NEW YORK, Aug 31 — While Mayor Zohran Mamdani was learning how to build a fire for s’mores at a family camping programme across town, a group of men who looked suspiciously like him were busy competing to be New York’s best Mamdani impersonator.
About 200 people gathered near Washington Square Park on Sunday for the look-alike contest, hosted by Sonder, an app designed for Gen-Zers to connect and form friendships, US media reported today.
Nine contestants channelled the mayor through carefully chosen suits, facial hair, hairstyles, ties and, in the winning case, a New York Knicks jersey.
The man who pulled it off best was Amadeo Fusca, a 40-year-old Manhattan comedian and actor who beat about 10 other contestants to take home a US$100 (RM421) prize.
Fusca’s winning formula was a smirk, Mamdani-like haircut and facial hair, topped off with a Knicks jersey tucked underneath a suit jacket — an homage to the mayor’s outfit after the home team’s NBA Finals win.
The resemblance was hardly accidental, as Fusca has racked up millions of views on social media by impersonating Mamdani.
“It was kind of the perfect storm of people constantly hitting me up,” Fusca told The New York Post after his win.
Fusca said friends began bombarding him with pictures of Mamdani while he was campaigning for mayor, repeatedly pointing out how much the two looked alike.
He eventually embraced the comparison so completely that he asked his barber to give him the mayor’s haircut.
“I went to the barber that morning and said, ‘Here, cut my hair, and make me look like this now.’ And like, I have to look like this all the time now!” he said.
What started as a joke has since become part of Fusca’s professional life, with his Mamdani parody videos attracting enough attention for him to land bookings at variety shows.
At Knicks watch parties, the impersonation has also given Fusca an unexpected level of celebrity.
“People were reacting like crazy, beyond what I even thought,” he said.
The other contestants were not exactly phoning it in either, with several sporting the mayor’s signature suit-and-tie look, while others added bike helmets, silver rings and facial hair to complete the effect.
One contestant went shirtless but wore an apron, a reference to Mamdani’s rap career under the stage name Mr. Cardamom.
Then came the crucial test — pizza.
Each contestant was asked to name his favourite pizza, with the winner ultimately decided by which man could draw the loudest applause from the crowd.
The contest had initially been planned inside Washington Square Park, but police asked the group to leave because organisers had not obtained a permit.
The contestants and spectators simply moved just outside the park and carried on with the competition.
Meanwhile, the real Mamdani had spent Friday much further north in Manhattan at Inwood Hill Park, where he stopped by an NYC Parks family camping programme.
“We made s’mores, talked about s’mores, and learned how to build a fire (for s’mores),” Mamdani said in a Facebook post.
The mayor also pointed followers towards the Urban Park Rangers’ free outdoor programmes, which include the family camping sessions.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who took office in January, has built a large following among younger New Yorkers and on social media, while making support for the city’s struggling working class a central part of his mayoral agenda.
For Fusca, however, being mistaken for the mayor appears to be working out rather nicely.
The Washington Square Park contest is the latest in a series of look-alike competitions held at the Greenwich Village park, including one in June for Knicks star Jalen Brunson.
It was also not the first Mamdani look-alike contest, with a similar competition held in Brooklyn in 2025 while Mamdani was campaigning for mayor.
