National media has been captivated by the mayoral campaign of New York State assembly member Zohran Mamdani, heralded as part of a new wing of progressive politicians during the second Trump administration. Particular attention has been paid to his social media presence. This makes sense to Mussab Ali, 28. “Politicians are the OG influencers,” Ali, the youngest candidate in Jersey City, New Jersey’s mayoral race, told Teen Vogue.
Across the Hudson River from New York City, Ali has been described as Zohran Mamdani's twin flame: a progressive Muslim running against a disgraced former governor — in Ali’s case, Jim McGreevey — and churning out campaign memes on Instagram and TikTok.
In 2017, when he was 20 years old, Ali was elected to Jersey City’s Board of Education, becoming the school board president three years later. Now at 28, equipped with organizing and nonprofit experience, he’s running on a platform of affordable housing, fast and free buses, and putting a stop to corrupt practices, including pay-to-play money in local politics.
Also like Mamdani’s campaign, Ali has seen support from progressive politicians across the country. Minnesota congressional Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) spoke at an Ali for Mayor event in September and was vocal about supporting candidates like Ali to amass local political power in the midst of a Republican-majority Congress and Trump presidency.
“Local leadership matters more than ever. I came here because Mussab is fighting and because what happens here matters everywhere in this country," Omar, who has endorsed Ali, told a crowd of about 100 people. Ali’s other endorsements include Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), Run for Something Action Fund, CAIR Action, and several other groups.
In the first installment of Teen Vogue’s Challengers series, Ali tells us how he got into politics and his progressive vision for Jersey City.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Mussab Ali: One was Trump's remarks about Jersey City. Trump has one quote about Jersey City, about the thousands of people celebrating on our rooftops. [Editor's note: At a 2015 rally, Trump said Jersey City residents celebrated after the World Trade Center came down on September 11, 2001.]
And the second part was, I looked at politics locally, and I said, “There's no one who represents my generation, no one who represents my background. There's no one who represents my values.” I thought, It's really important to have a seat at the table.
I remember telling people, look, in politics, especially in education, we'll talk to teachers, we'll talk to parents, we'll talk to taxpayers, but no one is talking to students. They are the forgotten stakeholders of education. I thought it was really important to highlight that voice, to make sure that we were represented.
MA: Right when we got here, in September 2000, the first few years were a little tough… With 9/11 happening as soon as I came here, my father was fired from his job. My mom had people who avoided her because of the way that she dressed (she wore the hijab).
But I think what's fascinating about Jersey City is, in so many ways, you get to be whoever you want to be because everyone is different. You never feel like an outsider because everyone's an outsider.
Right now, [41%] of the city is foreign-born… The majority of people that you're interacting with are either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. So you never really feel like, Oh, because I come from a certain background, I'm different, or my voice doesn't matter as much, and I think that uniqueness is what's allowed me to embrace my voice.
MA: I think of Jersey City as this model of inclusive urbanism. It's a place where sidewalks belong to everybody. It's a place where families of all incomes can live. It's a place where kids can walk to school safely. It's a place where businesses can thrive. I see this as a place where everyone feels welcomed. If you're from here, you feel like you're benefiting from what's happening here. If you want to move here, you feel like you can afford to be here.
MA: In some ways, it is kind of ironic, right? Like a mile away from New York City, there's a former, disgraced governor and a young immigrant progressive Muslim elected official, and we have the same sort of track that we're running toward.
And again, Cuomo is appealing to more conservative voters and taking MAGA money. McGreevey is appealing to conservative voters and taking MAGA money.
MA: It's not just the voters who exist. It's the voters we want to exist. How do we get a whole new base of voters to be energized about this [election]? I think the way you do that is you have to reach them where they are. Speaking politics [with] no translation. Talk to them in a way that they understand what you're talking about.
I've been in law school, where you can talk in very large words just to prove a point that you're intelligent. But I think that when you're talking about politics, it's not about using large words and semantics. It's about saying, How can someone understand? What does that do for them? Having them understand your story. We [our campaign] have a lot of things on the internet that are going viral because I think people see how simple it is.
We're not talking about very complicated issues. We're saying, look, I want to build a bus system that's fast and free, and this is how we're going to pay for it. I want to fight against ICE. I want to take on corruption and be very particular about it, and this is how we're going to do it.
MA: I came out about this issue back in 2023, and I remember people saying, “You're not going to have a political career. You're on the wrong side of history, you're done, you're finished…” There's no point in my being in politics if I don't have the capacity to speak my mind, if I have to hide who I really am.
People think about their mayor as the representative of their worldview, and I think the people of Jersey City overwhelmingly support the people of Palestine and what's happening [to Palestinians] in this conflict. It behooves me to say I will take a stance on behalf of the people of Jersey City and represent those values.
MA: The hardest part of the campaign is getting people to believe in something bigger. So many times we have been told, especially as young people, especially people of different backgrounds, that we can’t do things, that there are certain jobs [in elected office] that are not meant for us. I think particularly in Jersey City, surprisingly, this is a common feeling. I remember when I was first announcing my campaign last year, and people were saying to me, “Why are you running for a white man’s job?” This is where I give a lot of credit to Zohran and him winning the [Democratic primary] election. I think it opened up the eyes of a lot of people to say, “You know what? It is possible. It doesn't have to be impossible.”
