WASHINGTON (TNND) — A growing dispute over who belongs at the 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero has spilled into national Democratic politics, as families of victims push back against the presence of New York City’s mayor amid broader tensions over the party’s rising Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates.

On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, families of victims have collected more than 100,000 signatures asking the mayor to stay away from Friday’s memorial ceremony. Some 9/11 families also held a press conference outside New York City Hall “yesterday,” saying the mayor’s presence at the memorial would be disrespectful and that they do not want him there, citing his rhetoric and associations. The mayor still plans to attend the memorial service this Friday.

Former press secretary to First Lady Jill Biden Michael LaRosa told The National News Desk he signed the petition asking the mayor not to attend Friday’s ceremony, describing the 9/11 commemoration as uniquely solemn and saying the mayor’s presence would become a distraction.

“If he’s going to be a lightning rod, then I did not think he I do not think he should attend,” LaRosa said.

He said the families’ request should carry weight and suggested that attending anyway would shift focus away from the victims.

“The families have asked him not to come home,” LaRosa said. “And to me, showing up is just trying to make a point. Does it amplify those voices? Just trying to make it about him? He’s just trying to make it about him. And that’s not what this is about.”

LaRosa, discussing the broader political moment, said he does not view DSA candidates as part of the Democratic Party’s mainstream.

“I don’t consider them to be Democrats in the traditional sense,” LaRosa said. “And I’m sort of on the Rahm Emanuel drama train on this. I, I kind of, you know, exclude them from what I consider to be the mainstream Democratic Party.”

LaRosa said policy disagreements are not his central concern, pointing instead to rhetoric he described as dangerous.

“What makes many of them unfit and what makes Democrats very worried about them and being branded as part of them, is some of the rhetoric that comes from them,” he said. “It’s super troubling. It reeks of antisemitism. It reeks of hatred. And we just can’t be a party that platforms hate. It’s literally that simple.”

The discussion also focused on Michigan’s U.S. Senate race and Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed. LaRosa criticized what he called El-Sayed’s rhetoric, statements and associations. LaRosa said El-Sayed is struggling to hold together a coalition he said is necessary to win Michigan, including Black voters, Jewish voters and union workers. He also criticized El-Sayed’s ties to online streamer Hasan Piker.

“What concerned me about El-Sayed was that he was too weak, too cowardly to even stand up to some streamer that he calls him, which he is,” LaRosa said. “He’s a nobody in my opinion; I didn’t even know who he was.”

LaRosa argued that while DSA candidates and figures such as Mamdani draw attention, they represent a small slice of the party compared with Democrats running in competitive congressional districts.

“This is still a very small, tiny fraction of our party,” LaRosa said. He added that the most consequential races are in “the top 25 contests, the toss-up seats in the House,” and said, “24 out of 25 of those Democrats are capitalists. They’re pro-business. They’re normal.”