Zohran Mamdani Handles Islamaphobia with Grace and Grit
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 31 Oct, 2025

New York's likely next mayor thrives amid bigotry from both ends of the political spectrum.

It’s rare to find something that Democratic, Republican, and Independent politicians can all agree on.  But in the case of Tuesday’s upcoming New York Mayoral election, I think we’ve found a commonality:

Islamophobia against front-runner Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani has been mocked for eating with his hands

Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, is the son of a Bombay-born Muslim and a Punjabi Hindu.

But while he was raised in an interfaith tradition that includes both religions, it is the former that has become a defining part of his candidacy in the eyes many of his supporters as well as his detractors.

If the polls are accurate Mamdani is poised to become the highest-ranking Muslim elected official in the history of the United States. 

But as much as the success of Mamdani's campaign is highlighting how views toward Islam in this country have evolved for the better, his presence on a national stage has also served as a reminder of how far we have yet to go.

‘Global Jihad’

In an act of unmitigated bigotry, the Trump Administration recently posted this image to the official White House website

The day after Mamdani’s shocking upset victory to become the Democratic nominee, New York’s junior Senator Kristen Gillibrand made remarks distancing her from him.  It was a fairly unorthodox move in and of itself given that elected officials will typically endorse their own party’s nominees. 

But what made Gillibrand’s remarks particularly notable were her language: Mamdani, she said, had made "references to global jihad."

Jihad, meaning ‘holy war,’ is an Arabic word that most Americans first learned in reference to the motives of the September 11 hijackers.

It's a word that’s come to be associated with terrorism in the name of Islam.  And, of course, if there is one place in this country that the word might stir up strong emotions, it is New York City, the home of the attacks. 

Gillibrand released a statement the day after her remarks explaining that she misspoke and that those were not words that Mamdani had ever used.  She even called him to apologize. But it was not the last time this would happen in either party.

Just last Tuesday during the final Mayoral debate of the cycle, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa would again lob the accusation against Mamdani, claiming that the Muslim candidate had made statements “In support of global Jihad.”

Mamdani was quick to set the record straight by forcefully stating that he had “never, not once, spoken in support of global jihad” and that the accusation was being lobbed only because “I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election.”

And then just two days after the debate while sitting for an interview, the Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, who is arguably Mamdani's biggest competition, was making the case that Mamdani is unprepared for the job, posing a scenario in which another 9/11 happens on his watch.

“He'd be cheering,” responded interviewer Sid Rosenberg. 

Cuomo laughed and replied “That’s another problem.”

Obama ‘08

This is not the first time we've seen something like this. One notable instance began with Barack Obama's candidacy for President in 2008.

There is some irony in that many of the things that Obama was falsely accused of being are core components of Mamdani's own identity: An African-born Muslim socialist. 

While there was a nearly endless stream of Islamophobia directed at him from the Republican party, including accusations from Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin that he “pals around with terrorists” or Fox News’s assertion that a fist bump with his wife was actually a “terrorist fist jab,” it also came from within his own party, namely the campaign of primary opponent Hillary Clinton.

When asked if Obama was a Muslim during a prime time television interview Clinton said that there was no basis for the assertion before adding “at least as far as I know.”

Obama’s campaign would also accuse Clinton’s of circulating a photo of the candidate in a turban, decrying the move as "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election."

As we speak, that imagine of Obama is currently being displayed by the official White House website in an effort to mock the former president — as if there is something wrong with it. 

The Clinton campaign denied their involvement in spreading the image, but even now, 17 years later, Clinton’s top adviser from that race Mark Penn has described Zohran’s candidacy as “a 911 moment for the Democratic Party.”

‘No More’

The Islamophobia against Mamdani has become so pervasive that the candidate himself felt compelled to speak out against it at length. 

Flanked by a group of fellow Muslims including several women in head scarves, Mamdani got emotional.  He described how members of his community — some of whom had experienced the worst of post-9/11 bigotry — told him that they would not judge him for keeping his religion to himself on the campaign trail. 

And yet he admitted that however well-meaning they were, he may have erred in listening to them.  In an effort to steer clear of identity politics he sought to be a candidate who happens to be Muslim rather than embracing the label of "Muslim candidate."

“No more,” Mamdani declared.  Moving forward he will abstain from anything that sends the message to young Muslims that “they too should remain in the shadows.”

Mamdani shared a number of anecdotes about what it means to be a Muslim in the United States post-9/11.

He talked about his own experience being detained and questioned by the TSA.  He mentioned a friend’s home being spray-painted.  And he told the story of an aunt who stopped taking the New York metro because her hijab made her a target of harassment.

The response was all too predictable.  While the remarks did receive praise, many used them as an excuse to call Mamdani a liar because the aunt he cited was technically his father’s first cousin.

The speech was arguably a tightrope walk.  Mamdani sought to avoid claiming that the city he loves is one of bigotry and intolerance.  But at the same time he argued that New York can very well become those things when even well-meaning people tolerate intolerance. 

That, he argued, can be as harmful as perpetrating it. 

Fair Game

I’d like to note that the issue here is not simply one of attacks being leveled against a candidate, but rather, the specific nature of them.

Cuomo has tried to make the case that Mamdani is inexperienced and a radical leftist.  He has also pointed to more personal aspects of Mamdani’s life, making claims that he is taking advantage of public housing by living in a rent-controlled apartment. 

Effective or not these attacks should be seen as fair game.

Mamdani has also relentlessly mocked Cuomo — in ads, speeches, and even to his face on the debate stage —  in ways that go beyond his policies: Like  the 13 allegations against the former Governor that led to him resigning in disgrace.  Mamdani’s attacks on Cuomo’s character, included telling him, “ What you don’t have in integrity, you can never make up for in experience.”

Yes, our politics have gotten overly divisive and, arguably, too personal. But that’s a conversation for another time. A central question surrounding Mamdani's candidacy is whether he would be subject to many of the same attacks against him were he not Muslim. 

Attacks that have included a political cartoon that depicts Mamdani as a plane flying into the Twin Tower and incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams stating that he was endorsing Cuomo in part because of "Islamic extremists" and people who were "burning churches."

Racism v Islamaphobia

There is also a fine line between what constitutes Islamophobia against Zohran and just good old-fashioned racism that we might still see if Zohran identified only as a Hindu. Both of which are of course unacceptable.

While not necessarily sanctioned by a particular candidate, Mamdani’s method of food consumption has continued to come up during the campaign with racist detractors criticizing the way that he eats rice with his hands. 

Online trolls and podcast hosts will blast it as unhygienic as if Mamdani isn’t running for mayor of a city whose residents would quickly run you out of town for daring to eat pizza with a fork and knife.

There have also been countless calls for Mamdani’s deportation, some of which have come directly from the President of the United States himself.

Some of the language against him is more subtle, like Trump referring to him as “my little communist” or Mark Cuban, who has a frequent history of supporting democratic causes and politicians calling him a “little Donald Trump.”

Whether intentional or not, the word “little” seeks to diminish him.

Does it matter if these attacks are racist or Islamaphobic? Maybe it doesn't. But an argument could be made that diagnosing the problem might help with prescribing the right treatment.

Election Day

Unless nearly every poll is gravely mistaken, Zohran Mamdani will become New York City’s Mayor-elect on Tuesday night.

He already has his work cut out for him with an ambitious policy agenda which seeks to tackle the affordability of rent, public transportation, and groceries.

Yet, while an important endeavor, nearly any moves he makes toward that end — freezing rent, making public buses free, and implementing a city-run grocery store — could theoretically just be undone by his successor. 

Changing the culture around religious tolerance, however?

That would be a real legacy.