The closing keynote of Colorado State University’s Democracy Summit brought together students, faculty and community members for a panel with Andrew Bard Epstein, discussing political communication, organizing and civic engagement.
Epstein served as chief of staff for the New York State Assembly before serving as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s communications director, chief spokesperson and later as creative director.
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Kjerstin Thorson opened the discussion by reflecting on the conversations and events that took place throughout the event.
“In the past three days, we have explored what it means to engage with democracy,” Thorson said. “Through research, through policy, through activism and through the thoughtful and sometimes disagreeing exchange of ideas, we’ve learned, questioned and imagined new ways of participating in our communities and in our nation.”
Following Thorson’s remarks, Epstein kicked off his discussion by explaining Mamdani’s campaign messaging strategy and how it connected voters who often feel disconnected from politics.
Epstein said Mamdani’s campaign entered the New York City mayoral race at a time when many voters were frustrated with political leadership and the rising costs of living. Additionally, he said many voters saw a disconnect between what they were seeing and experiencing versus political action.
“The biggest challenge we faced, though, on running a campaign on the cost of living crisis, on the affordability crisis, was not that we were inventing a crisis in people’s lives,” Epstein said. “But I think the problem was that people had learned from hard-won experience over many years to disconnect politics, democracy, government from the cost of living, essentially.”
Epstein explained that Mamdani’s campaign attempted to reconnect voters with politics by centering its message around affordability and emphasizing policies that could directly impact the everyday lives of New Yorkers.
“A lot of the campaigns we ran against were kind of laundry lists of policy things on every which issue you could possibly think of,” Epstein said. “We wanted to boil it down and run on exactly the thing that we felt was the biggest problem in people’s lives in New York City.”
In addition to policy strategy, Epstein emphasized the importance of organizing and volunteer engagement in the campaign. Though social media and outreach led to widespread recognition, in-person canvassing engaged local communities across the city.
“I think if we had just been making viral videos, Zohran would kind of be just another creator or influencer who pops up in your phone, and then you kind of move on, but then, suddenly somebody’s knocking on your door in real life about the guy you just saw on the video asking you to be part of this, to become an agent of politics yourself, to kind of take ownership of it,” Epstein said. “It kind of leapt out of the screen, so it had a symbolic relationship between volunteers and what we were doing digitally, and I think it created a sense of love and connection in the city, truthfully, that stood in stark contrast to the man who entered the race March of 2025.”
When it came down to connecting with younger voters and historically underrepresented communities, Epstein said Mamdani’s public stance on Israel’s genocide in Gaza played a major role in engaging younger generations.
“He had been vocal in public on this issue for a couple years, and I think that allowed people to see, like, if this person is willing to stand up and say these things, maybe he means it about the economic agenda, too,” Epstein said. “It was almost like, for young voters, you couldn’t even get to the next step before they felt he was credible on the biggest moral issue of the day, so I think that was a huge part of it.”
Epstein concluded the discussion by encouraging students to remain engaged in politics despite the growing skepticism and uncertainty in political institutions around the nation, using the Mamdani campaign as an example of what’s possible.
“We won the Democratic primary by 13 points with more voters than had voted in any New York City election in 50 years,” Epstein said. “Nothing is inevitable, you know, which also means things can get worse, but a lot is in our hands, and I think this campaign should prove that.”
Following the discussion, CSU students described what it meant to hear from Epstein and the critical role these conversations play in civic engagement.
“It was incredible to speak with Andrew, especially as a student, being able to see this kind of historical campaign take place in New York City and to have that transported here to CSU,” said democracy fellow and moderator Ethan McGuinness. “It’s kind of remarkable to see … how such a historic campaign really took off and the critical lessons that Gen Z voters can learn from it as far as participating in democracy and being that agent for change.”
Following the event, Epstein shared more of what lessons were learned along the campaign trail and on the inside.
“I’m really happy to share the inside story, how we won, what it means,” Epstein said. “I want to make sure people understand how we won, that it wasn’t simply saying the word affordability a bunch, which I think some Democrats have maybe taken that lesson from our campaign. … We were uncompromising in our values around Palestine, around trans rights, around immigrant rights, and to show that all of those things can and should go together is, I think, an important message to send.”
Lastly, Epstein said Americans should take part in local elections and civic engagement now more than ever.
“We can do this all over the country, and people should,” Epstein said. “Especially in local elections, I think the situation right now, especially in the country, where people are so fed up with the political establishment in both parties, is a really important moment to seize, and I hope people get involved.”
Reach Laila Shekarchian at news@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
