Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is denouncing “anti-Muslim” attacks he says he’s been subjected to during his campaign for mayor of New York City.
It comes one day after his opponent Andrew Cuomo and WABC radio host Sid Rosenberg mocked Mamdani’s relative lack of experience with a 9/11 reference.
Mamdani accuses mayoral opponents of “racist, baseless attacks”
Mamdani spoke Friday outside the Islamic Cultural Center in the Bronx. He said he’s been on the receiving end of “racist, baseless attacks” from Cuomo, Mayor Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa, among others.
“Push polls that ask New Yorkers questions like whether they support invented proposals to make halal food mandatory or political cartoons that represent my candidacy as an airplane hurtling towards the World Trade Center,” Mamdani said.
He was especially critical of Cuomo’s radio show comments.
“Any given morning, there’s a crisis, and people’s lives are at stake. God forbid another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Cuomo said Thursday.
“Yeah, I could. He’d be cheering,” Rosenberg said.
“Growing up in the shadow of 9/11, I have known what it means to live with an undercurrent of suspicion in this city. I will always remember the disdain that I faced, the way that my name could immediately become Muhammad, and how I could return to my city only to be asked in a double-mirrored room at the airport if I had any plan on attacking it,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani got emotional at times during the press conference, particularly while speaking about his late aunt who he says stopped taking the subway after 9/11 because she didn’t feel safe in her hijab.
Cuomo accuses Mamdani of stoking antisemitism
When asked about the comments at an unrelated press conference Thursday, Cuomo threw blame on Rosenberg.
“The host said whatever the host said. All right, that’s the host. Go talk to the host about that. I said, I said about 9/11, that’s another problem. Referring to what I have said repeatedly, which is, I have a problem with the fact that Zohran pals around with Hassan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11,” he said.
On Friday, Cuomo continued to fire back at Mamdani, referencing his divisive position on Israel. Mamdani has said he would not “recognize any state’s right to exist with a system of hierarchy on the basis of race or religion.”
“Today, you have Jewish people who are afraid to wear a yarmulke because of the fears of antisemitism that he stoked,” Cuomo said.
He added, “One thousand rabbis signed a letter saying he’s endangering the Jewish community. I’ve never heard of 1,000 rabbis signing a letter … He is not the victim, he is the offender.”
A recent Fox News poll showed Cuomo with a slight edge over Mamdani among Jewish New Yorkers, 42% to 38%. Sliwa had 13% of the vote.
The same poll had Mamdani with the lead overall at 52%, followed by Cuomo at 28% and Sliwa at 14%.