As Some Dems Run From Trans People, Zohran Mamdani's Latest Ad Shows Real Support

The 2 minute ad features Sylvia Rivera's story, Mamdani's commitment to transgender people, and even music from the legendary late trans artist SOPHIE.

Until Its Done // Zohron Mamdani Campaign

Ads featuring transgender people have dominated political airwaves in recent election cycles, with more than $200 million spent targeting them in 2024 alone. These ads almost always traffic in hate rhetoric aimed at transgender citizens, while Democrats—charged with defending their rights—too often stay silent, hesitant to speak with conviction. Making matters worse, “centrist” political consultants continue to urge Democrats to drop transgender people altogether. Almost never does a Democrat release a campaign ad affirming support for transgender people. That changed this weekend, when Zohran Mamdani, a New York City mayoral candidate, released a two-minute advertisement steeped in transgender history and direct commitments to the community.

The ad, set to transgender artist SOPHIE’s “It’s OK to Cry,” opens with the story of Sylvia Rivera, a trailblazing activist who helped lead the Stonewall uprising and lay the foundation for the first Pride. It then traces landmarks of New York’s queer history, weaving in Rivera’s friendship with Marsha P. Johnson, before pivoting to the present: a direct condemnation of Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on transgender Americans. Mamdani closes the ad with concrete pledges—to declare New York City an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary, to allocate millions toward restoring transgender healthcare defunded under federal pressure, and to deploy “hundreds of lawyers” to combat the administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ agenda.

You can see the ad here:

The ad serves as a masterclass for Democrats on how to talk about transgender people with empathy and conviction. Many of Mamdani’s own supporters may not know the history he highlights, and so it serves the purpose to educate his supporters in how to humanely talk about transgender people. Through this framing, he grounds his stance in moral clarity rather than political expedience—a rare trait in modern campaigns. For voters on the fence, the ad demonstrates that his support for transgender rights isn’t a focus-grouped calculation; it’s a reflection of his core values. In doing so, Mamdani not only strengthens trust among progressives but also draws in those who may have felt ambivalent, offering them something increasingly scarce in politics today: authenticity.

Mamdani’s ad stands in stark contrast to a growing trend among Democratic leaders who have pushed transgender people to the margins—or abandoned them outright. California Governor Gavin Newsom, despite leading one of the nation’s most progressive states, has spent recent months courting conservative media figures while floating bans on gender-affirming care for people under 25 and vetoing bills meant to protect trans residents. In Massachusetts, Rep. Seth Moulton echoed right-wing talking points, claiming he feared his daughter might be “run over on a playing field” by a trans girl—then defended his rhetoric as a strategic attempt to win elections. Even our first transgender Representative McBride, who has herself leaned into such arguments and has been heavily criticized by transgender community members, called for politicians to not get too far ahead of public opinion on trans issues. These politicians have framed their approach as pragmatic politics. Mamdani’s, by contrast, is rooted in something none of them have shown: conviction, courage, and a willingness to lead rather than triangulate.

This ad isn’t a one-off gesture—it’s consistent with how Mamdani has led. Earlier this year, long before his rise in the polls, he stood on the front lines of protests against NYU Langone after the hospital dropped transgender patients under pressure from Trump administration directives. While many Democrats have condemned attacks on trans healthcare, few have dared to call out the deeper problem: the moral collapse that comes with capitulation. Mamdani did so openly, at a time when there was no political upside. That choice, made before his campaign gained momentum, underscores what the ad now makes undeniable—his convictions aren’t performative; they’re the core of who he is as a leader.

Now, as Mamdani’s campaign stands on the verge of making him one of the most recognizable Democratic leaders in the country, he’s proving that he isn’t abandoning the vulnerable communities who helped elevate him—he’s centering them. Where others see transgender people as a political liability, he treats their inclusion as a measure of moral clarity. It’s a posture that has resonated beyond New York. In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear—a Democrat who won reelection in a state Trump carried by 30 points—offered a similar reflection on how authenticity and conviction win trust. “Earning trust and showing people you care about them also requires that we talk to people like normal human beings,” he said. “I vetoed anti-LGBTQ legislation last year because I believe all children are children of God. And whether people agree with my decision, they know why I’m making it.”

Clearly, this political principle of leading with your values is one that the Mamdani campaign has taken to heart. At a time when too many Democratic consultants are urging candidates to mimic Republican talking points, especially on transgender rights, Mamdani is showing the opposite path: one rooted in conviction, not calculation. It’s a lesson his party—and even supposed progressives abroad—have forgotten in their scramble to appease an ascendant right. Their capitulation hasn’t stopped the backlash; it’s only legitimized it. By contrast, Mamdani’s unapologetic embrace of marginalized communities shows what real leadership looks like: a politics that doesn’t ask whom to abandon to win, but whom to lift up to build something worth winning for.