Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City Mayor, vowed to combat bigotry if he’s elected after supporters of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement spread Islamophobic comments following his primary win.
In an electoral upset, Mamdani, 33, who started his campaign as a little-known assemblyman from Queens, won the Democratic primary for mayor against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Tuesday night.
Right-wing members of Trump’s base spiraled following the win from Mamdani, who is a democratic socialist and has advocated against the Israeli government.
Trump ally Laura Loomer, who is Jewish and has called herself a “proud Islamophobe,” wrote on X Tuesday night, “Muslims destroyed NYC on 9/11 and now a Muslim Communist is about to destroy the entire city for eternity.”
Charlie Kirk, founder of pro-Trump youth group Turning Point USA, wrote on X: “24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.”
Mamdani addressed the antisemitism that New Yorkers and Americans across the country are facing in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and said he would “ root out bigotry across the five boroughs” during an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Wednesday night.
Mamdani mentioned conversations he’s had with Jewish New Yorkers.
“I spoke to a Jewish man in Williamsburg not too many weeks ago who told me about the fact that he now locks the door that he used to keep open for years because of a fear of who may come in,” the mayoral nominee said.
He continued: “I spoke to a friend of mine after October 7th who told me about going to his synagogue for Shabbat services and hearing the door open behind him and turning around with a tremor, going up his back, not knowing who was walking in and what they wished for them.”
Mamdani mentioned his proposal would create an 800 percent increase in funding for hate crime prevention programs, “because ultimately we cannot simply say that antisemitism has no home in this city or no place in this country.
We have to do more than talk about it. We have to tackle it, and that’s what we will do through this funding and through this commitment, we will root out bigotry across the five boroughs.”
