Mamdani faces barrage of Islamophobic attacks after New York primary success

“Hamas terrorist sympathizer,” “jihadist terrorist,” calls for deportation and predictions of another 9/11 – these are among the torrent of Islamophobic attacks that have erupted across social media and conservative political circles following Zohran Mamdani’s success in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor.

The 33-year-old state assembly member, a democratic socialist who would become the first Muslim mayor of America’s largest city, has been subjected to a barrage of death threats and xenophobic rhetoric from prominent Republican figures and online activists since his primary win became apparent.

The coordinated nature of the attacks, spanning grassroots activists and senior political figures, reflects how anti-Muslim sentiment intersects with broader political divisions. Those targeting him have seized on Mamdani’s immigrant background and Muslim faith alongside his hyper-progressive positions to frame his potential mayoralty as a civilizational threat.

Far-right activist and White House whisperer Laura Loomer posted on X that “there will be another 9/11 in NYC” under Mamdani’s leadership, while the New York City councilwoman Vickie Paladino described him as a “known jihadist terrorist” and “communist” in a radio interview, calling for his deportation despite his American citizenship.

Senior Trump administration figures have joined the pile-on, including White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and architect of mass deportations claiming “NYC is the clearest warning yet of what happens to a society when it fails to control migration.” The New York representative Elise Stefanik, Trump’s one-time pick for UN ambassador, sent fundraising emails branding Mamdani a “Hamas terrorist sympathizer” before the race was even called.

Donald Trump Jr amplified a post reading “I’m old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it,” adding “New York City has fallen.” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted an AI-generated image of the Statue of Liberty draped in a burqa, while conservative commentator Matt Walsh lamented on how the famously immigrant New York isn’t “an American city anymore” because of its population being 40% foreign born.

For longtime observers of American politics, the ferocity of the attacks may be shocking but their themes are depressingly familiar, especially after the 9/11 attacks. The playbook targeting Mamdani – questioning loyalty, invoking terrorism, and weaponizing faith – has been deployed against Middle Eastern and Muslim candidates and officials for nearly two decades – such as with Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison in 2006 – with predictable regularity.

“Many of the trends we are seeing mirror common Islamophobic content- Muslims as other and as a threat,” Council on American-Islamic Relation (Cair) research and advocacy director Corey Saylor told the Guardian. Saylor warned this could become a “larger issue, much like the Park 51 project did back in 2010,” referencing the controversy over the proposed Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero that sparked nationwide Islamophobic sentiment.

Cair said they don’t track Islamophobic incidents online, but that the volume of xenophobic posts on Mamdani’s primary is “noteworthy”.

At a time when political violence on the whole is on the rise, Mamdani has reported multiple death threats, including voicemails threatening to blow up his car in the final stretch of his campaign. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incidents, one of which referenced the explosive pagers used in Israel’s recent attack on Hezbollah members in Lebanon.

His campaign had upped their security detail over the last few weeks in response to the threats, and the scale of hatred has also taken a deeply personal toll on Mamdani.

“I get messages that say the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. I get threats on my life, on the people that I love,” Mamdani said last week while holding back tears. “My focus has always been on making this a city that’s affordable, on making the city that every New Yorker sees themselves in.”

Trump also weighed in on Wednesday, calling Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” while criticizing his appearance and voice. And despite notably steering clear of overt language about Mamdani’s religion and ethnic background, he again called Senator Chuck Schumer a “Palestinian” as a slur.

The attacks represent a broader pattern of Islamophobic targeting throughout the primary campaign. Interviewers repeatedly pressed Mamdani on Israel-Palestine issues while giving other candidates more latitude – including demanding his stance on Israel’s right to exist when candidates were asked which foreign country they’d first visit. Mamdani said he would remain in New York and that Israel should be a state of equal rights for all.

Speaking on MSNBC about the attacks, Mamdani reflected on their broader impact: “I’ve spoken to many Muslims across this city who have shared that their fear of having to be essentially branded a terrorist just by living in public life is one that keeps them preferring life in the shadows, life outside of that specter. And this is not the way that we can have our city be. It’s not the way that we can have our country be.”