NEW YORK − Zohran Mamdani called former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest attacks against him “disgusting” and “racist” in the closing days of the New York City mayor's race, which show Mamdani leading in polls.

Cuomo on Oct. 23 said Mamdani, 34, couldn’t handle a crisis like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the city nearly 25 years ago. Cuomo, running as an independent, appeared on the conservative radio show, “Sid and Friends in the Morning,” the morning after a heated final debate with Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and a member of the state Assembly, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

“God forbid, another 9/11, can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Cuomo, 67, asked.

“I could,” host Sid Rosenberg said. “He’d be cheering.”

After laughing, Cuomo responded, “That’s another problem.”

Mamdani, a democratic socialist state assemblyman, would be the first Muslim mayor in New York City history if polls hold until the Nov. 4 general election. Nearly one in 10 New Yorkers are Muslim, and many faced profiling and surveillance in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks. Data also indicates rising Islamophobia.

“This is disgusting,” Mamdani told PIX 11 News. "This is Andrew Cuomo’s final moments in public life, and he’s choosing to spend them making racist attacks.”

Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said the former Democratic governor didn't agree with Rosenberg's assertion that Mamdani would cheer a terrorist attack. In an email, Azzopardi said Cuomo was referring to Mamdani appearing on popular left-wing commentator Hasan Piker's show in April. In 2019, Piker said, "America deserved 9/11, dude."

A week earlier, Mamdani denounced Piker's comments, calling them “objectionable and reprehensible," when asked by Cuomo in a debate. Cuomo didn't reference Piker until 10 minutes later in his interview.

“The overall topic of the conversation was that Mamdani is deeply unqualified and unprepared to be Mayor of the Greatest City on earth, which every New Yorker saw last night,” Azzopardi wrote.

Earlier in the same broadcast, Rosenberg referred to Mamdani as a "terrorist.”

Cuomo deletes AI-generated ad

The incident wasn’t Cuomo’s only controversy as he tries to claw back in polls.

On Oct. 22, Cuomo’s campaign posted, then deleted, an AI-generated ad showing “criminals for Zohran.”

The video featured footage of Mamdani eating rice with his hands − a traditional practice for many in India, where Mamdani's mother is from − which has become a fixation among right-wing figures. It also included a Black shoplifter wearing a keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian resistance, and another Black man as a pimp with a van full of white women.

CAIR Action, a Muslim political advocacy organization, condemned Cuomo for a series of “Islamophobic and racist attacks” against Mamdani.

“Andrew Cuomo’s comments are despicable, dangerous, and disqualifying,” Basim Elkarra, CAIR Action’s executive director, said in a statement, adding “Cuomo crossed a moral line.”

“This rhetoric is not only deeply Islamophobic — it’s reckless and life-threatening to Muslim, Arab, and South Asian New Yorkers who still live with the trauma of the post-9/11 backlash," Elkarra said.

Republicans, Democrats stoke flames

Both Republicans and fellow Democrats have lobbed attacks about Mamdani's identity since his primary victory against Cuomo in June.

On the Republican side, Rep. Elise Stefanik, of New York, an ally of President Donald Trump eyeing a run for governor, has repeatedly and inaccurately called Mamdani a “jihadist.” There is no evidence that Mamdani, who has condemned terrorist attacks including Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 assault on Israel, supports "jihad" which means a struggle against enemies of Islam.

Trump ally Laura Loomer, a self-described “proud Islamophobe," has said New York would soon have sharia law. Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, told Mamdani to “go back to the Third World” in response to a video of Mamdani, a naturalized American citizen born in Uganda, eating rice with his hands.

In September, Queens prosecutors charged a 44-year-old Texas man with making terroristic threats against Mamdani.

On PIX 11, Mamdani said bigotry and racism wasn’t exclusively a GOP problem. After the primary, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, falsely told WNYC that Mamdani made “references to global jihad.” Gillibrand later apologized.

In endorsing Cuomo on Oct. 23, New York City Mayor Eric Adams also invoked the specter of Islamism.

“New York can’t be Europe, folks,” Adams said. “I don’t know what is wrong with people. You see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism."

Mamdani has criticized Israel's existence as a Jewish state and its treatment of Palestinians. Mamdani has called Israel’s devastating siege of Gaza after the 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel a “genocide," a term used by a U.N. special committee and some human rights organizations. Many New Yorkers have come to agree with Mamdani, and the plurality side with Palestinians in polls.

His opponents have attacked him for appearing on Piker's show, or dodging a foreign policy question on FOX News about Hamas’ future. (He later said the group committed atrocities and should disarm.) He’s also been hesitant to denounce the popular pro-Palestinian rallying cry, “globalize the intifada,” which some take to mean attacks against Jews. Mamdani later said he wouldn’t use that language.

More recently, Mamdani stirred controversy by posing with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has expressed opposition to homosexuality. Wahhaj has appeared with several prior mayors and was the first Muslim to give the invocation in the House of Representatives.

The conservative-leaning New York Post has also reported Wahhaj was listed as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj was never charged, and former prosecutors said the list was overly broad, the New York Times reported.

In the final debate, Cuomo and Sliwa both attacked Mamdani for his stances on Israel and sought to portray him as incapable of addressing rising antisemitism to protect Jews, who account for about a tenth of New York City. Sliwa, who pointed to his two sons who are Jewish, called Mamdani “the arsonist who fans the flames of antisemitism.”

Mamdani, who has repeatedly committed to increasing resources to combat hate crimes and condemned all forms of bigotry, denied making any comments that promote antisemitism.

“Frankly, I think much of it has to do with the fact that I’m the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election,” he responded.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who is Jewish and endorsed Mamdani, defended him on social media.

"Imagine if this kind of bigotry was used against any other faith − Jewish or Christian New Yorkers," Nadler said. "Would we roll over and accept it?"

Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zohran Mamdani says Andrew Cuomo uses 'racist' attacks in NYC mayor's race

Reporting by Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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