One Sign of Mamdani's Surge: The Impersonators Are Out in Droves
Neel Ghosh, a comedian from Brooklyn, was looking for new content to post on social media when his girlfriend told him something she’d been thinking for a while. Mr. Ghosh, a millennial with dark hair and a scruffy beard, looked a little like the New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Mr. Ghosh, a 32-year-old Bengali American, ran with it. He put on a dark suit, white shirt and tie similar to the signature outfit favored by Mr. Mamdani, and together with two friends started filming fake ads that parodied the candidate’s campaign posts.
With a series of social media clips, Mr. Ghosh has managed to replicate Mr. Mamdani’s campaign vibe. In the videos, labeled with yellow and orange titles that match the campaign’s font, Mr. Ghosh proposes solutions for problems that make life difficult for ordinary New Yorkers, all delivered with a closed-mouth grin and nice-guy earnestness, reminiscent of the style that has helped catapult the real Zohran Mamdani to his wide lead going into November’s election.
In one post called “Zohran for Public Urination,” Mr. Ghosh stares at the camera and talks about creating a new citywide protocol for the benefit of all citizens: placing free-standing toilets at every tree, stop sign and corner of the city “so you can go anytime, anywhere.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/nyregion/zohran-mamdani-impersonator-neel-ghosh.html