On November 4, 2025, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, having announced his candidacy just over a year earlier in October 2024. The 34-year-old is scheduled to assume office in January 2026 and will be New York City’s youngest mayor since 1892.

Mamdani’s ethnic background is also a first for the city, being a Muslim born in Kampala, to Ugandan writer and academic Mahmood Mamdani and Indian-American filmmaker, Mira Nair.

Having been heavily involved in politics since he was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 (representing Astoria, Queens), he is well-accustomed to all sorts of petty verbal attacks, which, unsurprisingly, have intensified in parallel with his increased popularity.

Even his dumbest critics, however, must now be beginning to realise that they are clutching at straws.

Their projected racist stereotypes are not even in the same ballpark as Mamdani, who champions an open mind and the rights of all minorities including those of the LGBTQ+ community.

He leaves such critics looking malicious, and at best, ridiculous.

Will and Grace actress, Debra Messing, typified the racist approach which backfired. Messing shared several offensive memes and videos on her Instagram account, such as referring to Mamdani as “Osama bin Mamdani” and, according to The Independent: “An Actual Communist Jihadist… A literal Karl Marx-quoting, America-hating jihadist.”

She was far from alone in her unhinged attacks. Far-right activist Laura Loomer posted that “there will be another 9/11 in NYC” under Mamdani, while city councilmember Vickie Paladino called him a “known jihadist terrorist” and calling for his deportation.

Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social that Mamdani was a ‘JEW HATER’, and Elon Musk, of course, also felt compelled to weigh in, given that Mamdani represents everything he despises: a defender of social justice and minority rights.

His attack focussed on the mayoral race, calling the ballots a scam designed to ensure that he would win. His allegation, however, was duly debunked by the Truth or Fake programme on France 24, which proved that there was nothing irregular about the ballots in question.

As Mamdani himself noted, Islamophobia has become a rare point of bipartisan agreement. In a video addressed to Muslim New Yorkers, he pointed out how former governor Andrew Cuomo laughed along when a radio host suggested he would cheer for another 9/11, and how outgoing mayor Eric Adams claimed his followers wanted to “burn churches.”

Mamdani’s campaign of course did not inlcude burning churches. It focussed on inclusivity and making New York affordable for all its citizens, with pledges to create accessible housing, free city bus rides, help with child care and a $30 minimum wage by 2030.

What is there not to like?

In his victory speech, Mamdani rejected the cynical attempts to use his faith as a weapon and to pit communities against each other.

He vowed to “build a city hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism,” while ensuring that the city’s Muslims “know that they belong – not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power.”

“No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”