Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the New York City mayoral race, shared an emotional anecdote in a campaign speech, alleging that his aunt stopped riding the subway after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks because she felt unsafe wearing her hijab. However, subsequent fact-checking revealed that the relative he referenced was not his aunt but a distant cousin on his father’s side, whom he referred to as “aunt.”
Critics pointed out that his only documented aunt lived abroad at the time and did not wear a hijab, which raised questions about the accuracy of his account. Mamdani defended his remarks by framing the backlash as a distraction, accusing his political opponents of Islamophobia and insisting the larger issue was the prejudice faced by Muslim New Yorkers.
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