Zohran Mamdani would be the first Muslim mayor of New York City if he wins in November. Some on the right are already freaking out.Michael Nigro/Sipa/AP
It didn’t take long for conservatives to lose their minds after Zohran Mamdani’s apparent upset over Andrew Cuomo in the Tuesday night Democratic primary in the New York City mayoral race.
Why? He’s a 33-year-old democratic socialist who has promised free buses and free child care, and to freeze the rent. But the fact that seems to most trigger some on the right is that he is Muslim, and would be the first Muslim ever elected the city’s mayor if he wins in November.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Donald Trump Jr., Laura Loomer, and Charlie Kirk were among the right-wingers who fired off Islamophobic smears about Mamdani and Muslim New Yorkers to their millions of followers after Cuomo’s surprising concession. The posts come days after reports that Mamdani has faced threats and attacks prompting an investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.
Stefanik, who has teased a potential run for governor of New York, called Mamdani “antisemitic, jihadist, Communist” in a post on her personal account on X, which has 1 million followers. (Mamdani has denied allegations of antisemitism and is not a Communist or jihadist, which refers to a Muslim extremist who supports terrorism.) Addressing her post to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.), who did not endorse a candidate in the race, Stefanik wrote: “You own this dangerous insanity and are incapable of defeating it.”
Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and informal adviser to Trump who has described herself as a “proud Islamophobe,” fired off a torrent of baseless allegations about Mamdani to her 1.7 million followers on X. “There will be another 9/11 in NYC and [Mamdani] will be to blame,” Loomer wrote in one post. “New Yorkers forgot all about the victims of 9/11 killed by Muslims. Now a Muslim Communist will be the mayor of New York City. Get out while you can,” she wrote in another. “He is literally supported by terrorists,” Loomer baselessly claimed in a different post. “NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0” (The 9/11 attackers were members of the Islamic extremist terror group Al-Qaeda.)
“If the Muslim Brotherhood would have been designated as a terroist [sic] org, [Mamdani] could have been prevented from running for office,” Loomer wrote. “Get ready for Muslims to start committing jihad all over New York.”
Loomer, Kirk, founder of the right-wing activist group Turning Point USA, and America PAC, founded by Elon Musk, also targeted Mamdani for his prior stances calling to defund the police. Like Loomer, Kirk—who has more than 5 million followers on X—showed the depths of his bigotry: “24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11,” he wrote. “Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.”
Spokespeople for Mamdani, the mayor’s office, Hochul’s office, the NYPD, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the posts.
Disgraced ex-Rep. George Santos also called Mamdani a “jihadist sympathizer” in a post urging New Yorkers to reelect Mayor Eric Adams—a Democrat who will be running as an Independent—in November. Santos will have no chance to vote himself, given that he reports to prison a month from Wednesday to serve an 87-month sentence for wire fraud and identity theft.
Trump Jr. shared a post from the anarchist writer known as Michael Malice, who wrote: “I’m old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”
“New York City has fallen,” Trump Jr. added.
Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor, did not directly attack or reference Mamdani’s faith, but called him “extreme” and “radical.”
Ed Cox, chair of the New York Republican Party, said in a statement that Mamdani’s victory “is the most alarming signal of how far left and out of touch the Democratic Party has become,” adding, “with Mamdani as the Democratic nominee, anti-Semitism is now dangerously close to having official status in City Hall.”
“Thank God we left NYC,” ex-Fox host and right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly chimed in.
Fox News found an ally in Adams Wednesday morning. When Fox and Friends host Lawrence Jones ran through some of Mamdani’s promises and asked, “How can someone vote for this?” Adams replied, “He’s a snake oil salesman.”
Also on Wednesday morning, Adams hosted a press conference denouncing a hate crime attack against a Muslim woman in Queens last week. The mayor did not, however, address the Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani.
Earlier this year, Mamdani told my colleague Serena Lin that as a Muslim and a socialist, he is “no stranger to bad PR.” Indeed, he has been consistently accused of antisemitism, despite the fact that he has rejected those accusations, pledged to stand up for Jewish New Yorkers, and has said he believes “that Israel has a right to exist as a state with equal rights.” Mamdani also alleged earlier this month that a mailer proposed by a super-PAC supporting Cuomo’s campaign was Islamophobic for altering the appearance of his beard to look longer and darker than it is.
A spokesperson for CAIR Action, the advocacy arm of the nonprofit Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement provided to Mother Jones that the attacks “represent the same Islamophobic playbook from the same bigots we see almost any time a Muslim runs for public office. New Yorkers, who were more interested in picking a candidate who they felt would best serve their city, delivered a monumental win over such hateful tactics.”
The New York Times reported Tuesday night that Trump’s allies are preparing to turn Mamdani into a national target, particularly leading up to the midterm elections next year. If the comments that some of them unleashed Tuesday night are any indication, expect the GOP to continue to show that there is no bottom.
Update, June 25: This post has been updated with additional comments, including from CAIR Action.
