It’s risky for politicians to attend sporting events on the campaign trail because one word about the proceedings, taken the wrong way, can alienate fans and voters.
On Sunday night, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, took his chance. But he watched from the rafters, wearing a home-team jersey and mingling with fans in the cheap(ish) seats in relative anonymity.
Mr. Mamdani’s low-key appearance at Madison Square Garden underscored the regular-Joe image he has tried to convey as a candidate. It also stood in stark contrast to how former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-party candidate for mayor, took in a Knicks game last month — wearing a suit and sitting courtside beside Mayor Eric Adams.
Mr. Cuomo had arrived after halftime after hustling from the election’s final debate. By sitting next to Mr. Adams, he was telegraphing a shotgun political marriage of shared enmity for Mr. Mamdani. (Mr. Adams, who ended his re-election bid in September, would officially endorse Mr. Cuomo the following day.)
“Corruption goes courtside,” Mr. Mamdani wrote on social media as Mr. Adams and Mr. Cuomo exchanged laughter in seats that can cost over $10,000.
On Sunday, Mr. Mamdani headed to the Garden after spending time with Gov. Kathy Hochul watching her beloved Buffalo Bills at a bar in Astoria, Queens. With about two and a half minutes left in the second quarter, he settled into a far less conspicuous perch than Mr. Cuomo: Section 212.
With a Black Knicks cap pulled low over his head and a Josh Hart jersey over his white collared shirt, Mr. Mamdani sat with several aides and with the comedian known as The Kid Mero, a campaign supporter.
As the Knicks blew out the Chicago Bulls, the scoreboard showed celebrities who were attending, including Billy Baldwin, Jim Gaffigan and the former New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz. Not Mr. Mamdani.
Most fans either did not know or did not care that the front-runner in Tuesday’s mayoral election was seated among them. It helped, The Kid Mero said, that Mr. Mamdani had taken off the suit jacket and tie that he typically wears on the campaign trail.
Now, the comedian observed, Mr. Mamdani looked just like “one of my Dominican cousins.”
Mr. Mamdani seemed to relish being mostly unobserved for a change. He sang and danced along with the crowd to “I Want It That Way,” a hit song released by the Backstreet Boys in 1999, when Mr. Mamdani was 8 years old.
“The exhilaration of the last few days of the campaign is like little else, but so is the anxiety,” he said while watching the game. “Somebody described it to me once like playing tennis but not being able to see the score until the last minute.”
As the game went on, fans wearing their medals from the New York City Marathon visibly struggled to climb the arena’s stairs to their seats — prompting Mr. Mamdani to recall his marathon experience the year before.
“I’m clearly better at campaigning,” he said. He added that his knowledge of Knicks lore paled in comparison to his familiarity with soccer and cricket.
Even so, Mr. Mamdani played off the team’s popularity to try to boost his campaign during the Knicks’ playoff run last season. He interviewed die-hard fans outside the arena about the high cost of living and how expensive tickets had become. (A seat in Section 212 on Sunday cost more than $200 on the secondary market.)
But his fondness for the Knicks has not always been returned in kind.
In a campaign ad that aired during the first game of the Knicks’ season, the team’s logo was merged with his campaign’s logo. In response, lawyers for the team, which is owned by a company that has donated heavily to Mr. Cuomo’s political pursuits, sent Mr. Mamdani’s campaign a letter saying they had to stop using the logo and reiterating that the team did not endorse him.
That did not deter Mr. Mamdani from showing up on Sunday. He stayed until the game’s final minutes, the Knicks comfortably ahead. With his first public appearance set for 7 a.m. Monday, he walked a few steps up to an elevator and headed out.
One couple stopped him for a photo, but no one else.
The two people sitting next to Mr. Mamdani had no idea who he was, and were surprised at the revelation after he had left.
“It feels good that somebody who is running for the mayor is sitting right next to us,” said Aanshi Mistry, 25, an Indian immigrant living in Hell’s Kitchen, a neighborhood near the arena.
Mr. Mamdani did little to give his identity away. Normally quick to take any selfie and shake any hand, he seemed in no rush to be recognized. He wondered, perhaps in half jest, whether moments like this would stop if he were to win.
“I think,” he said, “you have to be a little bit more inventive and creative.”
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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