FOR WEEKS, ABID MAHDI HAS DEDICATED HIS FREE TIME TO CANVASS FOR DEMOCRATIC MAYORAL NOMINEE ZOHRAN MAMDANI.

EVEN ON HIS 16TH BIRTHDAY.

AND WHILE HE’S TOO YOUNG TO VOTE, HE'S CONSIDERED A CAMPAIGN ‘FIELD LEAD’ AND STARTED THE GROUP “TEENS FOR ZOHRAN.”

IN A CAMPAIGN THAT HAS GALVANIZED YOUNG PEOPLE ACROSS NEW YORK CITY, DRAWN TO MANDANI’S PROMISES OF RENT STABILIZATION AND HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE , THE GROUP IS GOING DOOR-TO-DOOR TO SECURE ANY VOTES THEY CAN.

TODAY, ABID IS PAIRED WITH ANOTHER 16-YEAR-OLD, WAHI RAZA.

SO FAR, THEY'VE GOTTEN MIXED RESULTS.

UPSOUND (English) “We're just here asking people if they're planning on voting for Zohran Mamdani. No, not at all. I think he's a big, big mistake."

FOR A PAIR OF 16-YEAR-OLDS, THEY TAKE REJECTION PRETTY WELL.

SOUNDBITE (English) Abid Mahdi, 16-year-old Mamdani supporter:

"That's the whole thing about canvassing. We like to say that it should be 80-20, 80% of them talking and 20% of you talking, right? What we're doing is trying to have or fight for a better city by telling our neighbors about a candidate who seems promising, who inspires us to spend hours to canvas for him."

SOUNDBITE (English) Wahi Raza, 16-year-old Mamdani supporter:

"At the end of the day, Republican, Democrat, independent, unaffiliated, we're all working towards the same goal. We just have disagreements on it. We all wanna be comfortable. We all want to be safe. We want to able to afford this city."

AFTER A LONG NIGHT OF CANVASSING, THE GROUP MET UP ONE LAST TIME TO DEBRIEF AND HAVE SOME BIRTHDAY CAKE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Abid Mahdi, 16-year-old Mamdani supporter:

"A Muslim democratic socialist who's running for mayor, who won the primary, got the democratic nominee. I'm canvassing for him on my birthday and also celebrating it with my comrades, my canvassers and my co-leads. I literally can't imagine to be here on my 16th birthday.”