Democratic mayoral nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani delivered an tackle on Islamophobia within the Bronx. Firday, Oct. 24, 2025.
Photograph by Ethan Stark-Miller
The 2025 NYC Mayor’s race rivalry between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo grew much more private on Friday.
Throughout Mamdani’s tackle exterior of the Muslim Cultural Heart of the Bronx, he known as out his chief rival Cuomo, Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, and present Mayor Eric Adams for what he described as making Islamophobic remarks a part of the closing messages of their campaigns and time in workplace.
The previous governor additional asserted that Mamdani has offended and scared Jewish folks throughout the town by actions like his hesitation to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a time period which the Democratic nominee now discourages utilizing. Mamdani has been roundly criticized for his assist of the Palestine trigger following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assaults on Israel, and for his refusal to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state.
Sliwa’s camp additionally took exception to Mamdani’s statements, alleging that he was “weaponizing accusations of Islamophobia for political gain.”
A spokesperson for Adams has but to reply to requests for remark.
Mamdani: ‘No amount of redirection is ever enough’
Mamdani, a democratic socialist Queens lawmaker, mentioned his adversaries’ feedback had been emblematic of the persistent Islamophobia he has skilled all through his year-long mayoral marketing campaign.
“Every day, super PAC ads imply that I am a terrorist, or mock the way I eat,” Mamdani mentioned. “Push polls that ask New Yorkers questions like whether they support invented proposals to make halal food mandatory, or political cartoons that represent my candidacy as an airplane hurtling towards the World Trade Center.”
Mamdani mentioned that hate has endured regardless of his try to not be seen because the “Muslim candidate,” however moderately because the one who would symbolize all New Yorkers.
“I thought that if I could build a campaign of universality, I could define myself as the leader I aspire to be, one representing every New Yorker,” he mentioned. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.”
However, he continued, “I do not want to use this moment to speak to them any further. I want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of New York City.”
Mamdani spoke to the discrimination he personally confronted rising up within the aftermath of 9/11,” resembling being known as by the identify “Mohammed” or ending up in an airport interrogation room for questioning about whether or not he deliberate on attacking the town. He additionally spoke to the experiences of different Muslims he knew who suffered much more excessive types of hate.
“I was never pressured to be an informant like a classmate of mine, I’ve never had the word ‘terrorist’ spray-painted on my garage as one of my staff had to endure, my Mosque has never been set on fire,” he mentioned. “To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity. But indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does.”
Cuomo says he ‘didn’t take’ terror comment ‘seriously’
With regards to Mamdani’s rivals, he pointed to Cuomo on Thursday, showing to agree with conservative discuss radio host Sid Rosenberg’s remark that he would cheer one other terror assault like 9/11 — a characterization the previous governor disputes.
Particularly, Cuomo was commenting on how Mamdani wouldn’t be able to deal with a disaster and mentioned: “God forbid, another 9/11 – can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” To which Rosenberg responded, “he’d be cheering,” prompting Cuomo to chuckle and say, “that’s another thing.”
Mamdani additionally chided Adams for seeming to color him as an Islamic extremist who seeks to “burn churches” and Sliwa for claiming that he helps “global jihad.”
Cuomo’s motion particularly drew backlash from outstanding Democrats, together with Gov. Kathy Hochul in addition to U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx).
The previous governor defended his response to Rosenberg throughout his Friday occasion by saying he “didn’t take it seriously.”
“I can see where, if you took it seriously, it was offensive,” he mentioned. “I didn’t take it seriously at the time, period.”
Cuomo additionally rejected the idea of Mamdani’s speech, contending that the Queens lawmaker is the one dividing folks, not himself. He urged that Mamdani is asking all New Yorkers Islamophobic.
“What he is doing is the oldest, dirtiest political trick in the book: Divide people,” Cuomo mentioned. “It’s the cheapest trick … divide New Yorkers as a political tactic. It won’t work. New Yorkers won’t let you divide them.”
When requested by New York News whether or not he believed his previous statements on Palestine had contributed to the marketing campaign assaults he condemned Friday, the Mamdani marketing campaign referred us again to his assertion at this time about being subjected to discrimination as a Muslim New Yorker.
As for Sliwa, marketing campaign spokesperson Daniel Kurzyna charged that Mamdani was making an attempt to smear his rivals as bigots merely to realize a political edge.
“Curtis Sliwa has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslim New Yorkers for 50 years, working to protect their communities from violence and hate, and he will continue to do so as mayor,” Kurzyna mentioned. “To weaponize accusations of Islamophobia for political gain is wrong and desperate, and New Yorkers deserve a campaign based on facts and solutions, not smears.”
