The lawmakers asserted that "smears from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle" cannot be allowed to continue.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) holds a microphone and speaks while Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) looks out at the crowd gathered for an April 30, 2024 Passover Seder at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. hosted by Jewish organizations advocating a cease-fire in Gaza and Palestinian liberation.
(Photo: Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Brett Wilkins
Jun 29, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
All four Muslim members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday condemned their colleagues' Islamophobic attacks on Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, which have come not only from Republicans but also from at least two congressional Democrats representing the candidate's home state.
"The vile, anti-Muslim, and racist smears from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle attacking Zohran Mamdani cannot be met with silence," Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), André Carson (D-Ind.), and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) said in a joint statement.
"At a time of increased violence against elected officials, we cannot allow the attacks on Zohran Mamdani to continue."
Mamdani—a democratic socialist who would be the first Muslim mayor of the nation's largest city if he wins November's general election—has come under fire by Republicans including Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who on Thursday formally appealed to U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi to initiate proceedings to denaturalize and deport "little Muhammad."
Earlier this week, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) posted a photo of Mamdani wearing a traditional tunic with the caption, "After 9/11 we said, 'Never Forget.' I think sadly we have forgotten."
As of Friday afternoon, no Democratic member of Congress from New York had explicitly condemned their GOP colleagues' Islamophobic remarks. To the contrary, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) falsely claimed Thursday that Mamdani had made references to "global jihad" and spuriously asserted that "globalize the intifada"—a call for Palestinian liberation and battling injustice—is a call to "kill all the Jews."
Freshman Rep. Lauren Gillen (D-N.Y.) also falsely accused Mamdani of "a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments."
The four Muslim lawmakers said in their statement that "these hateful, Islamophobic, and racist tropes have become so entrenched and normalized in our politics."
"We know these attacks all too well," they added.
Omar and Tlaib have been on the receiving end of Islamophobic attacks by House colleagues and outside death threats for years, stemming in part from Omar's status as refugee and Tlaib's as the only Palestinian American in Congress.
Like Mamdani, both lawmakers have also been targeted from both sides of the aisle for their support for Palestinian liberation, as well as their opposition to Israel's invasion, occupation, colonization and apartheid in Palestine, and the assault and siege of Gaza that are the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case.
Advocacy groups have reported a sharp increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate incidents since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led assault on Israel, a climate reminiscent of the pervasive Islamophobia following the September 11, 2001 attacks. There has also been a surge in antisemitism as Israeli forces obliterate Gaza, although critics have decried the widespread conflation of opposition to Zionism with hatred of Jewish people by groups including the Anti-Defamation League.
"At a time of increased violence against elected officials, we cannot allow the attacks on Zohran Mamdani to continue," the four lawmakers stressed. "They directly contribute to the ongoing dehumanization and violence against Muslim Americans. We unequivocally reject the normalization of anti-Muslim hate and fearmongering and call on elected leaders across our country to speak out."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also issued a statement Friday condemning the "outpouring of disgraceful, dangerous, racist ideology from sitting members of Congress and [Trump] administration officials following Zohran Mamdani's win in the New York mayoral primary."
Jayapal continued:
The constant displays of Islamophobia are an affront to the millions of Muslim Americans and Muslims around the world. One of the most jarring called for the denaturalization and deportation of Mr. Mamdani, an American citizen who just won a massive Democratic primary with more votes than that member, Mr. Ogles, could ever hope to win. This is an insult to voters in New York City who take democracy seriously.
Denaturalization of U.S. citizens is part of the Trump playbook to attack all legal immigration. It is completely outrageous and flies in the face of the laws of this country.
"The hateful language directed at Mr. Mamdani will get someone killed, and we all should be outraged," Jayapal added. "It must end. Every person who cares about democracy, freedom of religion, and the right for all Americans to be treated equally should speak out immediately against these insane and dangerous attacks."
Zohran Mamdani is running to be New York mayor. How his Muslim faith stirred the race.
NEW YORK (RNS) — Mamdani's focus on kitchen table issues has drawn interest across the Muslim spectrum, but his progressive positions on Gaza may alienate voters from other religious communities.
New York Mayor candidate state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani speaks during the New York City Mayoral Candidates Forum at the National Action Network National Convention, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Fiona André and Richa Karmarkar
June 21, 2025
NEW YORK (RNS) — On June 5, at the historic Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York’s mayoral candidates were invited by an interfaith panel of religious leaders to discuss their visions for the city and its religious communities.
Only four candidates of the June 24 Democratic Primary had responded to the invitation — Jim Walden, Michael Blake, Scott Stringer and Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a 33-year-old state legislator and Muslim Indian immigrant whose core campaign issue was making New York a more affordable place to live. (Jim Walden is running as an independent.)
Asked about his plans to tackle religious divisions in the city, Mamdani discussed his own experience facing Islamophobia after 9/11. “It’s a fear that I remember all too well as a young Muslim man growing up in New York City. My aunt, who was a doctor and who wears a hijab, felt like she could not exist in public life anymore,” he said.
Mamdani, who would be New York’s first Muslim mayor, concluded by citing a verse from the New Testament. “We know that there is no room for this, and yet, too often, all we offer are our version of thoughts and prayers. It is time to actually act upon these beliefs, because we know from James 2:14 that ‘faith without works is dead.’”
RELATED: NY mayoral candidates address sanctuary, Trump and religious hatred at interfaith forum
While discreet about his Shia Muslim identity, Mandani has also appealed to New York’s religious communities by opening up about his faith, appearing in churches, synagogues, temples and mosques. It has earned the Democratic Socialist endorsements and sent a charge into the most religiously diverse city in the world.
Ad released by the Cuomo campaign. Courtesy image
But his identity has exacerbated the response to his pro-Palestinian stances that come with his Democratic Socialist Party’s platform. In a city riven by discord over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, he has had to answer questions both about his support for Israel’s right to exist and accusations of antisemitism.
Mamdani has been unapologetic about his Muslim identity since he first ran to become a New York State Assembly member for Queens’ 36th district. Now in his third term, Mamdani has established strong ties with his district’s Muslim community, which spans Astoria and Long Island City.
The son of famed Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, Mamdani was born in Uganda and started school in South Africa before moving to the United States at 7 and becoming a U.S. citizen in 2018. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is an Indian-Ugandan colonial studies professor at Columbia University.
A Shia Muslim, Mamdani follows the Twelver branch’s teachings, one of Shia Islam’s largest movements, whose adherents believe in the spiritual leadership of 12 prominent imams and await the return of Imam al-Mahdi. But Mamdani has appeared at Jummah prayer, Muslims’ congregational Friday prayers, at mosques of every stripe across the five boroughs.
Even non-Muslim candidates have reason to reach out to New York’s Muslim community, which has shown growing political power in recent City Council and State Assembly elections. But the community clearly sees Mamdani as one of their own.
His campaign platform, which includes strong support for rent control, has put him at the top of the polls citywide and naturally endears him to working-class Muslims. “He’s a candidate who is not only Muslim, but we also saw that he is centering everyday issues that everyday New Yorkers experience, like the increased cost of living,” said Mohamed Gula, a national organizing director at Emgage Action, which works to mobilize Muslim voters and has endorsed Mamdani’s campaign.
Combined with his outspokenness on the war in Gaza, Mamdani’s focus on kitchen table issues has drawn interest across the Muslim spectrum, Gula said. “In the immigrant Muslim community, you’ll find that foreign policy is very important as a driving factor for their vote. You can say the Black Muslim community will find that a lot of the domestic issues, like affordability of rent, affordability of food, a good quality of life, are a deciding factor for their vote,” he said.
But Waleed Shaheed, a senior Democratic strategist, said his campaign appeals to more than one immigrant community. “This has definitely not been a campaign about his Muslim identity at all,” said Shaheed, who points out that “issues of cost of living, affordability, rent, and public transportation” appeal to wide swaths of the city.
In campaign videos, he has addressed voters in Urdu, spoken by many South Asian Muslims, and in Spanish. The social media-savvy candidate also used his platform to raise awareness of issues faced by Muslim business owners.
In a January clip, the candidate denounced the long process to obtain permits for street vendors and its consequences on the price of Halal food truck plates. “New York is suffering from a crisis and it’s called Halalflation,” says the candidate in the video, standing across from a Halal food truck. “If I was the mayor, I’d be working with City Council from day one to make Halal eight bucks again.”
Gula said the challenge for Mamdani’s campaign is translating his popularity with Muslims into votes. Some 400,000 New York Muslims are registered to vote, but according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, only 12% of Muslim voters showed up to the polls in the 2021 mayoral election.
“It’s really just a game of turnout at this point. … Because every conversation we’re having with Muslim voters, there hasn’t been a time where someone has said no,” said Gula.
Then there is the highly mobilized opposition. Shaheed said that Mamdani’s denunciation of the Israeli military campaign on Gaza has galvanized anti-war voters “who care about having our values at home align with our values abroad.” But, Mamdani’s repeated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza have irked some, and his reading of the conflict also put him under acute scrutiny.
He has refused to condemn such post-Oct. 7 slogans as “Globalize the Intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” two chants that are denounced by many as calls for Israel’s destruction.
FILE – New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo prepares to board a helicopter after announcing his resignation Aug. 10, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
In a podcast interview for the non-MAGA Republican outlet The Bulwark, Mamdani stressed that while the phrase was interpreted differently by many, he saw it as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”
Representative Dan Goldman, a Jewish Democrat from New York, responded sharply in a statement: “If Mr. Mamdani is unwilling to heed the request of major Jewish organizations to condemn this unquestionably antisemitic phrase, then he is unfit to lead a city with 1.3 million Jews.”
At a June 4 televised debate, Mamdani was asked whether he would travel to Israel if elected mayor, a pilgrimage often made to appeal to New York’s Jewish voters. Mamdani argued that one “need not travel to Israel to stand up for Jewish New Yorkers, and that is what I will be doing as the mayor.”
The campaign of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo denounced the comments as antisemitic. While some polls show Mamdani in first place ahead of Cuomo, a Marist poll released Wednesday (June 18) showed 38% of voters plan to rank Cuomo first in the ranked choice primary, followed by 27% for Mamdani.
Going further, one pro-Cuomo flyer depicted Mamdani with a darker and longer beard next to a message saying he rejected Israel and Jewish rights. Mamdani denounced the image as “blatant Islamophobia,” adding it to a list of other incidents that it claims attacked his religious background. (The Cuomo campaign said the flyer hadn’t been approved for distribution.)
NYC mayorial candidate Zohran Kwame Mamdani is alleging opponent Andrew Cuomo and his campaign used photoshop to alter Mamdani’s facial hair in an ad — a show of “blatant Islamophobia,” according to Mamdani’s campaign page on Facebook. (Photo via Mamdani’s Facebook)
“I think there is definitely a double standard when it comes to that. Our institutions, our political culture, don’t treat Islamophobia the same way it might treat other forms of bigotry,” said Shaheed.
On Thursday, the New York Police Department’s hate crime unit opened an investigation into bomb threats on the candidate’s car.
Some progressive Jewish groups have come out for Mamdani. Sophie Ellman-Golan, director of strategic communications at Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, said she has “never felt as hopeful about an election as she does this one.” Her organization has endorsed both Mamdani and Brad Lander, New York’s comptroller, who have also cross-endorsed each other.
“We need someone who has a bold vision, who genuinely believes in the public good, and will fiercely implement the tools of government to actually improve people’s lives,” said Ellman-Golan, adding that isolating faith-based wedge issues “obscures the fact” that Jewish New Yorkers have the same priorities as any other city residents.
“Jewish New Yorkers are also struggling to afford to stay here,” she said. “Jewish New Yorkers also take public transit. Jewish New Yorkers are also trying to figure out how to find childcare, and are also worried about increased crackdown from the federal government. Just like all other New Yorkers, Jews have an important role to play in this election.”
Bishop Matthew F. Heyd, right at pulpit, leads an interfaith forum with New York City mayoral candidates Scott Stringer, from left, Michael Blake, Jim Walden and Zohran Mamdani, Thursday, June 5, 2025, at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
Meanwhile, Hindus, another faith group that is increasingly politically organized in New York, have shown up in support of Cuomo, sometimes solely based on the fact that he is not Mamdani. “Mamdani is actually a radical Islamist,” said Dinesh Mojumder, a Bangladeshi real estate businessman and founder of the Times Square Durga Puja. “That’s the main point. If they come, then this city will be under Sharia law, term by term.”
The American Hindu Coalition’s New York chapter has planned a canvassing event on June 22 at the Hindu Temple Society of North America, where Cuomo is set to make an appearance.
According to Mojumder and others in the Coalition, Mamdani has not helped his cause with Hindus by referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview, as a “war criminal” and saying he’d bar the prime minister from hosting a rally in Madison Square Garden. Modi has long been excoriated by Muslims for his actions as governor of the Western Indian state of Gurjarat in 2004, when riots fomented by religious extremists killed scores of Muslims.
It’s Mamdani’s inability to recognize that there are two sides to every conflict, said Pankaj Mehta, the founder of Interfaith Human Rights Coalition, that has garnered the opposition of Hindus and Jews to his campaign.
“If the leaders don’t hold a certain standard of civility, how can we expect around the world that people who’ve been educated, indoctrinated, with hate to understand,” he said. “As an interfaith group, we want to see a candidate come and say that they are for all faiths, not selectively.”
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