Tim Miller

That's pretty concerning for me.

So I'm the elf and he's the mayor.

Just say it.

I'll take it, I guess.

So the one thing that you cannot impart on anybody in politics

is comfort in their own skin, right?

Zoran Mamdani is comfortable being Zoran Mamdani.

He's clear about who he is, where he stands, what he believes in, why he's doing this, on whose behalf he hopes to be able to serve.

And he's clear about the

truths that he's trying to socialize in our body politic.

There's just absolute clarity there that can't help but come through as authentic to voters.

So I understood very early on that even folks who might disagree with Zahn Mamdani on one issue or another

could gain a purchase on his overall value set, on the narrative, the story that he would tell attached to those values, and on his disciplined focus on a narrow band of issues that all fell under the broad rubric of affordability and how that would be resonant in their lives.

I also recognized pretty early on, Tim,

that he was preternaturally gifted at doing a thing that more and more politicians are going to have to become a droid at in our culture, which is he's great at holding on to his core.

If he's speaking to you in a 90 second video, or if he's having a conversation with you in a 20 minute speech, or if he's engaged in a two hour long podcast, he never swerves from the core that animates him.

And that is his superpower.

he's a happy warrior, right?

So even when he's talking about our greatest challenges, there's always an affirming thing.

There's always an arch star that he's pointing towards and folks are able to go up that ladder with him.