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This post has the same problem as my previous one: it takes awhile to get to the actual point. Skip to the second section if you just care about that. I also think that the first half could have been much more concise / better at developing my points but I felt it was important to practice writing these in a single go.
(Or: Why Am I Talking About This?)
(Or: Why Am I Talking About This?)
Tuesday, November 4th is election day across the United States. As an "off-year" election, no major members of the three branches are elected, including House Representatives, Senators, and The President (tsumari: three more years of you know who). A lot of people, to be blunt, don't give a shit about this. Local government may as well not exist to some, either literately in areas of low population density or figuratively because the vast majority of people simply do not care who's on their City Council. Local legislators have far less power and nationwide attention then their federal counterparts, and so it's easy for many to forget about them or be indifferent to them under a belief that it doesn't really matter who wins. And while their are certainly situations where positions held by election will be effectively the same no matter who wins, the vast majority of these state roles have more importance than most people first assume. Their are hundreds upon hundreds of hardworking politicians who genuinely just want to improve the lives of those around them, and we should all do what we can to help them. There are also just as many who have... let's say misguided beliefs on what helping everyone means (or people who don't want to actually help everyone). Plus there's people just in it for the money and all. VOTE is what I'm getting to here. It's important!!!
There is an exception to this. People, generally, know who their Mayor is (if they live somewhere that has one). The New York City mayor is notable for being known nation wide, which I suppose makes sense. As the leader of the most important city in the nation (it has the best pizza so this must be true), the NYC mayor is often held to similar levels of scrutiny as the most important senators, being a part of heated debates and campaign rallies watched online by many people who can't even vote for them.
Top: Mamdani at a Rally
Bottom: A "Zohran for Mayor" Poster
I am one of these people, if that isn't obvious already. While I live in the state of New York, I have never lived in NYC or close enough to it where the NYC mayor will affect me directly. I should care about my personal local elections (VOTE) but not the NYC election. But this cycle, I just can't stop myself.
New York is an interesting place. It's seen as a largely progressive, leftist state (and city) but let me tell you if it turned red next presidential election cycle I wouldn't bat an eye. A large amount of the state, by land, is basically the south but cold, as has the population sparsity / whiteness to prove it. The suburbs and urban areas, naturally, are much more diverse, but due to the large wealth gap present in the region, political divisions remain just as strong. Billionaires on Wall Street live among a large number of homeless people, finance bros are educated next to some of our nations strongest lesbians, the Yankees play against the Mets, etcetera. So while the city has only had four republican mayors in the last hundred years (one of which who switched to democrat and another who switched to unaffiliated), they've often been less progressive then many would expect. Or maybe not! I wouldn't call the modern Democrat part true progressives but that's neither here nor there :)
For example, lets look at the current (and soon to be voted out) mayor, Eric Adams. He's a Democrat who is has a tough-on-crime policy (being a former cop himself), collaborated with Trumps anti-immigration efforts, took bribes from Turkey, gave out bribes (or at least attempted to) and generally sucked shit. I'm sure he's done good things (major examples being some housing efforts and better trash collections, both genuinely admirable things) but I think it's fair to say he didn't do much.
When people complain about politics, this is usually the heart of the issue. People vote for legislature or legislation expecting change, and then nothing changes. The mayor is just one person, and the entire idea of the executive branch of governments is that they do not have unilateral power to pass laws. Presidents basically do now but whatever. Every candidate running for Mayor in the NYC Mayoral election is making promises that they cannot keep. This will always be the case, and I understand why it's frustrating. It's easy to think all politics aren't worth paying attention to for this very reason; one of the first memories I have of my uncle is him complaining to me that "both sides are the same" before I was old enough to even understand what parties are.
There are three major candidates for the 2025 NYC Mayoral race: Republican Curtis Sliwa, Independent (Officially the "Fight and Deliver " party, Unofficially the Sex Pest Party) Andrew Cuomo, and Democratic Socialist & Democrat Zohran Mamdani. What makes Zohran different to me to both his competition and most other American politicians, is his want to actually get things done. He has specific, tangible goals that all aim to benefit all people in NYC. Who knew that if you tax the 1% their fair share, you can theoretically get more done? Examples include more affordable housing being built, stabilized rent being frozen, free busses, lowering the cost of childcare, and more. Will all of these things happen exactly as he says they will? Probably not! In particular I don't see his city-owned grocery store plan going anywhere as much as I would like it to. But he is actually willing to fight for the people of NYC. When was the last time you voted for a politician because you genuinely believed they would help us all aside from not letting the opposition win? Too many people in life want things to stay the way they are because they fear something worse coming along. But stagnation is just as bad. Get the shit you want to get done done! Follow your dreams! Or whatever. Zohran's campaign is the perfect template for the Democrats to follow (not that they will), and I am confident both that he will win the election and, at the minimum, he will actually try to help people and improve their lives.
Plus, he uses cool fonts.
(Or: I Need To Start Making Outlines)
(Or: I Need To Start Making Outlines)
(Or: The Part With The Fonts)
(Or: The Part With The Fonts)
(Or: This Is The Part I Said To Skip To If That Wasn't Already Clear And Also It Is Shorter)
(Or: This Is The Part I Said To Skip To If That Wasn't Already Clear And Also It Is Shorter)
Zohran's campaign has been known for its success not only in rallies but on social media. The youth™ love he. He has TikToks, podcast appearances, all the things those tapped in to the world around them love. While Curtis is talking about getting shot for the 12th time and Cuomo is releasing AI-Mpreg-slop, Zohran is known for his memorable, eye-catching, provocative ads and publicity stunts. Events such as his walk across all of Manhatten or his scavenger hunt help not only his social media presence but actually educate people on his policies.
I think an important part of this is his extensive, unique font selection. Is there any truth to this? Probably not, or at least it's not as important as I want it to be. I am far from a graphic designer, but I've had an interest in typography for a few years. I could not possibly tell you why, but I can't help but find fonts neat. Take the fonts this site uses. The titles and headlines are in Source Sans 3, while the text is in Source Serif 4. These are both fully open source fonts managed by Adobe, meaning that I can use them and they're very readable. The standard suite of free fonts people use for these things (Arial and Times New Roman) are equally readable, but much less modular due to having fewer options for boldness. I really like them, is what I'm getting to.
I have a few other fonts I use often, mainly AC Soft Ice-Cream by Aka-Acid, which I use for my game dev projects / logos, and STFU by Jack Bloom, which I own for no real reason but will keep trying to find uses for. For me, typography is a chance to either make plain text truly eye catching or more pleasant to read for lengthy paragraphs. I've spent far too much time messing around in Google Fonts despite having genuinely no reason to do so.
(From Left to Right, Top Row to Second) The Campaign Logos for the Curtis, Zohran, Trump, Cuomo, Harris, and RFK Jr. Campinas
Just looking at Zohran's logo should make his teams brilliant use of typography apparent. It pops instantly: it's the only one of these where the text isn't either in Blue or White (with a blue background. It's the only one with a handwritten-like font and a serif logo as well. It just pops. It's great. Good stuff. Meanwhile Trump's logo looks like he through it together in pain in a minute and Cuomo's looks like it for an insurance company.
The various fonts used on Zohran's website and used in his campaign were designed by Matthew Hinders-Anderson. He designed ten fantastic fonts, and they're all exactly what you would picture on a poster: bold, legible, attention grabbing. They're fantastic. Frankly I wish I could use them myself. Alas, I cannot, for while they are free, they are specifically for activist movements, such as 2019's Global Climate Strike or the more recent Free Marvin Guy movement. It's a genuinely great cause, and one that shows the value of community, even when it comes to something people wouldn't usually sort of, like graphic design. It's stuff like this that perfectly encapsulates Zoran's campaign in my opinion, and I hope he wins (I wanted to write an article about him winning, but I decided this would age better in case he doesn't, which does not seem very likely at this point).
I really just wanted to highlight Hinders-Anderson's website. And now I've done that. Not much more to say I guess. Like and subscribe.
Originally Published on November 1st, 2025
Sources
Sources
NPR: NYC Mayor Eric Adams charged with bribery, fraud, foreign donations
NPR: An aide to New York City's mayor gave a reporter a bag of money disguised as chips
NPR: Are immigrants still welcome in Mayor Eric Adams' New York City? We asked New Yorkers
Side note: the Young Republican quoted in this article was recently found to be in a super racist group chat (Source: Politico: ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat)
404Media: Andrew Cuomo Uses AI MPREG Schoolhouse Rock Bill to Attack Mamdani, Is Out of Ideas
Images
Images
The Campaign Logos for the Curtis, Zohran, Trump, Cuomo, Harris, and RFK Jr. Campinas
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