A campaign for office starts with finding the right candidate. Zohran Mamdani combines world-historic “rizz” with deep socialist ideological commitment. But his mayoral campaign won because it successfully introduced that candidate — and the political vision he embodies — to millions through a mass field operation alongside a brilliant, funny, and moving communications operation. One hundred thousand volunteers knocked on three million doors, an endeavor we explored in a previous interview with Mamdani campaign field director Tascha Van Auken (who has since been tapped to lead the mayor’s new Office of Mass Engagement). Here we turn to the communications operation, in which a team of strategists, speechwriters, designers, and filmmakers painted a giant love letter to New York City and inoculated voters against tens of millions of dollars in smears and attacks.

For the Jacobin podcast The Dig, editor Micah Uetricht interviewed Andrew Epstein, who led Zohran’s communications team. You can listen to the interview here. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.