Former President Barack Obama may have lost his chance to secretly run the White House for a fourth time after Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election—but evidence suggests he’s already working to install a new political protégé in one of the most powerful municipal offices in America.
Obama is reportedly so excited about this candidate he’s grooming him to not only be the new face of the Democratic party, but also his replacement.
Following New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s primary victory, Obama personally reached out.
“In a lengthy call in June, Mr. Obama congratulated Mr. Mamdani, offered him advice about governing and discussed the importance of giving people hope in a dark time, according to people with knowledge of the conversation,” a source told the New York Times.
That call appears to be just one part of a broader, coordinated effort. Multiple former Obama insiders—people who helped shape Barack’s own rise to power—are now involved in building Mamdani’s profile.
Obama’s former speechwriter Jon Favreau and former senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer have also reportedly been “cozying up” to Mamdani. Even David Axelrod, Obama’s former chief campaign strategist, made an in-person trip to the candidate’s headquarters.
“What I found when I went over to that office was a familiar spirit that I hadn’t seen in a while of just determined, upbeat idealism,” Axelrod told the NYT. “You may not agree with every answer he’s giving, or every idea he has, but he’s certainly asking the right questions, which is how do we make the country work for working people?”
Axelrod’s praise sidesteps a key point: Mamdani isn’t a centrist Democrat. He openly identifies as a “democratic socialist” and champions state-run programs—including government-controlled grocery stores—and policies to “seize the means of production.”
In Obama’s case, the media successfully cast him as a moderate while he pursued aggressive progressive policies. With Mamdani, the ideology is declared upfront. The pairing offers Obama a chance to back a candidate who would have no need to mask his far-left agenda.
According to the Times, some in Obama’s orbit “view Mamdani as a promising figure in a Democratic Party with a pressing need for fresh blood.” That “fresh blood” appears to be distinctly aligned with the radical, progressive wing of the party.
The move has not gone unnoticed inside Democratic ranks. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) appeared visibly uncomfortable when CNBC pressed him about Mamdani’s platform.
Jeffries repeatedly dodged questions about the candidate’s policies before finally snapping:
“Why are we even having this conversation about someone who is not even the mayor yet?”
WATCH: ‘Leader’ Hakeem Jeffries (D-NYC) has a toddler temper tantrum yelling at CNBC anchor @andrewrsorkin for daring to ask him about Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s policies
“I’m trying to understand why you would spend a significant amount of time asking me about [Mamdani]” pic.twitter.com/3uGCW9JWkg
— NRCC (@NRCC) August 14, 2025
The exchange suggests Mamdani’s rapid rise is creating friction among Democrats who may have hoped to be Obama’s next political investment. If that’s the case, this isn’t just a friendly phone call and a few endorsements—it’s the deliberate construction of a political successor, engineered by the same network that carried Obama to the White House. The question isn’t whether Obama is backing Zohran Mamdani; the question is how much of Mamdani’s future administration would be his own, and how much would be Obama’s fourth term in disguise.