When Zohran Mamdani transformed a long-shot mayoral campaign into a citywide victory, Rashad Robinson saw more than a political upset—he saw proof that communication itself creates power. In his latest newsletter, Robinson argues that the win wasn’t luck or timing but the outcome of years of narrative infrastructure designed to turn communication into a governing tool.
Communication as Core Competency
Mamdani’s “most remarkable” skill, according to Robinson, involves his ability to effectively communicate “as a politician, as an organizer, and as an outsider.” Without political dynasty connections or initial deep pockets, this triple capacity proved essential.
The ability to speak across these different modes allowed Mamdani to build coalitions other candidates couldn’t access. Political insiders heard someone who understood governance; organizers recognized someone fluent in movement building; voters saw someone who hadn’t been captured by the system. Such versatility develops through sustained practice across different organizing contexts, each requiring distinct communication approaches.
Years of Organizing Built the Foundation
“Much of the groundwork for this victory was paved in the years before his race,” Robinson writes. Structural reforms including public financing and ranked choice voting created conditions where communication skills could overcome traditional advantages. The Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America built organizational capacity that provided what Robinson calls “fuel” for progressive campaigns—volunteer networks, messaging frameworks, and community trust that mainstream institutions had neglected.
This foundation, combined with Mamdani’s talents, turned “what was once a longshot suddenly became reality.” Infrastructure made the candidacy viable; communication skills made it victorious.
Observing Systematic Message Discipline
Robinson observes how the current administration integrates every arm of government communication—from ICE advertising to Labor Department posts—into a single narrative system. The coherence reveals what progressives often lack: message discipline that turns governance into storytelling.
Recent Department of Labor Instagram posts exemplify this approach. Robinson describes 1940s-style posters featuring white faces with slogans like “Restore the American Dream” and “Americans First.” His analysis identifies these visuals as revisionist rather than nostalgic, reframing segregation and exclusion as patriotic virtue.
This coordinated messaging extends across platforms. The current administration’s SNAP cuts campaign combines political messaging with social media influencers promoting racist depictions of program recipients. Robinson observes that “every organ of his communication machine—state agencies, social media, cable news—is reinforcing that message” with unbroken consistency.
The contrast establishes the standard Robinson applies to progressive officials: whether they’ll use institutional power to communicate with similar systematic intensity.
Connection as Infrastructure
Robinson contrasts Mamdani’s model—rooted in trust and small-group conversations—with a broader progressive habit of treating communication as an afterthought. “Real communication isn’t about contact or visibility,” he writes. “It’s about connection.”
The distinction explains why even successful policies often fail to shift public perception. Robinson notes it isn’t enough to deliver outcomes; leaders must also define their meaning. Biden’s pandemic-relief checks, unsigned by the administration, serve as his case in point: “You have to shape the way people see it.”
For Robinson, this represents the heart of governing power: communication that organizes alignment, not applause. “Communication—who tells what story to which audience—shapes what people believe is possible,” he writes. Mamdani’s campaign executed this strategy “almost flawlessly,” speaking to “small groups of people in ways that build up to large groups of people getting aligned.”
The Governing Test
Mamdani now holds institutional power as New York’s mayor. Robinson poses the question that will define his tenure: “He now has the tools to both get things done and to sell what he’s done. The question is: will he do it?”
Campaign communication focuses on critique and vision. Governing communication requires explaining complex policy, managing contradictory pressures, and maintaining public support through difficult decisions. Will Mamdani sustain his communication excellence through this transition? That question represents the central test.
Robinson widens the lens beyond New York, arguing that progressives everywhere face the same challenge: whether they will treat communication as continuous work or as campaign ritual. “We can’t keep governing like communication is an afterthought,” he warns. The asymmetry between coordinated opposition media systems and fragmented progressive channels, he adds, is not inevitable—it reflects strategic choices about where to invest power.
Building Narrative Systems
Robinson’s conclusion emphasizes what he calls “narrative infrastructure”—the capacity to coordinate messages across institutions as deliberately as opponents have done for decades. That conviction shapes his current work through Rashad Robinson Advisors, where he and his team help foundations, corporations, and movement organizations build lasting narrative systems. His new partnership with NewsOne—the Freedom Table series—extends that effort, creating a space where strategists and culture-makers can align storytelling with policy action.
Whether leaders will invest in this infrastructure with the urgency they bring to policy remains an open question—and, Robinson suggests, the true test of governance.
Mamdani’s victory proves that when narrative systems meet communication talent, progressive candidates can overcome structural disadvantages. Whether Mamdani—and those who follow—can maintain that discipline will determine if this moment becomes precedent or anomaly. Progressive officials must decide whether they’ll deploy institutional channels systematically or leave that capacity underutilized while opposition forces use every available platform with unbroken consistency.
Robinson’s newsletter suggests the answer to that question will shape political outcomes for years to come.
