Zohran Mamdani: An admirable calm in the storm of racism surrounding him
Photo courtesy of Karamccurdy/Wikimedia Commons
Mamdani has performed gracefully despite facing vicious racism in his campaign for mayor.
Throughout the course of his campaign and after his win, current mayor-elect of New York City Zohran Mamdani has captured the attention of people far beyond the city's borders. His personable attitude and willingness to stand up to not only Trump, but also the antiquated elites of the Democratic party is very appealing for progressive voters. Nonetheless, he has faced problems outside of the usual campaign trajectory for a candidate. Due to his Indian and Ugandan heritage and Muslim faith, Mamdani has faced extreme racism during his campaign.
During the height of the 2025 race, many right-wing politicians commented on Mamdani’s Muslim and African heritage. Currently unemployed far-right political activist Laura Loomer stated shortly after Mamdani’s win, “Now that Mamdani has been elected, the influencer budget has been deployed to convince people online that Sharia Law is actually a good thing. You’ll be seeing a lot more posts on X about how amazing Sharia Law is.” Her implication that Mamdani supports Sharia law is not unique among Republicans.
What it lacks in uniqueness, it makes up for in total inaccuracy. Mamdani is a progressive individual who supports feminism and LGBTQ+ rights. One look at his wife, stylish and independent political artist Rama Duwaji, is enough to prove that Mamdani does not support Sharia law. The only reason she felt the need to make this statement is because Mamdani is Muslim. The equivalent to this would be as if someone claimed that Loomer must support the Ku Klux Klan because of her identity as a white person from the southern United States. Although in contrast, asserting that Loomer supports the Ku Klux Klan is not a very outlandish statement, considering Loomer has, as reported by Daily Dot, self-identified as a white nationalist and stated her support for a white ethnostate.
However, it is not just conspiracy theorists perpetuating the stereotype of Mamdani as a violent extremist, others are doing it as well. Florida congressman Randy Fine has stated, according to CAIR-NY, that “Mamdani is little more than a Muslim terrorist.” That inclusion of “little more than” seems to be the only thing protecting Fine from a libel suit. Representative Andy Ogles from Tennessee captioned an image of Uganda— Mamdani’s country of birth—with, “This is what New York will look like after he's destroyed it. DEPORT HIM NOW!” It is interesting how Ogles calls for deportation, despite Mamdani’s status as a naturalized citizen who has lived in the U.S. for most of his life.
In perhaps the most disgusting example of racism towards Mamdani, the tragedy of 9/11 has been levied against him. In 2001, Mamdani was a nine-year-old living in New York City; he was undoubtedly also a victim of the fear and chaos of the city. But, as he stated on a conservative-leaning radio show, Mamdani’s former opponent Andrew Cuomo has a different idea.
When the host said, “Can you imagine him [Mamdani] in the seat during another 9/11? He'd be cheering,” Cuomo’s response was to chuckle and agree, stating that “That's another problem.” The deeper and more repugnant aspect of Cuomo’s response, besides the racism, was his flippant attitude about the tragedy that he was claiming he was better equipped to protect the city from. It is truly sad to see that Cuomo’s racism towards Mamdani so completely overshadowed any care he might have had for the victims of 9/11 and for the victims of the fear that was instilled in the city.
Clearly hate towards Mamdani has reached a fever pitch. A specific example of this is the prevalence of the term “Mamdanistan,” which is what some are now calling New York City. The word is a racist mix of Mamdani’s surname and the Urdu and Persian suffix “-stan,” meaning land. Zionist outlet Yeshiva World News published an article with the headline, “MAMDANISTAN: Pro-Terrorist Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani Wins Tight Election for New York City Mayor.” Included in the article is a picture of Mamdani mid-sentence, clearly selected to appear as if Mamdani is yelling. This photo choice and fear mongering rhetoric (calling him “pro-terrorist") is reminiscent of the islamophobic messaging early in the mayoral race.
Since this article, in a satirical Facebook post, Muslim woman Lubna Shah posted a picture of a toddler Mamdani praying with his father, captioned “Welcome to Mamdanistan. I hear that in the Caliphate of New York, Zohran has decided to introduce Arabic numerals in public schools. End. of. The. world.” Her joke pokes fun at the islamophobes and racists who deliberately twist innocent Muslims, such as a toddler praying with his father, into something sinister.
Despite the racism he faced during his campaign, Mamdani remained a kind and composed figure during the election cycle, and remained that way even when his victory was secured. While Mamdani’s composure is admirable, it is sobering to consider that if Mamdani had responded to even one of these racist insults with any kind of fire, it would have only confirmed, in their eyes, what his racist opposers were saying about him.
Mamdani, and for that matter, every Muslim in America, should be able to fight back against harmful insults, and should be able to run for and win office without being accused of being a terrorist and wishing death on American people.