Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner, traces his early political days to his experience at Bowdoin College.

The 33-year-old Democratic Socialist state lawmaker — who would be the first Muslim and first millennial mayor of the country’s largest city — graduated from the Brunswick college in 2014.

Mamdani claimed victory Tuesday in the primary, although the outcome still needs to be decided through ranked choice voting. He also will face independent and Republican candidates in November, including incumbent Eric Adams, although in majority-blue New York the Democratic primary often determines the eventual winner.

Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents and moved to New York when he was 7. He returned to Queens after college and was elected to the state assembly in 2020. He burst onto the national political scene this year with a primary campaign driven by a savvy social media presence and goals to increase affordability for New Yorkers through rent freezes and free buses. He prevailed over a crowded field that included former front-runner Andrew Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who resigned following a sexual harassment scandal. Cuomo conceded to Mamdani Tuesday night. 

Bowdoin’s “Notable Alumni” page already includes Mamdani for his position on the New York State Assembly. While enrolled at Bowdoin, he majored in Africana studies, an interdisciplinary field focused on the African continent and the worldwide African Diaspora.

Bowdoin College officials did not provide a comment, but Brian Purnell, the Africana Studies department chair who taught and advised Mamdani, called him a “great student” and “great person.”

“New York City would be lucky if he was elected mayor,” Purnell said.

Erica Berry met Mamdani when they were freshman year hallmates, then worked alongside him at The Bowdoin Orient, the college’s student newspaper, as co-news editors. Berry later led the paper as editor-in-chief, and Mamdani found his voice as an opinion columnist.

Mamdani wrote more than 30 articles for The Orient, including a sports column called “Kwame’s Kolumnalu” (a riff on his middle name) and campus commentary. His pieces tackled issues from the college’s lack of an Arabic minor at the time, to the critique of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions by the college’s president at the time, to Bowdoin social life.

Berry said Mamdani had a “tireless sense of justice” that he brought to every endeavor. She’s been a little surprised by his rapid rise in national name recognition — she was shocked to hear teenagers in Oregon, where she lives, talking about his campaign — but not at all surprised about his political success. 

“He has this supernatural ability to bring people together that I’ve not seen in anyone since,” Berry said. “So when I think about the qualities that would make a politician in a dream world, it is this tireless energy and drive for coming together.”

Like Mamdani, Natalie Kass-Kaufman is a New Yorker who came to Maine for college then returned to the city. At Bowdoin, she edited Mamdani’s opinion columns for the newspaper. Now back in New York, she has spent the last few months knocking on doors for his campaign. She said as a student and opinion writer, he was a clear-headed advocate with an unwavering sense of speaking truth to power.

“It felt rare to see a 20-year-old have such a strong moral center and actually want to talk about important issues,” Kass-Kaufman said.

She said Mamdani’s skill for coalition building — which in college meant being able to be friends with everyone — has remained central to his campaign. Kass-Kaufman has supported Mamdani’s political career since his run for state assembly.

“This is definitely the most excited I’ve been about a political candidate in my entire life, and not just because I know him. I know a lot of people who feel this way who don’t know him,” she said. “New York politics can be really hard, it feels often like it’s for sale, and this just feels really inspiring. And the fact that I know him, and know he’s this genuine of a person, is just a plus.”

Mamdani was profiled in The Orient in 2019 while campaigning for state assembly. He told the paper his passion for political organizing began at Bowdoin, where he co-founded the college’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. 

“Through organizing around Palestine and Palestinian solidarity issues, I saw a very different side of the administration,” he said. “That was a very formative experience in understanding how things work when you’re trying to push for demands that are not popular with the people in power.”

Mamdani has remained a champion of Palestinian rights throughout his political career.

“We are heartened by what Zohran Mamdani’s win signifies in shifting public opinion on Israel and anti-Zionism,” the present-day Bowdoin Students for Justice in Palestine organization said in a statement Thursday. However, they criticized his comments, like during a debate earlier this month, about Israel’s right to exist as a “state with equal rights for all,” calling that a Zionist framework. “We affirm dismantling Zionism as a necessary condition for Palestinian liberation.”

Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Bowdoin is no stranger to having alumni pursue careers in politics. Its ranks include one U.S. president, Franklin Pierce, and another young political standout, Justin Pearson, a Tennessee state representative who made national headlines in 2023 when he and another Black House member were expelled from the chamber for their role in a gun control protest. He was reinstated a week later. Pearson, who graduated from Bowdoin in 2017, gave a sold-out lecture at the college last year.