Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist New York City mayoral candidate, responded on Sunday to criticism of his relationship with controversial Imam Siraj Wahhaj from his opponents in the mayoral race. Mamdani accused critics of targeting him because of his Muslim faith.
Mamdani strikes back
“The same imam met with Mayor Bloomberg, met with Mayor De Blasio, campaigned alongside Eric Adams, and the only time it became an issue of national attention was when I met with him,” Mamdani told reporters.
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“That’s because of the fact of my faith and because I’m on the precipice of winning this election,” he added as he shifted his criticism to his opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“Andrew Cuomo joins a list of those who would cheer threats to blow up my car, those who would call me a jihadist – Laura Loomer, Elon Musk, the vice president and he would rather seek to smear my plans to support queer New Yorkers across the five boroughs than speak about his own, and that’s because he has none,” Mamdani said.
Background on controversy
Cuomo criticized Mamdani after the candidate posted a picture of himself with the imam on social media. Mamdani wrote in the post that the imam was “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders.”
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New York was among the first states to legalize same-sex marriage in 2011 after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Marriage Equality Act into law.
Wahhaj, who endorsed Mamdani, has expressed opposition to homosexuality and is an alleged “unindicted coconspirator” in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, according to The New York Times. However, he was never formally charged in the case, and some prosecutors have accused the list of coconspirators in the attack as too broad.
Cuomo’s criticism
Cuomo mainly focused his attack on past remarks by Wahhaj on homosexuality.
“For Zohran to think he should be mayor of New York, the capital of acceptance and tolerance and diversity, the city and the state where gay rights movement was birthed, the place that made history in passing same-sex marriage, the disconnect is so disturbing,” Cuomo remarked on Saturday.
Both Cuomo and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa have argued that Mamdani’s ties to Wahhaj should disqualify him from the race.
