The 2025 NYC Mayor’s race rivalry between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo grew even more personal on Friday.
Following a spate of recent controversial actions by Mamdani’s mayoral election rivals that he and others have condemned as Islamophobic, the Muslim Democratic nominee delivered an emotional, 10-minute address on Friday in which he described his own experience with anti-Muslim discrimination and vowed to address the issue head-on going forward.
During Mamdani’s address outside of the Muslim Cultural Center of the Bronx, he called out his chief rival Cuomo, Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, and current Mayor Eric Adams for what he described as making Islamophobic remarks part of the closing messages of their campaigns and time in office.
Cuomo responded in his own fiery Friday news conference with Muslim leaders in Jackson Heights, Queens, where he charged that Mamdani is “an actor playing the victim,” but in reality, “he’s the offender.”
The former governor further asserted that Mamdani has offended and scared Jewish people across the city through actions like his hesitation to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a term which the Democratic nominee now discourages using. Mamdani has been roundly criticized for his support of the Palestine cause following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel, and for his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Sliwa’s camp also took exception to Mamdani’s statements, alleging that he was “weaponizing accusations of Islamophobia for political gain.”
A spokesperson for Adams has yet to respond to requests for comment.
Mamdani: ‘No amount of redirection is ever enough’
Mamdani, a democratic socialist Queens lawmaker, said his adversaries’ comments were emblematic of the persistent Islamophobia he has experienced throughout his year-long mayoral campaign.
“Every day, super PAC ads imply that I am a terrorist, or mock the way I eat,” Mamdani said. “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 said that hate has persisted despite his attempt not to be seen as the “Muslim candidate,” but rather as the one who would represent 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 said. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.”
But, 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 faced growing up in the aftermath of 9/11,” such as being called by the name “Mohammed” or ending up in an airport interrogation room for questioning about whether he planned on attacking the city. He also spoke to the experiences of other Muslims he knew who suffered even more extreme forms 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 said. “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 remark ‘seriously’
When it comes to Mamdani’s rivals, he pointed to Cuomo on Thursday, appearing to agree with conservative talk radio host Sid Rosenberg’s comment that he would cheer another terror attack like 9/11 — a characterization the former governor disputes.
Specifically, Cuomo was commenting on how Mamdani would not be ready to handle a crisis and said: “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 also chided Adams for seeming to paint him as an Islamic extremist who seeks to “burn churches” and Sliwa for claiming that he supports “global jihad.”
Cuomo’s action in particular drew backlash from prominent Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul as well as U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx).
The former governor defended his response to Rosenberg during his Friday event by saying he “didn’t take it seriously.”
“I can see where, if you took it seriously, it was offensive,” he said. “I didn’t take it seriously at the time, period.”
Cuomo also rejected the concept of Mamdani’s speech, contending that the Queens lawmaker is the one dividing people, not himself. He suggested that Mamdani is calling all New Yorkers Islamophobic.
“What he is doing is the oldest, dirtiest political trick in the book: Divide people,” Cuomo said. “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 asked by amNewYork whether he believed his past statements on Palestine had contributed to the campaign attacks he condemned Friday, the Mamdani campaign referred us back to his statement today about being subjected to discrimination as a Muslim New Yorker.
As for Sliwa, campaign spokesperson Daniel Kurzyna charged that Mamdani was attempting to smear his rivals as bigots merely to gain 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 said. “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.”
