‘We all love Zohran so much. Tomorrow is the day we start holding him accountable’
This week, the girls (Hot Girls for Zohran), the Gays for Zohran and others who are “for Zohran” lined up at Littlefield in Brooklyn at 7pm for a sold-out election night party. The few hours between the party’s start and the 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani being announced as the mayor-elect of New York City were wrought with both extreme excitement and anxiety. As someone who went to a bar with friends on November 5 of last year, hoping to witness the unfolding of America’s first female president, before realising President Donald Trump would take victory, I felt it too – New Yorkers were keeping their spirits high but their fingers crossed.
In line for the party were girls with glittery “Zohran” headbands and multiple Labubus hanging off of backpacks. Many had come straight from work for this moment, and there was a vegan food truck waiting for those who hadn’t eaten yet. Some shared stories about voting. “There was such an energy in the building today, but I’m nervous,” I overheard one person in front of me admit. Once inside, there was a large stage setup with a livestream. Beside the stage was a checklist. At the time, there was just one task checked off: “Knock on 2 million doors”. What’s left included “elect Zohran”, “tax the rich”, get “Ice out of NYC” and “be gay and do socialism”.
The election watch party had less actual watching involved than it did celebrating the movement that has been Mamdani’s campaign, and an affordability agenda that many people in the event space had been actively involved in canvassing for. “The 2024 election taught us that we can’t take anything for granted,” Katia Portela, the founder of Gays for Zohran, said in a speech at the start of the evening, before another organiser, Corbin Lopez, asked the crowd where the “bad bitches” were. Naturally, everyone in the room screamed. Host and comedian Micah Eames and New York drag queen Harsh Babe riffed about Bushwick polycules, being “bi for zohran” and ordering a bacon egg and cheese the right way.
Jokes aside, as the night went on, the nervousness in the room seemed to evaporate into thin air. People started saying “when he wins” instead of “if he wins”, and making plans for the moment it happens. Some said their plans were simply “doing shots”, while others talked about texting their friends that they love them. “That’s the first thing I’m doing when he wins is being hungover,” said Lopez. “A Zohran win to me would mean that we are really going to the next chapter of this country and of this world.” Lopez’s friend, Langston Ables, concurred: “With Trump, everyone's been so divided, and community is something we really need.”
Even before the announced win, the community that people were searching for through Mamdani was already evident in the room, and in hundreds of other rooms across the city. There were speeches from the highly specific “For Zohran” accounts and drag performances from Bertha Vanayshun and Harsh Babe, where people spelt “Mamdani” to Chappel Roan’s Hot to Go. There was even Zohran trivia, where people shouted his bodega sandwich order and recited his favourite music venue. While Mamdani’s ideas for making the city affordable, and numerous viral moments throughout the campaign, have undeniably resonated with young New Yorkers, members of Hot Girls for Zohran reminded everyone that it’s not just about one person; it’s about the movement. “We have decades of propaganda to undo,” Cait Camelia, co-founder of Hot Girls for Zohran, said. “There’s now a clear path forward.”
When speaking to young Mamdani supporters, it’s evident they love the now mayor-elect because he represents what they love most about New York itself. Mamdani is an immigrant who will lead a city powered by immigrants. He will be New York City’s youngest leader in more than a century, the first Muslim mayor, the first South Asian mayor and potentially the most influential democratic socialist in the country. “New York itself is such a diverse and magical city, and the magic is from the people themselves: the working class and from the immigrants,” said Myesha Choudhury, one of the Hot Girls for Zohran, before his win was announced. “It would be so special for each person to feel like they are heard and represented in our politics.”
Not even an hour after voting closed at 9pm – and far quicker than I expected – someone at the girls and gays for Zohran party grabbed the mic and screamed, “The New York motherfucking Times called it”. The room erupted into cheers and people danced to “Mr Brightside”, as Eames and Harsh Babe ticked “elect Zohran” off the checklist. People cried, took shots and reached for their phones to text their loved ones. I opened mine to the same text, sent to me multiple times: “ATTENTION YOU NEW YORK POLITIHOES ZOHRAN MAMDADDY just SLID into the NYC MAYORS OFFICE with a THIC JUICY WIN that’s got us all SOAKED.”
With Mamdani taking office on January 1, 2026, there was one hot girl for Zohran, Kathleen Horan, who perhaps put it best for what comes next after the celebrations (and hangovers): “We all love Zohran so much. Tomorrow is the day we start holding him accountable”.