WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he will host New York&#39;s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for a meeting Friday, after fiercely attacking the 34-year-old self-described Democratic Socialist during his recent campaign. Trump said on his Truth Social platform the mayor-elect &quot;asked for a meeting&quot; and it &quot;will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st.&quot; Mamdani&#39;s spokesperson Dora Pekec confirmed the meeting in a statement. &quot;As is customary for an incoming mayoral administration, the Mayor-elect plans to meet with the President in Washington to discuss public safety, economic security and the affordability agenda that over one million New Yorkers voted for just two weeks ago,&quot; Pekec said Wednesday. Two men raised in Queens Trump&#39;s meeting with Mamdani marks the coming together of two men raised in the Queens borough of New York, but their similarities may end there. Anti-immigrant Trump has derided Mamdani&#39;s South Asian name, and threatened to cut federal funding for New York upon the Muslim&#39;s election to run America&#39;s largest city. &quot;Mandami, whatever the hell his name is,&quot; Trump said recently -- deliberately mispronouncing the Uganda-born politician&#39;s surname. &lsquo;Turn the volume up!&rsquo; Mamdani has not backed down from Trump, calling out the 79-year-old Republican during his victory rally earlier this month. &quot;Donald Trump, since I know you&#39;re watching, I have four words for you -- turn the volume up!&quot; he said to his cheering supporters. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed the president had indeed watched Mamdani speak.

Americas

Trump's meeting with Mamdani marks the coming together of two men raised in the Queens borough of New York, but their similarities may end there; Mamdani's spokesperson Dora Pekec confirmed the meeting in a statement.

Trump says will meet with New York mayor-elect Mamdani on Friday

Maham Khan

24 years ago, the twin towers fell in Lower Manhattan, reshaping not just the skyline but the lived reality of every Muslim in America. This January, Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as New York City&#39;s 111th mayor&mdash;its first Muslim, first South Asian, and first African-born leader.&nbsp; The geographic irony is almost too perfect: a Muslim mayor taking office in the very city whose police department once mapped every mosque within 100 miles, where &quot;wearing traditional Islamic clothing&quot; was listed as a radicalization indicator, where informants infiltrated wedding parties and college rafting trips in the name of counterterrorism. The distance between those two moments&mdash;between surveillance subject and City Hall&mdash;tells a story not just of individual achievement but of collective survival, political awakening, and the hard-won transformation of a community that refused to disappear. Since at least 2002, the NYPD&#39;s Intelligence Division engaged in what can only be described as systematic religious profiling. The Demographics Unit mapped 28 &quot;ancestries of interest&quot; associated with Muslim populations while explicitly excluding non-Muslims like Coptic Christian Egyptians or Iranian Jews. Undercover officers embedded themselves in mosques, bodegas, coffee shops, and barber shops. Their job, according to civil liberties groups, was to &quot;live the life of a fake Muslim&quot; inside these communities. The statistics are staggering: anti-Muslim hate crimes jumped from 28 incidents in 2000 to 481 in 2001 alone. But numbers can&#39;t capture what surveillance does to a community&#39;s soul. As Dr. Debbie Almontaser, a longtime Muslim advocate, testified: &quot;The community was traumatized because of how invasive the surveillance was.&quot; Trust evaporated&mdash;not just between Muslims and law enforcement, but among Muslims themselves. You couldn&#39;t be certain your neighbor wasn&#39;t an informant. Abdullah Ahmad, a Pakistani-American Brooklynite, who grew up in the 2000s, remembers this atmosphere vividly. &quot;Growing up in New York, it was a lot of Islamophobia,&quot; he recalls. &quot;That smear campaign mentality, the stigmatism that came from the Bush administration and everything after, it shaped how we moved through the world.&quot; Yet this is also where the story turns. Because surveillance, for all its trauma, had an unintended consequence: it politicized a generation. When your community is under siege, you have two choices:&nbsp;retreat or organize. New York&#39;s Muslims chose organization. Mamdani&#39;s victory carries symbolic weight that no single person should have to bear. A 2017 Pew Research survey found that 75% of US&nbsp;Muslims agreed there is &quot;a lot of discrimination&quot; against their community. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion noted that &quot;widespread negative representations of Islam, fear of Muslims generally, and counterterrorism policies have served to perpetuate, validate and normalize discrimination.&quot; Into this climate steps a 34-year-old who spent his early years in Uganda and Cape Town, a &quot;third culture kid&quot; who once worked as a foreclosure prevention counselor in Queens. He&#39;s being asked to represent not just eight million New Yorkers but, symbolically, 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide. Yeliz Coban, a Turkish-American Brooklynite,&nbsp;understands this weight differently. &quot;It feels like being heard,&quot; she says simply. &quot;Not just being spoken at or spoken about, but truly listened to. It feels like someone who understands both the quiet resilience and the heavier burdens that Muslim communities have carried. His win isn&#39;t just symbolic&mdash;it&#39;s emotional. It feels like the city finally made space for us at the table.&quot; But the political opposition Mamdani faces reveals how precarious this moment remains. President Trump branded him a &quot;communist&quot; and vowed &quot;political retribution.&quot; Sitting members of Congress used fear-mongering, warning that his election would cause &quot;another 9/11.&quot; Trump even endorsed independent Andrew Cuomo&mdash;his political opponent&mdash;to prevent a Muslim from leading America&#39;s largest city. Masroor Jehangiri, a Pakistani-American living and studying in Staten Island, a predominantly Republican-leaning borough of NYC, feels both pride and anxiety. &quot;As a Muslim, I certainly feel proud and enabled that a person from our background can now become mayor of one of the greatest cities in the world,&quot; he says. &quot;This also comes with worry about how much Mamdani can actually deliver seeing how bad the political opposition has gotten. But I&#39;m glad his campaign revealed the mindsets of the politicians that lead us.&quot; Here&#39;s what makes Mamdani&#39;s victory genuinely transformative rather than merely symbolic: he didn&#39;t win by running away from controversy or making himself palatable to power. He won by building the largest grassroots campaign in New York history&mdash;100,000 volunteers knocking on three million doors. He won by centering economic justice: freezing rents for two million New Yorkers, making buses free, creating universal childcare, building 200,000 affordable housing units. &quot;A year ago, almost nobody had heard of Zohran Mamdani,&quot; Masroor notes. &quot;He used social media and multiple mediums to connect with younger generations, but he was also out on the streets doing ground work, genuinely connecting with everyday New Yorkers. For the first time, we witnessed a politician being genuine and honest,&nbsp;who doesn&#39;t seem trained to say certain answers but rather knows what answers people want.&quot; Abdullah saw this authenticity firsthand. &quot;Zohran has been a person of the community since the very beginning. He can speak to folks in Harlem because of his Ugandan background, or with all the desis [South Asians] in Jackson Heights.&nbsp;I recently had friends who went out for Halloween, and he was at the clubs speaking. No other politician would do that. I went to Yemeni delis, and they still have his posters up.&quot; This matters because it reframes the narrative. Mamdani isn&#39;t asking Muslims to be grateful for a seat at the table&mdash;he&#39;s reorganizing the entire table around working people&#39;s needs. South Asian voter turnout in the 2025 NYC primary increased by 40% compared to 2021, not because of identity politics but because a candidate finally spoke to their lived economic reality. The path from surveillance to City Hall wasn&#39;t inevitable, it was built. Built by Muslims who refused to self-censor out of existence, who organized despite fear, who raised their children to claim space rather than apologize for occupying it. Abdullah captures this generational shift perfectly: &quot;This 9/11 rhetoric is sort of ending. Yeah, you can instill fear from the Trump administration or Cuomo or whatever. But I think love and hope trumps all of that.&quot; Yeliz&#39;s hopes are more personal but no less powerful: &quot;My prayer is that Mamdani leads with integrity, keeps his promises, and shows this city that representation isn&#39;t something to fear but something that can expand our collective sense of belonging. If he does that, even those hesitant now will see that this moment isn&#39;t a threat, it&#39;s an opportunity.&quot; 24&nbsp;years ago, Muslim New Yorkers became surveillance subjects in their own city. Today, one of their own will lead it. That transformation didn&#39;t erase Islamophobia or solve systemic discrimination. But it proved something more important: that communities under siege can organize their way to power, that the children of immigrants can reshape the cities that once profiled them, that the distance between &quot;suspect community&quot; and City Hall is shorter than it looks&mdash;if you&#39;re willing to knock on three million doors. The future isn&#39;t certain, but it&#39;s no longer being written about Muslims. It&#39;s being written by them.

Articles

The geographic irony is almost too perfect: a Muslim mayor taking office in the very city whose police department once mapped every mosque within 100 miles.

New York once surveilled its Muslims, now Zohran Mamdani leads it

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: &nbsp;Lina Khan, a British-born lawyer of Pakistani descent and former chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, has been named co-chair of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani&rsquo;s all-women transition team. New York City mayor-elect Mamdani, on Wednesday, named five women to co-chair his transition team as he prepares to take office on January 1, according to AFP. The transition team includes co-chairs Lina Khan, Maria Torres‑Springer, Grace Bonilla, Melanie Hartzog, and Elana Leopold as the executive director. In a statement shared on the social media platform X, Lina Khan expressed confidence that Zohran Mamdani has the vision and courage they actually deliver, adding that it was an honor for her to be part of the transition team. <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 2;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1986224535557853608&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=efc8c01abe5eb2d78c0a2154e04dd02116c2bd89&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 548px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> Here are brief profiles of the transition team members: Lina Khan&nbsp;The US Federal Trade Commission&rsquo;s website says that Lina Khan served as chair of the Federal Trade Commission from June 15, 2021, to January 20, 2025. Before joining the FTC, Khan served as counsel to the US House Judiciary Committee&rsquo;s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law. She was also an associate professor at Columbia Law School. Khan is a graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School. According to Columbia Law School&rsquo;s website, Khan has been named to the Politico 50, Foreign Policy magazine&rsquo;s Global Thinkers, Prospect magazine&rsquo;s Top 50 Thinkers, WIRED25, National Journal 50, and Time magazine&rsquo;s Next Generation Leaders. She is a recipient of the Reinhardt Fellow 2016-2017, a scholarship for demonstrated commitment to public interest law. She has also won awards such as the Israel H. Peres Prize for best Note or Comment appearing in the Yale Law Journal (2017); Michael Egger Prize for best Yale Law Journal Note on current social problems (2017), and Arthur B. Graves Essay Prize for best essay in political theory (2010), according to Khan&rsquo;s CV available on the US Senate Committee on Housing&rsquo;s website. According to an international media report, Khan was born in London in 1989 to Pakistani parents. The family emigrated to the US when she was 11. Maria Torres-Springer&nbsp;Maria Torres-Springer resigned her post as deputy mayor under outgoing Mayor Eric Adams due to his engagement with US President Donald Trump, according to AFP. According to the New York City (NYC) government&rsquo;s website, Torres-Springer has served as the deputy mayor for housing, economic development, and workforce development.&nbsp; Torres-Springer previously was vice president of US Programs at the Ford Foundation, commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and also a president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.&nbsp;Grace Bonilla&nbsp;According to the NYC government&rsquo;s website, Grace Bonilla has served as the president and CEO of United Way of New York City (UWNYC) since July 2022. Before her role at UWNYC, Grace held leadership positions across the nonprofit sector, including senior vice president for Latin America at Covenant House International.&nbsp;Melanie Hartzog&nbsp;According to The New York Foundling&rsquo;s website, Melanie Hartzog is the nonprofit&#39;s CEO and president. Hartzog was the deputy mayor of New York City for Health and Human Services. She previously served as the director of the Mayor&rsquo;s Office of Management and Budget.&nbsp; Hartzog holds a Master of Science degree from the New School&rsquo;s Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy and a Bachelor of Arts from Eckerd College. Elana Leopold&nbsp;Elana Leopold is a progressive political strategist and runs Seneca Strategies, New York&rsquo;s first women-run political consulting firm, according to an international publication. Landslide victory&nbsp;Mamdani, 34, broke the one-million-vote mark, earning 50% of the vote, compared to his closest rival, 67-year-old former state governor Andrew Cuomo, who won just shy of 42% in the largest turnout since 1969.

Lina Khan joins Maria Torres‑Springer, Grace Bonilla, Melanie Hartzog, and Elana Leopold as a member of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s all-women transition team tasked with preparing for Mamdani’s administration, which begins on January 1.

Who is Lina Khan and Mamdani’s all-women transition team?

NEW YORK: New York mayoral election winner Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday that he was ready to engage with his arch-critic, President Donald Trump, on the issue of the cost of living. The Muslim-American lawmaker, whose rapid ascent from rank outsider to mayor-elect has stunned observers, joked at a briefing that the &ldquo;White House hasn&rsquo;t reached out to congratulate me.&rdquo; &ldquo;I continue to be interested in having a conversation with President Trump on the ways in which we can work together to serve New Yorkers,&rdquo; he said, suggesting &ldquo;delivering on his campaign promises around cost of living&rdquo; as one. Mamdani, like Trump, put the high cost of living, impact of inflation, and elevated grocery expenses at the heart of his campaign, which triumphed over former governor Andrew Cuomo&rsquo;s platform. &ldquo;I think the lesson for the president is that it&rsquo;s not enough to diagnose the crisis in working class Americans lives. You have to deliver on addressing that crisis.&rdquo; Mamdani called out Trump for his own campaign promises to address the soaring cost of groceries, but sought to suspend food assistance during the government shutdown while in office. After winning on promises to make city bus travel free, control rents, and offer free childcare, Mamdani said, &ldquo;what scares Republicans across the country is the fact that we will actually deliver on this agenda.&rdquo; Mamdani on Wednesday introduced the five women who will co-chair his transition. Among them is Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission under Joe Biden, and Maria Torres-Springer, who resigned her post as deputy mayor under outgoing mayor Eric Adams due to his engagement with Trump.

New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday he is open to discussing cost-of-living issues with President Donald Trump, despite the two having sharply opposing political views and a history of public criticism.

NY’s Mamdani ready to discuss cost of living with Trump

ISLAMABAD: Former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night posted a cryptic message, &ldquo;So, it begins!&rdquo;, on his social media platform Truth Social, shortly after Zohran Mamdani delivered his victory speech as New York City&rsquo;s new mayor, a post widely interpreted as a veiled threat toward the progressive politician.<div class="fr-embed"><iframe src="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115495225031046506/embed" class="truthsocial-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="600" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>Mamdani, the city&rsquo;s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, had directly challenged Trump in his remarks, saying, &ldquo;Donald Trump, since I know you&rsquo;re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!&rdquo; &ldquo;In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,&rdquo; Mamdani declared to a cheering crowd. &ldquo;If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.&rdquo; The 33-year-old Democrat, known for his outspoken socialist stance, pledged to &ldquo;end the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Donald Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks.&rdquo; His economic plan includes raising the corporate tax rate to match New Jersey&rsquo;s 11.5 percent and imposing a 2 percent wealth tax on New Yorkers earning more than one million dollars annually. Mamdani also announced ambitious social policies, promising to freeze rents for all tenants in rent-stabilized apartments and to hold negligent landlords accountable. &ldquo;The Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants,&rdquo; he said. As part of his affordability agenda, Mamdani vowed to make city buses fare-free, describing public transport as &ldquo;a right, not a privilege.&rdquo; He said the initiative would be funded through increased taxes on corporations and the city&rsquo;s wealthiest residents. Trump&rsquo;s latest post, &ldquo;AND SO IT BEGINS,&rdquo; marked a continuation of his long-running hostility toward Mamdani. During the campaign, Trump had repeatedly attacked him, calling him &ldquo;a 100% communist lunatic&rdquo; and &ldquo;not very smart.&rdquo; In previous statements, Trump warned he would withhold federal funds from New York if Mamdani became mayor. &ldquo;If you have a communist running New York, all you&rsquo;re doing is wasting money sending it there,&rdquo; he said at a rally, urging voters to back Mamdani&rsquo;s rival, former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Trump has also mocked Mamdani&rsquo;s appearance and intelligence, once telling CBS&rsquo;s 60 Minutes that he was &ldquo;much better looking&rdquo; than the new mayor. When interviewer Norah O&rsquo;Donnell referred to Mamdani as a socialist, Trump interjected, &ldquo;Communist, not a socialist &mdash; he&rsquo;s far worse than a socialist.&rdquo; In his previous statements, Trump had warned that Mamdani could face arrest if he interfered with federal immigration operations. Responding to Mamdani&rsquo;s pledge to prevent masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from &ldquo;deporting our neighbors,&rdquo; Trump said at a news conference, &ldquo;Well, then, we&rsquo;ll have to arrest him.&rdquo; Could the exchange signal an impending clash between Mamdani&rsquo;s left-wing populism and Trump&rsquo;s conservative resurgence ahead of the next presidential election cycle, setting the stage for a potentially volatile relationship between City Hall and Washington?

Trump's post comes after Mamdani directly challenged Trump in his remarks, saying, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”

Trump targets newly elected New York mayor Zohran Mamdani after fiery victory speech

NEW YORK: New Yorkers elected young leftist Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor Tuesday and Democrats won two key state governor races as US voters delivered an early warning to President Donald Trump ahead of 2026&#39;s midterms.&nbsp;The clean sweep of the top contests among several ballots nationwide will boost morale for Democrats bruised by Trump&#39;s onslaught since returning to the White House, and set alarm bells ringing in Republican circles.&nbsp;Mamdani&#39;s victory came in the face of fierce attacks on his policies and Muslim heritage from President Donald Trump, business elites and conservative media. In his post-victory speech, Mamdani said his decisive victory shows a way to defeat US President Donald Trump, who has been a fierce critic of the young Muslim&#39;s Democratic socialist policies.&nbsp;&ldquo;If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,&rdquo; Zohran Mamdani said in a victory speech to supporters.&nbsp;&ldquo;In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light.&rdquo;&nbsp;The Democratic party&#39;s victories in the governor&#39;s races in Virginia and New Jersey suggested a shift in political mood as the country looks to next year&#39;s midterm elections when control of Congress will be up for grabs.&nbsp;Trump says govt shutdown led to election losses Trump refused to take any blame for Tuesday&#39;s results. In a post on his Truth Social network, he cited anonymous &ldquo;pollsters&rdquo; suggesting the Republican defeats were down to the government shutdown and the fact that his own name wasn&#39;t on ballots.&nbsp;<iframe src="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115494873923565600/embed" class="truthsocial-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0;" width="600" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe>Former presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, congratulated Mamdani and other Democratic candidates who won the elections.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1985905461678522615&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F1949%2F&sessionId=72c8fa03138106a77e21ac8bdbe95258680f95c6&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 297px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1985901630420820287&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F1949%2F&sessionId=72c8fa03138106a77e21ac8bdbe95258680f95c6&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 321px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;</iframe><div class="fr-embed"> </div> </div>House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said, &quot;Democrats are smoking Donald Trump and Republican extremists throughout the country,&quot; writing on X that &quot;the Democratic Party is back.&quot; Mamdani, a state lawmaker for New York&#39;s Queens borough, appealed to voters by pledging to tackle the soaring cost of living, offering free city bus travel, childcare and city-run grocery stores.&nbsp;He focused on living costs facing ordinary New Yorkers, building support through his informal personal style, social media savvy and a massive canvassing ground game.&nbsp;&quot;The next and last stop is City Hall,&quot; Mamdani said in a video posted to X after his victory was declared.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1985899742044262838&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=874051564003269fb801b75fbf087022e5bc79a2&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 504px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>The self-described socialist was virtually unknown before his upset victory to secure the Democratic nomination over former governor Andrew Cuomo, who he trounced again Tuesday.&nbsp;There was a party atmosphere at his results viewing gathering for supporters being held at a storied concert venue in Brooklyn, with the 34-year-old expected to speak later in the night.&nbsp;Trump made an eleventh-hour intervention in the race, calling Mamdani who will become New York&#39;s first Muslim mayor when he takes office in January, a &quot;Jew hater.&quot; Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels citizen crime patrol group, came in third after weeks of Cuomo insisting he bow out to increase his chances.&nbsp;Prominent business people including Bill Ackman noisily attacked Mamdani and funneled cash to his rivals, while conservative media including The New York Post published blanket negative coverage.&nbsp;Turnout was high in this year&#39;s vote with 1.45 million people casting ballots by 3 pm (2000 GMT) &mdash; more than the total number of voters in the 2021 race.<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; width: 898.188px; display: flex; overflow: hidden; max-width: initial; font-size: 18px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Uphill struggle&nbsp;Mamdani&#39;s improbable rise highlights the Democratic Party&#39;s debate over a centrist or a leftist future, with some leading national figures offering only tepid endorsements of Mamdani ahead of voting. Cuomo said there was &quot;a civil war in the Democratic Party.&quot; &quot;You have an extreme radical left that is run by the socialists, that is challenging what they would call moderate Democrats. I&#39;m a moderate Democrat,&quot; he said after voting. Syracuse University political science professor Grant Reeher said ahead of the result Mayor Mamdani would face an uphill battle &quot;at the center of all of these nasty political controversies.&quot; &quot;Everybody&#39;s got their knives out, and it&#39;s a very difficult city to govern,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;Progressives probably would have been better served if they had someone like this win a city that was easier to govern.&quot; In New Jersey, Democratic Party candidate Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, beat out Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a businessman backed by Trump. In Virginia&#39;s race for governor, Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger unseated a Republican incumbent to beat Virginia&#39;s Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. Both sides wheeled out big guns, with former president Barack Obama rallying support for Spanberger and Sherrill over the weekend and Trump scheduling tele-rallies for both Virginia and New Jersey on the eve of voting. Ghazala Hashmi makes history in VirginiaGhazala Hashmi has become the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in the United States. Hashmi, a Democrat, defeated Republican John Reid in the Virginia lieutenant governor&rsquo;s race, securing 747,773 votes (53.8%) to Reid&rsquo;s 659,421 (46.4%). Hashmi maintained a steady lead throughout the campaign, though polls tightened in the final days before election day. Earlier in June, she narrowly clinched the Democratic nomination, defeating former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and state Senator Aaron Rouse in a closely contested primary. A member of the Democratic Party&rsquo;s progressive wing, Hashmi enjoyed strong support from figures such as Representative Ro Khanna of California. Born in Hyderabad, India, Hashmi moved to the US in her youth and earned a PhD in English from Emory University. She taught English at Virginia community colleges for over two decades before entering politics. Her 2019 election to the Virginia Senate made her the first Muslim woman to serve in the state legislature, a milestone now extended to statewide office.

In Virginia's race for governor, Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins over a Republican incumbent Winsome Earle-Sears; Ghazala Hashmi defeats Republican writer and conservative talk show host John Reid in the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race

Zohran Mamdani elected New York's first Muslim mayor

NEW YORK: Zohran Mamdani may not solve all of the beleaguered US Democrats&#39; problems, but the surprise frontrunner in the race for New York mayor does offer hints on how to win back voters and power. The Democrats -- shut out of power in the White House and both chambers of Congress -- are seen negatively by 63% of US voters, according to a July poll in the Wall Street Journal, the party&#39;s lowest approval rating in 30 years. John Kane, a professor of political science at New York University, said the party needs to reconnect with its traditional base, including lower-income Americans and young voters. Freeze on rent hikes&nbsp;Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist, has developed a plan to lure working-class people and young adults, for whom famously expensive New York is becoming harder and harder to call home. His platform&#39;s highlights include a freeze on rent hikes, free bus service, and day care. Mamdani&#39;s opposition to President Donald Trump has a strong symbolic appeal for a Democratic base &quot;which feels almost entirely powerless in the present moment,&quot; Kane told AFP. Scandal-tainted Cuomo&nbsp;He has a more than 10-point lead over his main rival in the Nov. 4 election for mayor, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a scandal-tainted veteran Democrat who is running as an independent this time. &quot;Mamdani is evidence that the American left still has some juice in it in 2025,&quot; said Daniel Schlozman, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. But New York -- America&#39;s biggest city and an ethnically diverse, historically Democratic one -- does not reflect the United States as a whole, Schlozman said. And while enthusiasm over Mamdani is one thing, his success is &quot;a very different matter from Democrats at large winning the elections they need to win to take control of the House next year, maybe the Senate, and the presidency in 2028,&quot; he added. National electorate&nbsp;Schlozman said Mamdani is a compelling leader who understands that affordability issues in New York are critical, but cautioned that the national electorate is probably not ready for his policies. Democrats would need to address affordability in a very different way from him to satisfy voters even in other Democratic-leaning states, much less swing states that can go either way, he continued. Kane also said that outside large cities, where people are used to seeing all kinds of nationalities and heritages, Mamdani&#39;s origin and religion and his past statements calling the police &quot;racist&quot; might fail to win over some voters. The candidate was born in Uganda to a Muslim family of Indian origin and became a US citizen in 2018. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&#39;Right message, wrong messenger&#39;&nbsp;</h2>Then there is also the risk of Republicans seizing on Mamdani to ridicule Democratic policies, just as Trump has dismissed him as a &quot;little communist&quot; who is too willing to spend taxpayer money. Many in the party &quot;might regard Mamdani as a case of right message, wrong messenger,&quot; said Kane in reference to Mamdani&#39;s policies. Most moderates in the Democratic Party, such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is from New York, have so far abstained from endorsing Mamdani. &quot;Some moderate Democrats may shy away from Mamdani based on policy stances, while others shy away simply because they don&#39;t view him as an electable candidate at the national level,&quot; said Kane. Cannot run for presidentIndeed, political experts say that New York differs enough from the rest of the US that it is not necessarily the best place for a Democrat to launch a national campaign. In any case, Mamdani could only go so high in US politics -- since he was not born in the United States, he cannot run for president.

Mamdani has developed a plan to lure the working class; he espouses a rent freeze, free bus service, and day care. Could he one day run for president?

Is New York's Zohran Mamdani the future of US Democrats?

WASHINGTON: Zohran Mamdani &rsquo;s swift rise in New York City&rsquo;s mayoral race has made him into a national symbol &mdash; both as a point of pride among many Muslim Americans and a political foil for the right.&nbsp; His campaign has been met by a surge in anti-Muslim language directed at the Democratic nominee, who would become the city&rsquo;s first Muslim mayor if elected in November. Republican Andy Ogles of Tennessee called him &ldquo;little [M]uhammad&rdquo; and urged deportation. On social media, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina referenced 9/11 alongside a photo of Mamdani dressed in a kurta, a loose collarless shirt common in South Asia. Far-right activist Laura Loomer claimed without evidence that &ldquo;NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.&rdquo; On many levels, Mamdani&rsquo;s run is a significant moment for the country and New York City, which endured 9/11 and the rise in Islamophobia that followed. &ldquo;He really does hold so much symbolism,&rdquo; said Youssef Chouhoud, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University. The campaign is a reminder of anti-Muslim discrimination, he said, but also of Muslim Americans asserting their right &quot;to lead this society moving forward.&rdquo; Politicians from both major parties have attacked Mamdani&rsquo;s progressive politics and criticism of Israel. Conservatives have leaned more heavily into religious attacks and anti-immigrant sentiments. President Donald Trump singled him out for censure and falsely questioned his U.S. citizenship, echoing &ldquo;birther&rdquo; rhetoric he once aimed at former President Barack Obama. At the National Conservatism Conference, multiple speakers used Mamdani&rsquo;s name and religion as attack lines, with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon calling the democratic socialist a &ldquo;Marxist and a jihadist.&rdquo; The rhetoric is all too familiar for many Muslim Americans, including Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, who faced slurs and death threats as the first Muslim woman to run for Congress in New Jersey in 2020. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re at a crossroads,&rdquo; she said via email. &ldquo;On one hand, Muslims are achieving unprecedented visibility and influence in political spaces. On the other, our dehumanization has never been so normalized and widespread.&rdquo; The threat of political violence Before his assassination last month, conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on social media that, &ldquo;America&rsquo;s largest city was attacked by radical Islam 24 years ago, and now a similar form of that pernicious force is poised to capture city hall.&rdquo; On his show, Kirk called Mamdani a &ldquo;Mohammedan,&rdquo; an antiquated term for Muslim, and warned about &ldquo;Anglo centers&rdquo; like New York coming &ldquo;under Mohammedan rule.&rdquo; Mamdani condemned Kirk&rsquo;s killing while decrying America&#39;s plague of political violence. In September, a Texas man was charged with making death threats against Mamdani, including calling him a terrorist and saying &ldquo;Muslims don&rsquo;t belong here,&rdquo; prosecutors said. Mamdani&rsquo;s campaign responded by saying these types of threats &ldquo;reflect a broader climate of hate that has no place in our city.&rdquo; &ldquo;We cannot and will not be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia and hate,&rdquo; the statement read. Islamophobia from 9/11 until now Anti-Muslim bias has persisted in different forms since September 11, 2001. New York City police ran a now-disbanded Muslim surveillance program. There was furor in 2010 over plans to build a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan. Nationwide, dozens of states introduced legislation aimed at banning Islamic law. &ldquo;At its core, anti-Muslim rhetoric is the same: that Muslims don&rsquo;t belong in this country, that they are perpetual foreigners, that they are a threat to American society and government,&rdquo; said Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at the University of Chicago. Critics of Obama, a Christian with Muslim ancestry, sought to use his connections to Islam as a political liability. As president, he spoke about his childhood years in Indonesia and his father&rsquo;s Muslim family in Kenya as assets in diplomacy. Trump amplified criticisms of Obama&rsquo;s background, stoking so-called &ldquo;birther&rdquo; rumors by falsely questioning whether Obama was born in the US. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really created this new permission structure for people to more openly voice their anti-Muslim rhetoric,&rdquo; Chouhoud said. A similar playbook is being used with Mamdani. Born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent, he has lived in New York City since he was 7 and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. He was elected to the state Assembly in 2020. Despite that record, Trump has echoed a false allegation denying Mamdani&rsquo;s citizenship and immigration status. Democrats and the backdrop of the Israel war on Gaza&nbsp;Islamophobia and antisemitism have risen during the war in Gaza. Accusations of both have played out in the race for mayor of New York, a city home to the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in the US. Before dropping out, Mayor Eric Adams joined another Democrat, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in calling Mamdani &ldquo;dangerous.&rdquo; Cuomo accused him of &ldquo;fueling antisemitism&rdquo; with sharp criticism of Israel. An outside group supporting Cuomo, who&#39;s now running as an independent, prepared a flyer that appeared to lengthen and darken Mamdani&rsquo;s beard, which Mamdani called &ldquo;blatant Islamophobia.&rdquo; Cuomo&#39;s campaign disavowed it and the mailer was never sent. Other Democrats have distanced themselves from Mamdani&rsquo;s progressive platform, critiques of Israel and staunch support for Palestinian rights. Senator&nbsp;Kirsten Gillibrand of New York apologized to Mamdani after incorrectly saying he referenced &ldquo;global jihad.&rdquo; At issue was his refusal to condemn other people&#39;s use of the slogan &ldquo;globalize the intifada.&rdquo; He later said he would discourage its use. Some see the phrase as a call for Palestinian liberation and rights, others as a call for violence against Jews. In an emotional news conference ahead of his primary win in June, Mamdani accused his rivals of using antisemitism to score political points. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said at every opportunity there is no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country.&rdquo; Pride and hope from fellow Muslims Despite the controversies, many American Muslims are upbeat about a possible Mamdani victory. &ldquo;The abiding emotion ... is a really deep sense of hope,&rdquo; said Chouhoud, whose Brooklyn accent speaks to his New York roots. Shahana Hanif, a Mamdani ally and the first Muslim woman elected to the New York City Council, is optimistic. She said Islamophobia is being used as a fear tactic &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s just not working.&rdquo; Hanan Thabet, a born-and-raised New Yorker and a Mamdani supporter, said his campaign has energized her family after two years of grief over the killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. So much so that her children &mdash; ages 10 and 8 &mdash; helped her phone bank for him. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re super excited to see this young, energetic, brown man, Muslim man, you know, potentially be our next mayor.&rdquo; As a mother, she feels like it&#39;s &ldquo;impossible to explain why it has become so socially acceptable to dehumanize Muslims and Arabs, and why our lives seem to matter the least.&rdquo; &ldquo;That is what makes Zohran&rsquo;s candidacy not only historic,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but necessary.&rdquo;

NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani participates during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks in New York, Thursday, September 11, 2025. (AP)

Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral run inspires hope among Muslims but faces intense Islamophobic attacks, political violence threats, and controversy amid rising Islamophobia and antisemitism linked to the Israel war in Gaza.

Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral bid sparks rise in anti-Muslim vitriol

NEW YORK: Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani reacted to Mayor Eric Adams&rsquo; decision to drop out of the race on Sunday, saying &lsquo;It&#39;s time to actually think about New Yorkers.&rdquo; In an interview with Democracy Now!, Mamdani, who has campaigned on prioritizing working-class New Yorkers, said Adams&rsquo; record showed decisions made &ldquo;at the behest of Donald Trump and his billionaire donors and at the expense of working-class New Yorkers.&rdquo; He criticized Adams for rent hikes, higher utility bills and policies that worsened the city&rsquo;s cost-of-living crisis. Adams&rsquo; departure from the race, a little more than a month before Election Day, leaves the contest to become the city&#39;s next mayor effectively between frontrunner Democrat Zohran Mamdani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Adams had struggled to raise money and trailed far behind Mamdani and Cuomo, who is running as an independent, in public opinion polls. Mamdani holds a sizeable lead ahead of the November 4 election, while recent polls showed single-digit support for both Adams and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. The candidate pointed out his victory over Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, saying Cuomo and Trump sought to derail his campaign but failed. &ldquo;There are many who are threatened by our campaign,&rdquo; Mamdani said, adding that his focus remained on delivering for New Yorkers rather than political rivals.

Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani criticized Eric Adams after his withdrawal from the race, accusing him of favoring billionaires over working-class New Yorkers. Mamdani now leads the race against Andrew Cuomo ahead of the November election.

Mamdani urges focus on New Yorkers after NY Mayor Adams drops re-election bid

NEW YORK: Former Vice President Kamala Harris, forced to confront Israel&#39;s war in Gaza on the first night of her book tour, expressed compassion for the Palestinians and condemned President Donald Trump for giving the Israeli government &ldquo;a blank check.&rdquo; &ldquo;What&rsquo;s happening to the Palestinian people is outrageous and it breaks my heart,&rdquo; she told a packed New York City performance center on Wednesday night after being interrupted by the first of four pro-Palestinian protesters. &ldquo;Donald Trump has given (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu a blank check to do whatever he wants.&rdquo; &lsquo;107 days&rsquo;The comments came in the midst of a discussion about her new book, &ldquo;107 Days,&rdquo; which was released on Tuesday and details the hyperspeed campaign she launched against Trump after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-10" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-10&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1971013215766106178&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=0694ba007bfe0945f9eda993896e78df390988cc&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 672px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" data-tweet-id="1971013215766106178"></iframe></div></div>Harris was initially scheduled to make one appearance at the 1,500-person capacity Times Square performance center, but her team added a second show earlier in the evening because of high interest. Few issues have divided the nation &mdash; and the Democratic Party &mdash; more than the war in Israel. More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry said earlier in the month. Democratic activists in particular have condemned leaders in both parties for not pushing back harder to stop the bloodshed. &lsquo;Excited&rsquo; about Mamdani&rsquo;s candidacy &nbsp;Harris on Wednesday referenced her support for New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat who has also spoken out against the war in Gaza. She said the two spoke earlier in the day. She said she told him she&#39;s &ldquo;excited&rdquo; about his candidacy. &ldquo;You are bringing people in, and you are showing that there are voices that want to be heard, have felt left out and are now a part of what you are doing,&rdquo; she said, referencing the conversation.&nbsp; &ldquo;And that is so powerful.&rdquo; Outside the venue on Wednesday night, dozens of activists protested on the sidewalk. Inside, the event veered off script several minutes after it began when a protester started shouting from the audience.&rsquo; &lsquo;A lot of heat&rsquo;&ldquo;Your legacy is genocide. The blood of the Palestinians is on your hands,&rdquo; the first one, a man wearing a medical mask, yelled before being escorted out by security. Later, another woman said, &ldquo;This is your fault.&rdquo; As the crowd grew angry with the disruptions, Harris called on them to &ldquo;take the temperature down.&rdquo; She noted that, as vice president, she first spoke out publicly about starvation in Gaza a year and a half ago. At the time, she said, she took &ldquo;a lot of heat&rdquo; from the Biden administration for speaking out on the sensitive issue. &ldquo;I understand your concern and how you feel &mdash; I think I do,&rdquo; she told the third protester. &ldquo;And the reality of it is where we are right now didn&rsquo;t have to be this way &mdash; in terms of the blank check that this president has given.&rdquo; &lsquo;A communist dictatorship&rsquo;Several times over the course of the night, she criticized Trump. At one point, she said the Republican president and his allies are like &ldquo;a communist dictatorship&rdquo; for quashing dissent. Shortly before the appearance, Trump lashed out at Harris on social media for saying in a recent interview that the 2024 presidential election loss was the closest in the 21st century. Harris repeated the claim on Wednesday in New York. Trump called the former vice president &ldquo;DUMB AS A ROCK.&rdquo; &ldquo;A TOTAL LIE! I expect an apology. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&rdquo; Trump wrote.<div class="fr-embed"><iframe src="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115261110149678466/embed" class="truthsocial-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="600" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>The US doesn&rsquo;t elect presidents by popular vote. In fact, Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and still won the presidency through the electoral college. Trump won the electoral college over Harris, 312-226. There have been two closer elections since 2000. The closest was George W Bush&rsquo;s win over John Kerry in 2004. Harris, who turns 61 next month, hasn&rsquo;t detailed her future plans and was not asked about them at the book event. She&rsquo;s already passed on an opportunity to run for governor of her home state of California. Mixed opinionsThere were decidedly mixed opinions about what she should do next &mdash; even among the hundreds who packed into the Times Square venue. Valerie Lewis, 56, of New York City, said she&#39;s hopeful that the former vice president can unify the badly divided country. She said she &ldquo;would love&rdquo; Harris to run for president again. Lewis&#39; husband, 65-year-old Eugene Dixon, would not. &ldquo;She can&rsquo;t do it,&rdquo; Dixon said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe America is ready to have a woman president.&rdquo; Lewis rolled her eyes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s harder for a woman,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s possible.&rdquo;

On her book tour’s opening night, Kamala Harris condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, criticized Trump for enabling Netanyahu, voiced support for Zohran Mamdani, and faced pro-Palestinian protesters

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