“When people say buses can never be free,” says socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, smiling, “don’t ask them to take a hike. Ask them to take the ferry.”

The video, with beautiful footage of New York Harbor from the Staten Island Ferry — “the best way to see the Statue of Liberty,” says the assemblyman who recently described himself as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare” — and the throng of New Yorkers from all walks of life boarding the ferry, quickly reveals its point: the iconic and heavily trafficked commuter boat is free and has been since 1997. The video offered an inviting and aesthetic defense of one of Mamdani’s key campaign promises, fast and free buses — as well as, almost in passing, an introduction to Mamdani himself and his worldview.