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National Post
01-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Nenshi's former aides see an eerily similar story in New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani
OTTAWA — Two architects of Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi's surprise victory in the 2010 Calgary mayor's race say they're feeling déjà vu after seeing another thirty-something Shia Muslim — with family ties to East Africa and Gujarat, India — upend the politics of a major North American city. Article content Stephen Carter, now president of Decide Campaigns, says he sees shades of his old boss in 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani, who rode an outsider campaign to victory in last week's New York City Democratic mayoral primary. Article content Article content 'The similarities are hard to miss,' said Carter. Article content Article content Carter said that, on top of the biographical similarities, Mamdani followed Nenshi's playbook of using digital tools to build a strong personal brand that transcends party labels. Article content 'I won't pretend to be an expert on the inner workings of the Mamdani campaign but one thing I can say … is that the brand construction … was spectacularly implemented,' said Carter. Article content Fifteen years ago, Carter helped then 38-year-old Nenshi leverage newfangled social media platforms Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (now X) to launch a similarly powerful digital brand. Article content Nenshi's then novel grassroots digital campaign helped him become the first Muslim mayor of a major North American city. Article content Carter says that the digital landscape has changed in the past 15 years but the fundamentals of building a political brand haven't. Article content 'Of all the things we talked about back in 2010, I think the strongest thing was actually the development of brand politics,' said Carter. Article content Article content Article content With Carter at the helm, the Nenshi campaign poured significant resources into brand building. For instance, candidate Nenshi frequently donned the colour purple — a mixture of Liberal red and Conservative blue — to put himself above partisan politics. Article content Nenshi has held onto his purple personal branding since making the jump to provincial politics last year, despite admitting on a recent podcast appearance that purple doesn't coordinate especially well with the Alberta NDP's traditional orange. Article content Article content Carter said Mamdani first crossed his radar a few weeks ago, when his social media algorithms started to feed him short videos, known online as 'reels,' promoting the upstart mayoral candidate.
Malay Mail
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
PKR's digital dominance key to campaign success, says Rafizi ahead of party polls
KOTA BARU, May 17 — Incumbent and candidate for the post of PKR Deputy President, Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli is confident that the campaign approach through digital platforms can convey the party's message more effectively to the grassroots and representatives, even though the campaign period is only about a week long. Rafizi said that PKR's strength on social media has always been an advantage in reaching not only party members at the grassroots level, but also the people who support the party's struggle. 'Every night, over 20,000 views are recorded for the virtual campaign sessions. This is not an election season, just a party election, yet this response shows that our message is getting through. 'What is important is that the message resonates with the core base of PKR ordinary members, representatives, and the people who support us,' he said. He said this to reporters after speaking at the Program Tour to Revive Reformasi Idealism in Power Test (HIRUK) Zone of Kelantan and Terengganu at the National Department of Culture and Arts (JKKN) Complex in Kelantan, Tanjong Chat, here last night. Meanwhile, commenting on the statement from the PKR Discipline Board urging all candidates and supporters to stop personal attacks, Rafizi said that this matter should be taken positively by all candidates. He stated that any allegations of disciplinary violations should be submitted through the available channels and investigated fairly by the party's Discipline Board. Also present was the Chief Minister of Negeri Sembilan, Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun. The PKR elections will see a one-on-one contest for the Deputy President's position between Nurul Izzah and Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli, while the party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim remains unchallenged. The PKR National Congress, including the Youth and Women's Congress, is scheduled to take place from May 22 to 24 in Johor Bahru, with the election of central leadership held on May 23. — Bernama
