The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Los Angeles-area branch sent a letter to San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow demanding a public apology and retraction of his recent reposts connecting the election of New York City’s first Muslim mayor to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But in his public statements since the demand, Dow has offered no contrition and instead continues to maintain he simply shared the posts because he disagrees with the politics of Zohran Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist.
He has offered no explanation of how the politics of Mamdani — who was 9 years old at the time — are connected to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The council, known as CAIR, is one of the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country. According to its statement, the posts “falsely equated the election of Mamdani to 9/11, reinforcing the harmful stereotype that Muslims are inherently tied to terrorism simply because of their faith.”
The group noted that one of the posts shared by Dow was from Amy Mekelburg (@AmyMek), the founder of the Rise Align Ignite Reclaim Foundation, known as RAIR, which has been labeled by both the council and the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-Islamic hate organization that regularly publishes anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow shared an X post linking the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s first Muslim mayor to the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,606 people at the World Trade Center.
“Dow’s decision to repost content that weaponizes bigotry and baselessly ties an elected Muslim official to terrorism is appalling and reflects the deeply rooted dehumanization and fearmongering in this country that American Muslims have had to endure for decades,” CAIR-LA executive director Hussam Ayloush said in the statement. “As a district attorney, Dow has a professional and moral responsibility to remain impartial and equitable — yet his actions call into question his ability to engage in fair prosecution of, or respect the due process rights for, Muslim defendants in SLO County.”
The group called on Dow to immediately “retract his bigoted, dangerous social media posts” and demanded an investigation into his conduct “to ensure the safety and fair treatment of Muslims under his jurisdiction.”
CAIR also separately requested Dow meet with the organization as well as local Muslim community members to “gain a deeper understanding of the American Muslim experience and the harmful impacts of rising Islamophobia nationwide.”
SLO County DA shares posts linking New York’s first Muslim mayor to 9/11 attacks
On Wednesday, when The Tribune first asked what connection Mamdani had to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that would motivate him to share such posts, Dow replied with a screenshot of his biography featuring yellow highlight on the phrase “Retweets are not endorsements. Personal Page.”
When the Tribune asked for further clarification on why Dow reposted those two specific posts and how the public should interpret them if they are not endorsements, Dow responded, “It’s not exactly newsworthy.”
He further clarified that he shared the post because he is a U.S. Army veteran who served more than 33 years and four tours overseas.
SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow speaks at the Veterans Day celebration held at Los Osos Valley Memorial Park, Friday, Nov. 11, 2022.
“I remember like it was yesterday our nation being attacked by Islamic extremists on 9/11/2001,” he said. “I love this country and I do not in any way share the same views as the 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mandami (sic).”
He continued: “I am very sad to see the Big Apple torn apart by electing an un-American socialist who wants to trample on the values and freedoms that millions of Americans have fought and died for.”
The Tribune again asked Dow how Mamdani’s views and his election were connected to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but Dow did not respond.
Dow makes two public statements following CAIR’s apology demand
As of Friday morning, Dow had made two direct public statements since CAIR’s letter.
Neither statement expressed an apology or explanation on how Mamdani was somehow tied to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center that killed 2,606 people in New York City.
The first was to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday evening, which picked up the story that was first reported by The Tribune.
There, he said, “I shared the posts because in my opinion Mamdani is going to destroy New York being a self-proclaimed socialist. I support the Muslim community and have strong ties to our Muslim community in San Luis Obispo County.”
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani celebrates during an election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 4, 2025.
The second was in a Facebook post Friday morning, when he shared and further commented on a post he made after a “Meet your Muslim neighbor” event in 2017.
“Contrary to what The Tribune would like you to believe, I am still the same person today as I was when I made the below post in 2017 after attending our local ‘Meet your Muslim neighbor’ event,” he said, adding that he and his wife are blessed to have “dear friends in our community who are Muslim.”
He said his Christian faith teaches him to respect and have genuine love for people regardless of whether they share the same faith.
“We are blessed with many Jewish friends as well and we thank God for these rich friendships,” Dow said.
He said there will always be people who disagree with his political views and faith but that he will not conceal who he is in order to earn support.
“I am far from perfect,” he continued. “When I have said or done something I later think I should not have said or done, I am willing to admit it and take responsibility for it.”
He thanked Dr. Rushdi Cader, a San Luis Obispo physician and friend, for giving him the benefit of the doubt because of their personal relationship.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow shared an X post linking the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s first Muslim mayor to the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,606 people at the World Trade Center.
“To others who do not know me, please know that my great concern about mayor-elect Mandami (sic) is that he is a self-described socialist and I believe that his policies will be disastrous for NYC and the country as a whole.”
He closed his statement with a quote from the Bible in which Jesus said loving God and your neighbors are the two most important commandments.
“I have love in my heart for the Muslim people, Jewish people, Christian people, Hindu people … and every other human being whether they have a religious faith or not,” Dow said.
District Attorney Dan Dow speaks at a commemorative rally on Sept. 11, 2020, in Atascadero. The rally was titled “Unify America: We are Stronger Together.”
As of Friday morning, the reposts were still on Dow’s X profile.
In another post on Friday morning, he also shared passages from the book “So many lions, so few Daniels,” with the caption “In a land full of lions, be like Daniel.”
“My Grandpa Graydon told me repeatedly when I was a child, ‘Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have purpose firm and dare to make it known,’ Now I understand what he meant,” Dow wrote in the post.
SLO County leaders react to Dow’s reposts
San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson told The Tribune that Dow “is quite simply a Christian nationalist who occupies a powerful public office that requires decency and discipline. These posts are yet more examples that he has neither.”
“With his typical sanctimony, he tries to hide his blatant racism by cloaking it in his military service — a true affront to the noble men and women of our armed forces,” Gibson said.
San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart told the Los Angeles Times that Dow’s elected office should be objective and fair.
“For someone in his position to express racism is unacceptable,” she told the Times.
The Tribune independently reached out to each county supervisor and Mamdani’s campaign regarding Dow’s reposts but did not receive an immediate response.