Zohran Mamdani throws lavish wedding party in Uganda

Daily Mail​

28-07-2025

Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani recently celebrated his wedding to his artist wife at a lavish compound owned by his family in Uganda. Mamdani, 33, shocked the political world when he defeated Andrew Cuomo to win the Democrat nomination to run the Big Apple, campaigning on far left policy and drawing controversy for his anti-Israel views.
The state assemblyman recently took a break from the campaign to visit Uganda, where he was born and spent the first few years of his life being raised by his filmmaker mother Mira Nair and academic father Mahmood Mamdani. The far-left Queens politician reportedly held a three-day celebration after he eloped with 27-year-old illustrator Rama Duwaji this past February. Not only was the affair held in the wealthy Buziga Hill area of Kampala in a compound owned by his parents - the wedding party was watched by armed and masked security guards, with one witness claiming nine guards were watching one entrance.
Security was so tight, the party even had a cellphone-jamming system, The New York Post reports. Invited guests partied past midnight to celebrate Mamdani and Duwaji - who met on the dating app Hinge - and their recent nuptials. One of the locals called the wedding in bad taste as the nation was in mourning for former Ugandan Supreme Court Judge George Kanyeihamba, with the party blocking the nation's president from visiting to pay the family his respects.
Andrew Cuomo - still in the mayoral race as an independent following his primary defeat to Mamdani - attempted to poke fun at his rival. In a poll posted to X, he asked his followers to vote on whether Mamdani's three-day wedding was 'champagne socialism' or 'trust fund socialism.' DailyMail.com has reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment. Mamdani's illustrator wife Rama Duwaji, 27, had been low-key during her husband's social media-driven campaign before joining him on stage when he celebrated victory on primary night.
Some critics of the left-wing candidate, 33, had even accused him of 'hiding his wife from NYC ' during his bruising primary against former Governor Cuomo. But Duwaji was all smiles as she marked her husband's victory on stage, and wrote on Instagram that she 'couldn't possibly be prouder' of him as he shocked his establishment opponent. Mamdani, who met his wife on the dating app Hinge, lovingly addressed Duwaji in front of his crowd on primary night, saying 'Rama, thank you' as he kissed her hand.
The potential future First Lady of the Big Apple says on her Instagram bio that she is 'from Damascus', however a Mamdani campaign spokesperson told the New York Times that she was actually born in Texas . She is best known for her illustrations and animations, many of which are pro-Palestine themed and criticize Israel and the Trump administration. Duwaji's artwork has appeared in numerous galleries including London's Tate Modern, and has been included in news outlets including the New Yorker, the BBC and the Washington Post.
As his wife's lack of presence on the campaign trail became a source of ammunition for his opponents, Mamdani took on his critics with an Instagram post of his own. 'If you take a look at Twitter today, or any day for that matter, you know how vicious politics can be,' Mamdani wrote alongside images from their civil ceremony. 'I usually brush it off, whether it's death threats or calls for me to be deported. But it's different when it's about those you love. 'Three months ago, I married the love of my life, Rama, at the City Clerk's office. Now, right-wing trolls are trying to make this race – which should be about you – about her.'
He added: 'You can critique my views, but not my family... (Rama) isn't just my wife, she's an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms.' Among Duwaji's recent artworks shared to her Instagram include calls to release previously detained Columbia student and pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was locked up by the Trump administration for months without being charged with a crime before he was freed in June. In May, she also shared an animation condemning Israel's treatment of civilians in Gaza, which showed a woman holding a bowl that read 'it's not a hunger crisis... it is deliberate starvation.'
Duwaji's thrust into the limelight comes as her husband rapidly rose to national prominence with his surprise victory. The 33-year-old has faced mounting questions about his experience since he gained traction and ultimately won the Democratic primary, with his only public service work coming as a state assemblyman. In the state assembly, Mamdani promoted few bills, and his legislative record includes co-sponsoring bills requiring prisons to house inmates based on their self-declared gender, preventing law enforcement from asking about a perp's immigration status, and forcing small businesses to make their product packaging eco-friendly.
Critics have said a Mamdani win will see the Big Apple slide back into the type of permissive lawlessness that scarred the city during the COVID crisis, but which woke locals and lawmakers scoffed at. When asked by Good Morning America about his lack of experience, Mamdani avoided talking about his record and turned the question back on his recent run for mayor. 'The experience that I show in this moment is to be able to meet the crisis that New Yorkers are facing, and deliver them a new kind of city,' he said.
'One that is unencumbered by the old ways.' Mamdani has described himself as 'Trump's worst nightmare', and his far-left policy platform sharply divided the nation as he gained traction in the mayor's race. He says he wants to raise taxes on the top one percent of New York earners - something the mayor does not have the authority to do - and make a number of city services free including childcare and buses.
The city assemblyman has also proposed spending $65 million on transgender care, freezing rent on rent-stabilized apartments, and creating city-owned grocery stores. He has also advocated for defunding the city's police department, defended pro- Palestine slogans like 'globalize the intifada' - which critics say is an anti-Semitic call for the destruction of Israel - and said he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.