US Vice President JD Vance mocked New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Saturday after the Democratic Socialist candidate became outraged by recounting how his Muslim aunt stopped using the subway after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Mamdani shared the story as an example of the discrimination and fear Muslim New Yorkers experienced in the years following the terrorist attack.
“My aunt stopped riding the subway after 9/11 because she didn’t feel safe being seen wearing a headscarf,” Mamdani said, adding that fear and humiliation have shaped the experiences of many Muslim New Yorkers in the years since the attacks.
Mamdani previously came under fire from Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, who accused him of extremist sympathies. In a post on X, Vance wrote: “According to Zohran, the real victim of 9/11 was his aunt who looked (allegedly) sick.”
Elon Musk reacts
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to Vance by saying, “Wow.”
Earlier, Musk was seen engaging in a tweet by The New York Post where Mamdani was seen campaigning alongside a Brooklyn imam who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and has been linked to other extremist activities in the US, including calls for “jihad” in New York.
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The Democratic mayoral candidate was photographed smiling and standing hand-in-hand with Imam Siraj Wahhaj at his Bedford-Stuyvesant mosque, a picture Mamdani shared on X the day after the first mayoral debate.
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In a speech outside a mosque in the Bronx, Mamdani criticized his opponents for promoting “hate,” noting that their Islamophobia affects not only him as the Democratic candidate, but also the nearly one million Muslims living in New York.
The speech followed controversial remarks by his top opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who drew laughs after radio host Sid Rosenberg said Mamdani “would be cheering” if there were another 9/11 attack. Cuomo agreed: “That’s another problem.”
What am I Zohran Mamdani?
Since his surprise victory in the Democratic primary in June, New Yorkers have grown accustomed to seeing his bearded, smiling face on television and on badges proudly displayed by his young supporters.
The 34-year-old frontrunner was born in Uganda to a family of Indian origin and has lived in the United States since the age of seven, becoming a naturalized citizen in 2018, according to an AFP report.
He is the son of acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, known for Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay!, and Mahmood Mamdani, a renowned professor and African scholar, prompting some critics to label him a “nepo baby”.
He followed a path familiar to many from wealthy, liberal backgrounds, attending the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and later Bowdoin College in Maine, an institution known for its progressive leanings.
In 2015, Mamdani, who goes by the stage name “Young Cardamom”, entered the rap scene, drawing inspiration from Das Racist, a two-member Indian-origin hip-hop group known for playfully weaving South Asian references into their music.
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Mamdani’s foray into the competitive world of professional music was short-lived, and the artist-turned-politician later described himself as a “second rate rapper”.
He was elected in 2018 as a legislator from Queens, a melting pot of largely poor and immigrant communities, representing the area in the New York State Assembly.
What did Mamdani promise?
Mamdani focused his campaign on making New York affordable to the vast majority of its 8.5 million residents who are not wealthy.
His platform includes expanding rent control, providing free day care and bus services, and establishing urban grocery stores.
Mamdani, a vocal defender of the Palestinian cause, has described Israel as an “apartheid regime” and called the war in Gaza “genocide,” remarks that drew criticism from parts of the Jewish community.
A football and cricket fan, Mamdani is married to American illustrator Ram Duwaji.
(With input from agencies)
