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Last November, Edison Podcast Metrics captured the central role podcasts played in connecting with voters as part of the 2024 Presidential election. Both major party candidates utilized immensely popular podcasts such as Call Her Daddy, This Past Weekend with Theo Von, and The Joe Rogan Experience to reach and engage with potential voters. Yesterday’s high-profile elections in New York City and New Jersey show that candidates are now using podcasts more than ever to connect with potential supporters.
Our team has scoured the internet to find as many podcast episodes as we could that featured appearances by the two top candidates in NYC’s Mayoral race, Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, and the top two candidates for Governor of New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli and Mikie Sherrill. One thing that surprised and impressed us was the sheer number of podcast appearances each candidate made. From January to October 2025, we found 18 podcast appearances for Andrew Cuomo, 31 for Zohran Mamdani, 16 for Jack Ciattarelli, and 18 for Mikie Sherrill. By comparison, Kamala Harris appeared on eight individual podcasts from July to November of 2024, and Donald Trump appeared on 20.
Candidates are investing significant time and effort into booking podcast interviews, and they are reaching an impressive number of listeners nationally. Both of last night’s winners, Zohran Mamdani and Mikie Sherrill appeared on podcasts with significantly higher U.S. weekly podcast audiences 18+ than their competitors. Considering the counts listed above, Edison Podcast Metrics calculates that the podcast titles Zohran Mamdani appeared on reached approximately 12.5 million podcast consumers 18+ in an average week. Cuomo, on the other hand, was a guest on shows with a much smaller combined weekly podcast audience size, reaching 1.2 million weekly U.S. podcast listeners in an average week.
Reach estimates for the NJ Governor’s race follow a similar pattern, with Mikie Sherrill beating out her Republican counterpart at the polls and over the ear waves. Podcasts that featured appearances by Sherrill reach an estimated 4.1 million weekly podcast listeners compared to 972,000 for the shows featuring Ciattarelli. It’s important to note that these estimates are on a national level and measure weekly reach by show, not individual episodes. While not all listeners had a chance to vote in New York City or New Jersey, both examples illustrate how podcasting is becoming an increasingly important and popular megaphone in U.S. elections.
Mamdani and Sherrill achieved decisive wins Tuesday night, including blowout margins among younger voters. Larger podcast audiences do not necessarily mean more votes, but data from Edison Podcast Metrics illustrates the increasingly important role podcasts are playing in the outreach strategy of political campaigns.
