Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who is running for the New York City mayoral race, torched the Republicans and President Donald Trump after a Republican councilwoman called for his deportation. Mamdani, a New York state assembly member, is an Indian-Ugandan-American who became a US citizen after 2016 — during Donald Trump’s first term. Mamdani’s father Mahmood Mamdani is an India-born Ugandan academic and his mother Mira Nair is an Indian-American filmmaker. In 2019, Mamdani campaigned for Bernie Sanders for 2020 and said he was excited, as 2020 would be his first presidential vote as he was not a US citizen in 2016. “I couldn’t vote for @BernieSanders in 2016 because I wasn’t a citizen yet, but I can’t wait for my first presidential vote to be for him in 2020. And I’m even more excited to share a ballot with him and help build the political revolution from Albany to Washington,” Mamdani wrote in his 2019 post which became a flashpoint.GOP councilwoman Vickie Paladino shared this old post and said it’s insane that the person who was not even a citizen nine years ago is now running for such a major office. “Let’s just talk about how insane it is to elect someone to any major office who hasn’t even been a US citizen for ten years—much less a radical leftist who actually hates everything about the country and is here specifically to undermine everything we’ve ever been about. Deport,” Paladino posted. Mamdani reacted strongly and said he drew the line there after receiving death threats and Islamophobic slurs. “Death threats. Islamophobic bigotry. Now a sitting Councilmember calling for my deportation. Enough. This is what Trump and his sycophants have wrought. It’s an assault on the values of our city and our Constitution. Will Cuomo condemn this or will that upset his MAGA donors?” Mamdani wrote referring to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who is also running for New York City mayor.
