Shortly after Donald Trump was elected president a second time last year, an unknown candidate for mayor traveled to often ignored corners of the Bronx and Queens to ask voters questions.
Why did they support Mr. Trump? Or why did they decide not vote at all? How had Democrats failed them? What issues mattered to them?
Videotaping the encounters with a small entourage, Zohran Mamdani, then a backbencher in the State Assembly, captured the answers New Yorkers gave him on Fordham Road in the Bronx and on Hillside Avenue in Queens.
Their frustrations with the political system, their anger with Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and their desperation over the high cost of living all came through in the video, which was widely circulated. Those themes became indispensable elements of Mr. Mamdani’s nascent campaign, which eventually grew into a major political movement in New York City.
Leading his rivals in most polls less than an week before the election, Mr. Mamdani returned to the same spot in the Bronx on Wednesday a strikingly different figure. He is now trailed by a police detail, swarmed by voters for selfies and blitzed by reporters and camera operators.
Mr. Mamdani had made it just yards from his car before he was confronted with the fame he did not possess a year ago. “It’s the president!” a Parks Department employee exclaimed, apparently confused about what office Mr. Mamdani was seeking.
As the candidate walked through the modest green of Rose Hill Park and turned right to climb the steep incline of a busy East Fordham Road, each step brought more well-wishers or the screeching brakes of cars whose drivers yelled his name. A woman in a hijab kissed the pamphlet Mr. Mamdani handed her and wished him luck.
Mr. Mamdani turned around to look for Andrew Epstein, one of his early campaign hires. “Do you remember exactly where we were?” Mr. Mamdani asked. “Head up the hill,” Mr. Epstein responded.
Last year on this gritty stretch of urban bustle, Mr. Epstein had stood beside Mr. Mamdani — but not in the camera shot — holding a homemade sign with the words “Let’s Talk Election” scrawled in Sharpie. On Wednesday, Mr. Epstein was holding a new sign. “Let’s Talk Election” was on one side; the other said, “Our Time Has Come.”
The original videographers trailed alongside as well. Mr. Epstein recalled how bereft the team had felt after Mr. Trump’s victory. But Mr. Mamdani’s impulse was to be curious, Mr. Epstein said. He wanted to hear what ordinary voters had to say about what had happened and why, and this corner of the Bronx had seen one of largest swings from President Biden in 2020 to President Trump in 2024.
“We had to work very hard to get anyone to talk to us,” Mr. Mamdani recalled, laughing. Mr. Epstein said, “Nobody would stop.”
Videos have been central to Mr. Mamdani’s campaign, more so than any other mayoral candidate. He has made and posted scores of them, often irreverent, sometimes serious, but almost always projecting an air of authenticity.
Capturing his youth and optimism, the videos resonated with many New Yorkers and helped vault him to prominence in the primary. During the campaign they circulated widely on social media, reaching Democrats far afield who were been casting about for a path forward after the 2024 election.
One video focused on the struggles of food cart owners in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, who were suffering from “Halalflation.” Another featured Mr. Mamdani, wearing a business suit, diving into the frigid Atlantic Ocean during the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge to highlight his plan to freeze the rent on stabilized apartments.
Mr. Mamdani conceived and crafted his campaign videos with friends. Back when he was sitting in the single digits in most polls, they offered him not only a platform, but practice honing his central messages. Since he won the primary and his political star has risen, Mr. Mamdani has acknowledged that it has become much harder to film guerrilla-style pieces, which rely on spontaneity.
What Mr. Mamdani heard from voters on Wednesday had not changed much from the year before. Fanfare and glee aside, he encountered several Trump supporters, and he met even more people who have grown cynical about politics.
Cornelius Watkins, 43, told Mr. Mamdani that he had voted for Mr. Trump last year, in part out of respect for his business experience. He said he was unsure who he would support in the mayoral election and knew very little about Mr. Mamdani. Still, Mr. Watkins said he liked the state assemblyman’s energy.
Another man was harsher, yelling, “You better do what you say you are going to do.” And a construction worker told Mr. Mamdani, “You got no shot.”
Jason Lopez said he wanted a photo of the candidate because he thought Mr. Mamdani would forget about the neighborhood once he was elected. “We ain’t going to see Mamdani after this,” Mr. Lopez said. Smiling, Mr. Mamdani insisted he would be back.
After Mr. Mamdani walked away, Mr. Lopez, 46, said he generally felt let down by those in power and did not vote in the presidential election last year.
Mr. Mamdani, who spent about three hours recording the early video in the Bronx last year, had little time on Wednesday to linger and or reflect on how close he was to achieving what had once seemed an improbable dream.
After about 40 minutes, an aide subtly gestured that it was time to wrap it up. A Black S.U.V. that had been idling nearby whisked Mr. Mamdani to a nearby news conference outside a bodega, where half a dozen elected officials and dozens of journalists and photographers were waiting.
There, he received the endorsement of the United Bodegas of America and got an egg and cheese sandwich with jalapeños. As he basked in the endorsement, Mr. Mamdani took a moment to reflect on his campaign launch video, which included a scene in a bodega similar to this one.
“It’s where we spoke to New Yorkers about the fact that fines and fees are crushing so many bodega’s abilities to stay open,” he said.
“And it’s where so many New Yorkers find a real sense of home.”
Michael Gold contributed reporting.
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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