Preparing to go onstage for a 2022 Climate Week panel at Cooper Union, Zohran Mamdani sat in the greenroom examining the tote bag given to speakers, a compelling bit of swag featuring the names of past A-listers who have addressed the Great Hall, including Frederick Douglass, Emma Goldman, Norman Cousins, and Jacob Riis — not to mention some world-historical villains like Henry Kissinger. Mamdani, gesturing at the bag with a rueful air of certainty, turned to his fellow panelists and declared that “none of us is ever going to be as significant as these people.”

At that time, having been elected to the New York State Assembly just two years before, Mamdani wasn’t well-known outside of his district in Astoria or beyond his fellow New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) members. By now, in any case, the world would agree that he’s well on his way to earning a spot on the next edition of that tote bag.

In October 2024, two years after our humbling encounter in the Cooper Union greenroom, Mamdani still wasn’t much better known. I sat down with him at Sami’s Kabab House in Astoria, Queens, not far from his apartment. Mamdani was giving Jacobin an exclusive interview to announce his run for mayor of New York City.