winning

Last night, New York assemblyman Zohran Mamdani declared victory in New York City’s mayoral primary election, defeating former governor and political dynast Andrew Cuomo and an opposition backed by billionaire-funded interest groups and an antagonistic press.

Some might argue that Mamdani—a 33-year old Muslim immigrant and democratic socialist—achieved a surprising victory by pitching a bold and progressive platform, offering an energizing alternative for an electorate that’s been forced to endure an entrenched political establishment’s endless lethargic appeals to an imaginary moderate center. But thanks to a tweet that started circulating on X earlier today, we now know the full story. The real story.

Mamdani won because he was a preteen SimCity 3000 sicko.

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Zohran Mamdani was asked in 2002 by New York Magazine, along with other NYC kids, about what they wanted for the Winter holidays, to which Zohran, age 11, answered with a request for books + FIFA 2003 & SimCity 3000 for PC pic.twitter.com/ww5OMVVSYzJune 25, 2025

At least, that’s the theory. The tweet in question, posted by user @souljagoyteller, shows images from a 2002 New York Magazine feature, which asked New York City kids what gifts they were hoping to receive over the holidays. Among the children interviewed was one 11-year old Zohran Mamdani, who shared the following wishlist:

• Books.
• FIFA 2003 and SimCity 3000 computer games.

Soccer makes me feel empty and I barely know how to read, so the first two mean nothing to me. But knowing that Mamdani spent at least some amount of his youth dreaming of doing virtual municipal zoning and transportation planning makes a lot of sense for someone who’s in the running to be mayor of one of the world’s largest megacities.

Washington Post culture writer Jada Yuan corroborated the story, saying that she had been the “nervous 20-something editorial assistant” who booked Mamdani for the magazine feature in 2002. According to Yuan, a family friend whose child was a classmate of Mamdani’s recommended him “because he was the most precocious, social kid in the class.”

Thank you for finding this! I’m the one who booked Zohran for the shoot. He went to Bank Street School for Children (for free bc his mom is a Columbia prof), and a family friend with a kid there recommended him because he was the most precocious, social kid in the class. @NYMag https://t.co/NpDbR8PP9hJune 25, 2025

Being a much less precocious child, I spent my preteen PC gaming phase getting sucked into World of Warcraft. Not a lot of mayoral skills in pretending to be an Orc warrior. Perhaps there’s a lesson there.

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Worth noting is that, while it costs money to construct public transportation networks in SimCity, you don’t directly earn money back as your city’s population uses it—indicating that in SimCity, mass transit is free. Could that utopian civic model have planted the seed for Mamdani’s platform plank of free city bus fare?

If he did indeed receive SimCity 3000 during that fateful holiday season, how else might it have informed his politics? Is a mayoral candidate more likely to support building affordable housing with public dollars if they’d previously mapped out SimCity residential zones? Is Mamdani’s willingness to increase taxes on corporations and the ultra-rich New Yorkers owed, in part, to seeing what taxes can do in a city simulation where the wealthiest citizens can’t skirt them?

(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

And what other games might have made the Zohran Mamdani of 2025? Is he a Crusader Kings guy? Did he have a TF2 phase?

Dare I ask: Could Zohran Mamdani be New York City’s first gamer mayor?

PC Gamer has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign staff and hasn’t yet received a response. I’m sure we’ll get one. Can’t imagine they’re busy with anything.

If you want to pursue your own mayoral ambitions, SimCity 3000 is currently on sale on Steam for $2.50.

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