The internet is officially obsessed with the mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, and his vibey artist wife Rama Duwaji. Although she generally stays out of the limelight, she actually did plenty to help her husband during the campaign. Here are all the behind-the-scenes ways Rama Duwaji was subtly helping Zohran Mamdani win the election.
Rama Duwaji helped with the branding and iconography for Zohran Mamdani’s campaign
She’s a succesfull animator, illustrator and ceramist. Her art about Gaza has probably popped up on your feed at some point. So, it makes sense that she would have been consulted on the visuals for her husband’s campaign.
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Rama Duwaji worked with the designer Aneesh Bhoopathy on the distinctive logo, font and graphics for the campaign. The blue is the colour of the New York Mets, the amber is reminiscent of Metrocards (the New York equivalent of an Oyster card) and the font has a distinct vintage Bollywood vibe.
Rama does support Zohran at political events
You might not have noticed, but she was there for his rally at the end of October and his interview on The Daily Show. Rama and Zohran voted for him together on polling day. She joined him on-stage for his victory speech on 4th November. Zohran Mamdani thanked his wife Rama Duwaji for supporting him throughout the election, and said: “There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment, and in every moment.”
She advised her husband on his social media
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Rama also advised Zohran on how to up his social media game, according to CNN. Well, he now has 8.5 million Instagram followers, she’s nearly racked up a million herself, and Gen Z who live nowhere near New York are proclaiming the couple their “mayor” and “first lady”. I’m guessing this helped x
Rama’s own pages are mostly focused on her art. But she has acted on socials to boost her husband’s image. After Zohran was nominated in June, she posted some cute photo booth pics of them, and wrote she “couldn’t possibly be prouder”.
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She pops up in the comments section of his posts sometimes.
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Her art appears to subtly reinforce her husband’s political views
Now, obviously Rama is a very successful artist in her own right, and her work has been political well before she met Zohran on Hinge. Many of her illustrations depict women in Syria, famine in Gaza, and pro-Palestine protesters. Zohran is very critical of the Israeli government.
Lisa Burns, a professor of media studies at Quinnipiac University, explained to CNN: “What she is posting has been in line with many of the things that Mamdani has talked about. I’m starting to see some of that work merging, where the advocacy work that she is doing will support the work he is doing — even if it’s separate — as opposed to detracting from it.”
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Featured image credit: Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
