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Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Socialist candidate for mayor makes waves in the City of Lakes
The comparisons between Omar Fateh and Zohran Mamdani are easy to draw. Mamdani, the 33-year-old Ugandan-born state assemblyman from New York City, stunned the nation's political world a month ago by coming from behind to convincingly win the Democratic Party mayoral nomination in the nation's most populous city. And with his victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates, Mamdani took a big step toward becoming New York City's first Muslim and first millennial mayor. Fateh, like Mamdani, is a democratic socialist and a Muslim. And at age 35, he's also a member of Generation Y. Democratic Socialist Dubbed The Midwest Mamdani Scores Major Endorsement In Bid For Minneapolis Mayor And similar to Mamdani, he topped an establishment Democrat to earn a crucial endorsement as he bids for Minneapolis mayor. Read On The Fox News App "From NYC to Minneapolis — change is coming!" the Twin Cities chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America touted a week and a half ago after Fateh landed the endorsement of the Minneapolis chapter of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is the name of the Democratic Party in Minnesota. Potus Punditry: Trump Weighs In On Mamdani-cuomo Nyc Mayoral Faceoff Fateh landed the endorsement over incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is running for a third term. But Frey, who has repeatedly faced off during his tenure with a left-leaning city council in the heavily blue city, remains on the ballot, and will face off with Fateh in November's election. And similar to New York City, Minneapolis will use ranked choice voting to determine its next mayor. "This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It's a mandate to build a city that works for all of us," Fateh said, in a jab at Frey. But Frey highlighted that "this election should be decided by our entire city, not by a handful of delegates. I look forward to a full debate with Sen. Fateh about our records and visions for our Minneapolis's future. Onward to November!" Fateh, similar to Mamdani, is offering voters what can be characterized as a far-left agenda. In New York City, Mamdani is pushing proposals to eliminate fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores. Rnc Chair Argues Mamdani 'Face Of The New Democratic Party' Fateh, the son of immigrant parents from Somalia who five years ago became the first Somali-American elected to the Minnesota Senate, pledges if elected mayor to raise the city's minimum wage, increase the supply of affordable housing, and combat what he calls police violence. Similar to Mamdani, Fateh calls for replacing some of the police department's duties with community-led alternatives. He also wants to issue legal IDs to undocumented immigrants. Larry Jacobs, a public affairs professor at the University of Minnesota, pointed to the numerous parallels between Mamdani and Fateh. But he noted that "the big difference is in Minneapolis you have a two-term mayor who's probably still the favorite to win." Jacobs highlighted that the Democratic Party is going through "post election blues." He pointed to a "genuine division on the direction of the party and that division in part is between a younger socialist element… and a more moderate version of the party that has relations with business and pulls back on change that's disruptive." Republicans have been relentless in taking aim at Mamdani and his far-left proposals. They are repeatedly trying to make him the face of the Democratic Party while also attempting to anchor him to vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in next year's midterms. While not grabbing the kind of media frenzy that surrounds Mamdani, Republicans and conservatives have started targeting Fateh. Among them is Charlie Kirk—the conservative host and MAGA-world rockstar who leads the influential Turning Point USA political youth organization. Kirk recently took aim at Fateh over his Muslim article source: Socialist candidate for mayor makes waves in the City of Lakes Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Does Young Cardamom Help Zohran Mamdani?
Zohran Mamdani is charming much of New York City, and young people all over the world. The Indian-African American, who identifies as Muslim, uses the affectionate "habibi" in his campaign videos, smiling goofily and using big hands while taking down the establishment. Almost exactly 10 years before he was grooming the city to become its first Muslim mayor, the would-be Democratic Socialist was speaking his mind under the rap alias Young Cardamom, dropped to Mr. Cardamom as a solo performer in 2019. Cardamom is named for a rather innocuous spice dominant in South Asian and Middle Eastern desserts. His sole remaining YouTube video extols the virtues of the world's greatest gangster, the Nani, or Desi grandmother, who slaps men in the reel. According to its review in the New York Times, the video was inspired by his grandmother, retired Delhi social worker Parveen Nair, shot for free in a Bangladeshi Kabab King. Such is his gift: to straddle the line of comic tragedy, of elite art and systemic class inequity. Family is a big part of Mamdani's trajectory. His musical breakthrough came for the Disney+ release of Queen of Katwe in 2016, directed by his mother Mira Nair, and starring Lupita Nyong'o. Mamdani's father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a Gujrati-born Muslim academic celebrated in Uganda, the setting for the true story used in the film. Lupita is the daughter of a Kenyan academic, Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, who once taught at the University of Nairobi before transitioning into politics. One of her first opportunities was on the production crew of Mira Nair's 2006 film, The Namesake. Nair has been quoted in Variety as saying that it was teenaged Zohran Mamdani who encouraged her to take the project and cast Kal Penn. Madamani saw past the "stoner" persona of Kumar in the cult classic Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and the narrative significance to Muslim Americana. 'It was such a valuable, beautiful piece of advice,' Nair said of Mamdani's recommendation. She added, 'I always definitely hear him when [we] talk about the story I'm making, or who I'm thinking of, or who's good — or who's not.' At 23, Mamdani collaborated with rapper HAB, releasing an album in the Luganda language titled 'Sidda Mukyaalo', meaning, 'I Shall not Return to the Village', or "No Going Back to the Village." Mamdani told Okay Africa at the time that the title was inspired by a boda, or motorcycle driver, a few weeks prior, with the slogan written on the back of his jacket in Kampala."And it's true for the two of us as well, although for different reasons," Mamdani told the interviewer. "I can't go back to the village because, as an Asian Ugandan, I simply do not have any village. The city is all I have." Mamdani says he is a third generation Ugandan, presumably through his father, whose family fled colonial India in the early 1900s. Political opponents in the United States, including Black American Mayor Eric Adams, have lambasted Mamdani for identifying as partly African on his rejected Columbia University application, evoking parallels to the 'birther' movement, with paranoia surrounding Barack Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate during his successful presidential campaign. But Mamdani certainly walked the walk in Africa. As Young Cardamom, he and his partner HAB rapped in six different languages: Luganda, the language of Uganda, Hindi, the language of his parents, Swahili, Runyoro, and Nubi. He sought to find the complicated voice of a city, and continues to do so now in New York. Mamdani's mother, Mira Nair, has always amplified her filmmaking storytelling with bold musical choices. The 2001 film Monsoon Wedding features a robust blend of Indian sounds, from trance-like background character songs to poppy Bollywood choreography. In the 2012 film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a hauntingly good Pakistani Qawwali opens the mysterious and shadowy themes. In tandem with Mamdani's interest in music was his lens on the world through race. He said he was "mistaken for white growing up in Africa," but that, "in the the opposite." The language Mamdani determined for New York was not one of the African dialects he used back in even Hindi. It was the language of terror. "Security clearly understands me as brown and Muslim," he told Okay Africa about New York, "And so views me as a threat." Mamdani pointed out Young Cardamom and HAB's song Askari, about the security guards in Kampala and their implicit bias against Black faces. "This song came out of our personal experiences," he explained. 'Whenever any of my non-black friends or family come home, the gate swings open immediately. When it's a black friend or family member, it always takes a bit longer.' In 2017, one year after the Queen of Katwe soundtrack, Mamdani released Salaam under his middle name, Zohran Kwame. He has described himself as a "C-list rapper," and certainly, this solo track is musically uninspired. Lyrically, Mamdani references his mother in the track. But controversially, he also sends his "love" to the Holy Land Five, a group of Palestinian Americans who sent 12 million USD to Hamas and were imprisoned for terrorism. It is unclear whether Mamdani actually speaks Arabic, the origin of the word Salaam, which means "peace", although his wife, Rama Duwaji, is of Syrian origin. Despite the six languages of Young Cardamom, there is no mention of "Shalom," the Hebrew greeting for peace, linguistically from the same Aramaic root. In his 2019 Times' feature, it was noted that Mamdani was professionally focused on dispossessed people in New York at risk of losing their homes. The New York Post, which continues to lambast his platform, noted that as a member of the New York Assembly, he introduced a bill to end the tax-exempt status of the charities with ties to Israeli settlements "that violate international human rights law". In childhood, it was Mamdani who encouraged his mother to focus on more independent, Muslim-oriented stories. He told her to turn down Harry Potter, starring ethnically Jewish Daniel Radcliffe, and she rejected The Devil Wears Prada, starring Jewish convert Anne Hathaway and based on the autobiographical book by Jewish author Lauren Weisberger. Throughout his campaign, Mamdani has insisted he is not Anti-Semitic, and has received endorsements from Jewish politicians and regular New Yorkers. Rather, he insists he is asking larger questions about free speech and unlawful detainment, derailing biased power structures in the name of justice. Alas, music is no longer his primary vehicle for self-expression.
Fox News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Mamdani officially wins NYC Dem primary by 12 points over Cuomo, who's staying in the race for now
It was never in doubt following his stunning victory last week, but Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday was officially declared the winner of New York City's Democratic Party primary for mayor. But the big question remains: Will the 33-year-old democratic socialist from Queens — who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — continue with an independent run in November's general election? The New York City Board of Elections posted the official results of three rounds of the ranked choice voting from last week's mayoral primary, and Mamdani grabbed a majority in the third round of ranked choice voting, with 56% of the vote. Cuomo, the three-term governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals and who was aiming for a political comeback, won 44% of the vote. Cuomo was the frontrunner in the mayoral primary race for months until Mamdani closed the gap in the closing weeks of the campaign. With his victory over Cuomo and nine other candidates — officially called by the Associated Press — Mamdani is now one major step closer to becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation's most populous city. Mamdani, whose showing last week sent political shockwaves across the nation, grabbed more than 545,000 votes, the highest total for a New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner in nearly four decades. And more than 1 million ballots were cast in the primary, the largest total since 1989. "I am humbled by the support," Mamdani wrote in a social media post. And he vowed: "This is just the beginning of our expanding coalition to make New York City affordable. And we will do it together." Mamdani is now considered the favorite in the general election in heavily blue New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly a six-to-one margin. He will face off in November with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams – a Democrat who's running for re-election as an independent after his poll numbers plummeted. Adams' poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged "long-running" scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials. The mayor made repeated overtures to President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown. Also on the ballot is Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels. Sliwa is the GOP nominee for a second straight election cycle. Also running this November as an independent is former federal prosecutor Jim Walden. While he acknowledged Mamdani's victory on primary night, Cuomo left the door open for running as an independent candidate, which election rules in New York State permit. And Cuomo let a deadline pass last week for candidates who had already qualified to run as independents to decline that independent ballot line. But sources told Fox News last week that Cuomo had not committed yet to running an active general election campaign through the summer and into the fall. If Cuomo drops out of the race at a later date, his name will stay on the general election ballot. Cuomo campaign senior adviser Rich Azzopardi, in an apparent jab at Mamdani, said in a statement Tuesday that "Extremism, division and empty promises are not the answer to this city's problems, and while this was a look at what motivates a slice of our primary electorate, it does not represent the majority. The financial instability of our families is the priority here, which is why actionable solutions, results and outcomes matter so much.""We'll be continuing conversations with people from all across the city while determining next steps," Azzopardi added. Mamdani surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living. Endorsements by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star and New York City's most prominent leader on the left, and by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up, helped Mamdani consolidate support on the left. Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores. And Mamdani, thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult himself into first place. Azzopardi, in his statement on Tuesday, acknowledged that "this primary saw a massive spike in voters under 30, and those who had never voted before -- completely changing the overall electorate, which is why no poll or model predicted the outcome -- an outcome which was also felt in council races citywide." Mamdani's stunning victory last week has reignited longstanding debates within the Democratic Party between its more moderate and progressive wings, and between outsiders and the establishment. And it's reignited the debate over whether the party's policy, or messaging, was to blame for last November's election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, and failed to win back the House majority. In New York, top Democratic Party leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, have praised Mamdani's campaign. But they have refrained, as of now, from endorsing the mayoral nominee.
Wall Street Journal
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
The Improbable Rise of Zohran Mamdani
As a high school junior, Zohran Mamdani promised free juice for students in his campaign for class vice president. He lost. Now, Mamdani is promising much bigger things to New Yorkers—free busing, free child care, a rent freeze—and he is on the cusp of becoming the city's first Muslim mayor.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump staffers, supporters target Zohran Mamdani with barrage of Islamophobic hate
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump's right-wing supporters have hit Zohran Mamdani with a barrage of Islamophobic hate since he stunned the political world Tuesday night by winning the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. MAGA loyalists have claimed that Mamdani might impose religious Shariah law in the Big Apple or even spark terrorism like the Sept. 11 attacks if he becomes the city's first-ever Muslim mayor. 'NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0,' right-wing media figure Laura Loomer tweeted, adding in another post: 'There will be another 9/11 in NYC and (Zohran Mamdani) will be to blame.' Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, posted a fake photo-shopped image of the Statue of Liberty draped in a burqa, the covering worn by some observant Muslim women. 'This hits hard,' Green tweeted. Presidential son Donald Trump Jr. reposted a tweet claiming 'New Yorkers (voted) for 9/11' adding: 'New York has fallen.' Stephen Miller, the hardline deputy White House chief of staff, blamed Mamdani's win on unchecked immigration. 'NYC is the clearest warning yet of what happens to a society when it fails to control migration,' he tweeted after Mamdani's win. Mamdani, 33, has spoken openly about being the subject of Islamophobic hate speech before and during the breakthrough primary campaign that catapulted him into the national spotlight. He said in one of his first national interviews after his victory that he hopes his campaign can help Muslim New Yorkers worship as they choose and wear their faith as a badge of honor in the most diverse city in the world. 'I've spoken to many Muslims across this city who have shared 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,' he said in an interview on MSNBC. 'This is not the way that we can have our city be. It's not the way that we can have our country be.' Trump himself has trashed Mamdani as 'a 100% communist lunatic' but so far has refrained from attacking him for his faith. 'We've had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous,' Trump wrote on his social media site. 'He looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he's not very smart.' Trump has not yet endorsed anyone in the November general election. He has spoken highly of Mayor Eric Adams, who is running against Mamdani as an independent. His Justice Department dropped the corruption case against Adams in an effort to force Hizzoner to join his crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Some conservatives and big-money donors had rallied behind ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani's main opponent in the primary. But Cuomo appears to be unlikely to mount an independent run in the fall after being clobbered by Mamdani this week. Republican Curtis Sliwa is another obvious choice for Trump fans to rally behind in the November vote, although he performed poorly in the 2021 general election, winning just 27% in a one-sided matchup with Adams.
