It's been years since Democratic voter Lea Ash felt hopeful about a politician, but that changed recently.
"He's been really the only bright spot for me this year," she said. "[He] wants to listen to the people he's seeking to govern."
The 26-year-old is referring to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, who has centered his campaign on affordability concerns. For that reason, he easily has Ash's vote — if only she lived in the city he was running in. Instead, she lives more than 1,200 miles away.
"I would like to believe one day there could be a Zohran Mamdani for Gulfport, Miss., but I don't think that's ever going to happen, at least not in my lifetime," Ash said, acknowledging her state's deep conservative roots. "But it gives me hope that it can happen in other places across the country."
In just a few months, Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblyman and Democratic Socialist, has gone from a long-shot fringe candidate to a national figure — securing an upset win in the June primary, where voters 18-29 had the highest turnout of any age group.
Now, on the cusp of Election Day — where polls show him the clear frontrunner over his closest rival, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — Mamdani is counting on that youth coalition to show up again. But his pledge to address rising costs appears to be resonating with young people far outside of the five boroughs. It's a message that many Gen Z and millennials say speaks to their most pressing concerns at a time when many feel hopeless about their leaders and yearn for new voices willing to break with political norms.
"When a candidate is able to speak to the concerns of the populace and validate those concerns … I think that that has a big impact, especially when it comes to young people," said Ruby Belle Booth, who studies young voters for the nonpartisan research organization CIRCLE.
"They really feel heard and like they're being respected," she added. "I think any candidate can do that and have success. But right now it's Mamdani and maybe before that, it was [President] Trump."
A local movement for Mamdani has gone national
Despite living in ruby red Mississippi, Ash says she's always voted for Democrats. However, in recent years, she's grown frustrated and ignored by political leaders.
It's a feeling exacerbated by her own economic situation. The pandemic cut her college experience short, and she struggled to find work, forcing her to move back home. Now, years later, even with a job, she's unable to afford her own place.
Giving up on that goal, she says, was a hard pill to swallow.
"When [my mom] was in her twenties, she was married, and she and my dad owned a house by this point, and I can't even afford to rent in a city in Mississippi," she said, adding that she's seen housing prices increase despite the state having one of the highest poverty rates in the country. "It's a little demoralizing."
But Ash hopes, if Mamdani wins, it'll send a message to Democrats in other cities around the country to take issues like housing affordability more seriously.
A focus on the economy and breaking the status quo
Mamdani has campaigned on a slew of promises, particularly around housing — notably, he's vowing to freeze the rent for rent-stabilized units and build 200,000 new apartments for low and middle-income New Yorkers. Those proposals are part of his larger, ambitious platform aimed at cutting prices, ranging from creating city-run grocery stores to making city buses and childcare free.
His critics on the left say these ideas are unrealistic — even in a liberal bastion like New York City. Among conservatives, including Trump, Mamdani's views have been characterized as extreme or dangerous.
Those warnings, however, don't seem to be fazing many young Americans, who appear most drawn to his message over any political label from either Democrats or the GOP.
"Mamdani is this candidate who is actively challenging the status quo in a lot of ways rather than representing it," said Booth.
She points to a CIRCLE survey from this spring that found that just 16% of those under 30 believe Democracy is working for them, which Booth argues isn't indicative that these voters are thrilled by politics as usual.
Although they hold vastly different ideologies, Booth argues Trump tapped into a similar anti-establishment mentality last year. Economic concerns were the top issue for those 18-29 last fall, and voters who prioritized the economy were also more likely to vote for the president, according to a CIRCLE analysis of 2024 AP VoteCast data.
"I think that young people, we've seen, are not really thinking about politics in terms of those two parties and are evaluating it more in terms of the issues that they really care about," Booth said.
Affordability concerns should cross party lines, argues 26-year-old Democrat Emily Wilson. Based in St. Petersburg, Fla., she's also supporting Mamdani from afar, and says she often talks politics with her colleagues at the spa where they work.
"Grocery prices and bus prices and rent prices, these are issues affecting both Democrats and Republicans," Wilson said.
Though she acknowledges that some people could see Mamdani's candidacy as too radical outside of New York, she argues that a similar economic message could be effective when delivered by a candidate who knows the community.
"I think if a Floridian or a Texan were to talk about the same issues that Zohran [is talking about], I think he would have the same appeal," she said.
Up north in a small town near Ann Arbor, Mich., Daisy Lupa, 25, feels similarly. As someone who has begrudgingly backed national Democrats in recent years, she says Mamdani's campaign is refreshing, and believes many of his proposals could help communities like hers.
"I think that a lot of stuff that he is trying to push forward in New York … are things that we need even more in rural areas and even more in the Midwest because we don't have it at all," she said.
"It's flawed in New York," she added. "It's absent here."
Cautious optimism
Of course, a central question for those who actually can vote in the New York mayor's race is whether Mamdani can truly solve the affordability crisis.
For Dillon Robertson, 32, money is a constant worry. He commutes to college in Connecticut and will graduate with close to $250,000 in student loans. He's supporting Mamdani and says many of his cost-saving proposals could make his life easier, but at the same time, he worries if it's all possible.
"A lot of the stuff he says sounds nice. But I both wonder, can he do it? Can he pull it off?" he said. "Or [is] it just kind of like a Band-Aid on a leaky ship?"
Still, he admits, if the options are to keep plodding along or try something new, he's ready to give it a shot.
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