A North Texas lawmaker called a photograph of New York City’s mayor hosting a Ramadan dinner “stomach churning” and “truly repulsive,” prompting backlash online.
U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill, a Flower Mound Republican, shared a photo this week that showed Mayor Zohran Mamdani sitting on a carpet with others at City Hall. The caption read: “Imagine telling someone on 9/12 that this is how NY City Hall will look in 2026.”
Gill was not alone in his anti-Muslim rhetoric. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, linked Mamdani to the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City. He posted an image on X of the mayor next to the burning twin towers with the caption “the enemy is inside the gates.”
Mamdani, who is New York City’s first Muslim mayor, has been the target of anti-Muslim attacks throughout Ramadan, considered the holiest month in Islam.
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Speaking to city workers Thursday at an iftar dinner, the meal to break the daily Ramadan fast, Mamdani said the comments sought to “dehumanize us” and reflect the broader prejudice American and New York Muslims face every day.
“When I hear such hatred and disdain unchecked in its rancor, I feel a loneliness and isolation that I know many of you have felt as well,” Mamdani said. “Who here has been told, you do not belong in New York City? Who here has been told, go back where you came from?”
Gill’s office did not immediately respond to an email or phone call Friday from The Dallas Morning News.
Elected in 2024, the congressman is a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and has called for a 25-year moratorium on immigrations from Somalia. Last year, he filed a resolution to impeach a Washington, D.C.-based federal judge who ordered the administration to return a plane carrying passengers who were temporarily ordered not to be deported.
Gill is married to Danielle D’Souza, an author and media personality and the daughter of conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza. He founded the DC Enquirer, an ultra-conservative news site, and worked with his father-in-law on the film 2000 Mules that featured allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
On X, many criticized Gill’s comments about Mamdani.
“What is wrong with you? The amount of hate coming from your page is disgusting,” one person wrote. “People are tired of this hate. That’s why this admin has lost popularity.”
“Brandon gets upset when people sit on the floor,” another wrote.
Far-right political activist Laura Loomer agreed with Gill. “It’s disgusting,” she wrote.
Anti-Islamic posts on social media have skyrocketed since the United States and Israel launched a war in Iran last month, according to the nonpartisan Center for the Study of Organized Hate. A mass shooting in Austin earlier this month, in which a gunman wearing clothing referencing Iran and Islam killed three people and wounded more than a dozen, further intensified the online discourse.
The war and mass shooting have sent “Islamophobic content targeting Muslim Americans to new extremes,” the Washington, D.C.-based organization wrote in a report this week.
Republican lawmakers in Texas and across the country have for months escalated their attacks on Muslim Americans as a divisive midterm election looms.
In ads this year, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has said he is fighting “radical Islam,” and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said “preventing Sharia law” in Texas will be among his major priorities for the next legislative session. Sharia is the moral code laid out in Muslim scriptures.
Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into a planned development in Kaufman County, calling the project a “potentially unlawful ‘sharia city.’ ” He has filed two lawsuits related to a planned Muslim-centric development in Collin and Hunt counties with ties to the East Plano Islamic Center.
In November, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy and civil rights organization, a foreign terrorist group and said members were prohibited from purchasing land in Texas. CAIR, which called the proclamation a “publicity stunt,” has sued.