything that Daniel Lurie really cared about, other than wanting downtown and Union Square to be clean and attractive to major retailers.”
Snyder hopes San Franciscans take inspiration, but also take action.
“We don’t need to wait for the San Francisco Zohran,” Snyder said. “We have this small but mighty group of people in San Francisco … who are carrying a ton of weight for these huge electoral projects. We need to work on getting more people into the fold. The leader should come from within the movement.”
Among Zohran volunteers in New York and elsewhere, Snyder says the campaign unlocked a “mental switch.”
“Volunteers weren’t just giving one day a week. They were giving many days a week to this campaign because it was an absolute joy,” Snyder said. “There was a mental switch to it being a joyous thing. It’s not a slog to go canvassing and talk to your neighbors. Bringing democratic socialism to your neighbors is really cool and fun.”
For his part, Burke is talking to his friends about Muni.
“I’m trying to be a transit evangelist as much as I can,” Burke said. “I think it’s important that we as San Franciscans are talking to each other about how a better future is possible. Things are fine and maybe good in some areas, but they could be so much better if we focus on what we all need and that there are people actively trying to prevent us from getting it.”
As for the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Co-Chair Aditya Bhumbla said they are ready to welcome San Franciscans searching for a similar electoral victory with open arms.
“More feels possible today than a week ago,” said Bhumbla. “DSA SF is ready to match that energy and make ourselves visible fighting for the needs of everyday people.”
Ethics disclaimer: Sasha Perigo is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Today, she donated $25 to Zohran Mamdani.
Sasha is a writer and affordable housing advocate based in San Francisco. After starting her career as a software engineer at Google, she quit her job to write about the housing crisis. Her work has been published in the San Francisco Examiner, Curbed SF, SF Weekly, Hoodline, and Mission Local.
You can find her on Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram.
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