Illustration: Margalit Cutler
City comptroller Brad Lander never doubted that this past Tuesday would swing his way. “I mean, you don’t take anything for granted,” he says, “but I just thought, with that level of turnout, there was no way it wasn’t going to be a good night.” He was right. Lander had been campaigning for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani since the two cross-endorsed each other in June’s Democratic primary, and in the days leading up to this week’s election, there were few corners of the city where Lander didn’t canvas. Somehow, he still found time to eat really, really well: Between Get Out the Vote (GOTV) events, poll visits, many interviews at 30 Rock, and one walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at dawn, he snuck in a dinner at Lucali and bagels from Shelsky’s, relishing in the chaos of election season. “Honestly,” he says, “I thrive on it.”
Saturday, November 1
I have an early interview at MSNBC this morning, so after my usual cup of drip coffee with oat creamer, I hustle out the door to Shelsky’s. In my opinion, there are two great bagels and lox in New York: Russ & Daughters and Shelsky’s. Shelsky’s is three blocks from my house, so that’s going to push it over the edge. I got asked so many times over the course of the mayoral election what my bagel order was, and, when I’m alone, it’s an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese, lox, and a slice of tomato. But my dad goal is going half and half with my daughter, Rosa, on both the lox bagel and an everything bagel with egg and cheese, which is what we do today. Truthfully, I might count the fact that my 22-year-old daughter is still willing to share food with me as my greatest accomplishment of all.
I eat the bagel in the car on the way to the interview, and then I have a bit of time before a visit to Zohran’s campaign office, so I stop by Schnipper’s for some soup. I love a good soup, and Schnipper’s is one of my favorite places. Curry crab and corn bisque is one of their soups of the day, and it’s great. All city officials have to travel with a security detail, and my officer, Syd, is sometimes skeptical of my culinary enthusiasms — but even he approved.
I stop by the campaign office and head out with some staffers to John Jay College, a nearby poll site. For the most part, everyone coming to a poll site already knows who they’re voting for; most people want to talk about the ballot propositions.
From there, I go to a Get Out the Vote block party and present a proclamation for Darryl Smith, who’s retiring after a great career in city government. They’re making hot dogs and hamburgers on a Weber kettle grill with charcoal — never a gas grill — so I have a hot dog with mustard.
Afterward, I go see the new Bruce Springsteen biopic with Rosa and my wife, Meg. I have a Coke and we share way too much popcorn.
Back home, I stay up far too late watching game seven of what has been an incredible World Series (though I am sad for the Blue Jays). I snack on some sushi that Rosa’s boyfriend, Aditya, ordered — avocado and sun-dried tomato. Not my usual, but it’s super. My wife does Halloween up like crazy — giant spiders, all kinds of themed foods. It’s mostly gone by now, but I also sneak half of a leftover pumpkin blondie.
Sunday, November 2
I’m up early for the marathon. I grab some bagels for the people coming over to watch at our house, but I don’t actually manage to eat any because I want to stop by the P.S. 124 bake sale around the corner.
P.S. 124 is one of the schools along the marathon route, and it’s the only school in my neighborhood that has enrolled a lot of asylum seekers and immigrant children, since there’s a shelter next door. I love that school. I grab a blueberry muffin, which I can’t say is anything special, but it’s more about civic spirit.
Over on 13th and Fourth, I watch the marathoners. I’m hoping to catch a glimpse of my press secretary, Chloe, who’s running, but the app crashes. Still: It’s incredible. I work my way downtown, throwing out some Hellos and Have you voted?s.
Over on Fifth Avenue, I meet Aditya, Rosa, and her two friends for lunch at Masalawala. This is one of my favorite restaurants in the city right now. We order big and get my favorite, the Biyebarir fish fry with spicy mustard, along with Kosha mangsho, chingri malai, cholar dal, luchi, ghee bhat, mango pickle, and jhuri alu bhaja. It’s all presented on one big metal-rimmed plate. For dessert, we get yogurt ice cream and rasmalai. Spectacular.
After that, I head to the 3 p.m. Zohran canvas launch at Grand Army Plaza. I’m mostly there to hype up the troops as everyone gets their turf. At this point, it’s less about persuading anyone to vote for Zohran and more about going to voters who have said they’re either voting for him or think they are likely to and making sure they actually do it. Collectively, we end up knocking on 200,000 doors this day.
Then I stop by the Israelis for Peace rally in Union Square. These have happened basically every week since October 7, and I try to stop by at least once a month. It’s kind of the one place that I have felt comfortable crying out about both the genocide in Gaza and, until recently, the desperation for the Israeli hostages to come home; the one place where it felt like Palestinian lives and Israeli lives were valued, and we’re angry about the people that don’t value them.
I have to dash to Bushwick afterward to make it to a Working Families rally. Roberta’s is nearby, so my political director and I sit outside and share an original pie, and we each have a Peroni. The rally is fun, everyone’s excited — it’s really more of a party, honestly.
Then I have to go back to Manhattan for another MSNBC interview, this time with Jen Psaki. It’s my second trip to 30 Rock in 48 hours. I’ve never been on Jen’s show before. She’s in D.C., so they stick me in one of those tiny booths.
It’s pretty late by the time I get home, but I do grab a mini-Krackel from our bowl of leftover Halloween candy. Those in particular always make me think of my grandma — she always had some around.
Monday, November 3
I’m walking over the Brooklyn Bridge at 6 a.m. with the Zohran crew, so I only have time for coffee.
Fortunately, Josh Benjamin, the Jewish outreach coordinator for Zohran’s campaign, has made pumpkin-cardamom muffins. “Cardamom” was Zohran’s rapper name back in the day, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Honestly, they’re delicious. We muster across the bridge, and it’s incredible to watch the crowd swell.
Then I jump on the train. I have to hustle from City Hall over to the Upper East Side for a presser with Governor Kathy Hochul. We’re doing a canvas, mostly to talk about the affordable-housing ballot props. At this point, Zohran still hadn’t come out with a public position on those, and we’re getting a lot of questions about it from the press. I’m like, “Well, how about this? Zohran will reveal his votes on the ballot propositions when Chuck Schumer reveals who he’s voting for.” Kathy almost hit me.
I have to hustle back downtown for a series of meetings on what’s coming next. I can’t say too much about those! I shuffle between WeWorks and take one meeting at Le Pain Quotidien near City Hall. They have a new tarragon-chicken salad, so I try that out, along with a sparkling lemonade.
I’m appearing on The Close, so I have to head over to the Bloomberg offices. They have a sprawling spread of fruit and chips, but all I have is a seltzer.
Back home, I do a quick GOTV Zoom with Ben Chou, who’s running for City Council against Vickie Paladino, before grabbing a drink with a friend at a bar near my house called Commonwealth.
I walk over to Lucali after that. Aditya is a pizza aficionado, and he stood on line earlier today to grab us a 9 p.m. reservation. We split the spicy fusilli, a half-cheese and half-mushroom pie, and a calzone. It’s all fantastic.
Tuesday, November 4
When I’m on the ballot, I’m typically at a poll site by 6 a.m. Today, though, I figure I have time to go to the gym, so I stop by a 6:30 a.m. class at Jukebox.
Back home, I have what might be my most controversial diet entry: sparkling iced coffee. If I ever go into business, I think this would be my personal product. You can make it one of two ways: The best way is to “brew” it. You get cold-brew bags or pods and steep it overnight in a pitcher with seltzer. You could also just mix cold-brew concentrate with seltzer. Either way, it’s a revelation.
I also have a smoothie — bananas, strawberries, blueberries, yogurt — before going out to vote at my local poll site. I vote just as New Yorkers did on Props 1 through 6, though I do go back and forth on that last one until the very last minute. In some ways, it comes down to the fact of having this massive, two-page, double-sided ballot in front of me and thinking about what that would be if it also had presidential and congressional candidates on it, with some ranked-choice and some not. Too much.
I have some things to discuss with Yuh-Line Niou, a former assemblymember and friend, so we have lunch at Pi Bakerie on Cedar Street. She knows the owner, and I ask him what I should order. He suggests their traditional beef stew, and Yuh-Line gets the lemon-orzo soup, which I also have a bite of. I top it off with a freddo espresso.
After some more canvassing, I go back up to 30 Rock for an appearance on NBC Now. Being in the room with Steve Kornacki while he does his Steve Kornacki thing and breaks down the election is very, very cool.
I realize I’m going to be very hungry at Zohran’s election party if I don’t eat anything, so I pop by Ray’s and grab two slices of cheese pizza before heading over.
I arrive at around 8:45 p.m. and spend a lot of time doing interviews. I can’t even tell who I’m talking to half the time, there are so many people. At some point, my daughter puts a drink in my hand. There’s NY1 and Mehdi Hasan and PIX11 and so many European journalists.
It’s pretty early that NY1 calls the race for Zohran, and there’s just enormous enthusiasm. The room starts filling up — so many people that I’ve been working with for a long time, my two kids, some staff, a lot of people who were Zohran supporters from the beginning but were grateful to me for cross-endorsing him. We got shirts made that say “Good Fucking Riddance” in the style of Zohran’s campaign logo. It’s a lovely energy.
I get home a little after midnight and end the night at the taco truck on my block, Tacos El Brother — one chicken, one shredded pork. I settle in at my kitchen table and read the results from other races across the country.
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