The Strange Way A Music Video Helped Zohran Mamdani Win The NYC Election

Zohran Mamdani's win in the November 2025 NYC mayoral election can be credited to a variety of impressive plays by the young democratic socialist. First and foremost, his progressive policies are appealing to New Yorkers who agree that their city should be more affordable, whether by making buses free or freezing the rent on rent-stabilized apartments. Of course, his campaign was also aesthetically pleasing — partly thanks to Mamdani's Gen Z wife, Rama Duwaji, who is an incredibly talented artist — and he appealed to hyper-online individuals who were introduced to Mamdani through their favorite niche corners of social media. However, was there more to Mamdani's win than that? The internet seems to think so.

Many netizens who followed the Sabrina Carpenter and Eric Adams music video scandal believe that the pop singer's video for her song "Feathers" inadvertently helped Mamdani win. "The concept that sabrina carpenter was the start of a chain reaction that got zohran mamdani elected," one social media user wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "I hope sabrina carpenter getting zohran mamdani elected will be on future AP Gov exams," another mused.

The fact that Adams dropped out of the 2025 mayoral race — due to a soured reputation after numerous controversies, ultimately being indicted on fraud charges in 2024 — is why many believe Mamdani had a better outcome in the polls. However, in order to fully understand the long history of Carpenter's control in the NYC election, we have to go back even further.

New York City mayor Eric Adams was indicted in September 2024 on charges relating to federal corruption. The investigation also shone a light on Adams' chief of staff, Frank Carone, who was linked to doing business with Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello. Why does that matter? Well, Gigantiello got in trouble with the Diocese of Brooklyn after giving Sabrina Carpenter and her production team the green light to film her racy "Feathers" music video in Williamsburg's Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. It is believed that the scandal in the church was actually the catalyst for a federal investigation into Gigantiello, which led investigators to Carone, which, in turn, led them to Adams.

Carpenter herself has even acknowledged her role in the Adams scandal. During an NYC concert while on her 2024 "Short N' Sweet" tour, the "Manchild" hitmaker joked (via X): "Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?" And though it's a far reach to say that she was behind Zohran Mamdani's election, there are far worse paths to the NYC mayor's office than one paved by a pop princess.