New York
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Andrew Cuomo saved up a late-campaign effort to boost fears in regards to the Muslim faith of Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, even laughing Thursday on the suggestion that Mamdani would cheer a terror assault like 9/11 have been it to occur once more.
Cuomo, the previous New York governor operating an unbiased bid after dropping to Mamdani in the Democratic main, chuckled as radio host Sid Rosenberg, who has beforehand referred to as Mamdani an “animal” and a “jihadist,” closed out a section by calling Mamdani a “terrorist.”
“God forbid, another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Cuomo posited.
“He’d be cheering,” Rosenberg responded.
Cuomo paused and laughed alongside, including, “That’s another problem.”
The feedback, made simply days earlier than New Yorkers solid their ballots, was the newest invocation by Cuomo of Mamdani’s Muslim faith and background.
In the final days earlier than the November 4 common election, Cuomo has repeatedly centered on Mamdani’s faith, arguing he was betraying Islam by supporting the decriminalization of intercourse work whereas additionally suggesting that Mamdani would betray New York City on issues of public security and terrorism as he appeals to moderates and conservatives in addition to Jewish voters involved about Mamdani’s criticism of Israel.
Asked if he believed Cuomo was making Islamophobic statements in opposition to him, Mamdani replied with “yes.”
“We’re speaking about a former governor who, in his final moments in public life, is engaging in rhetoric that is not only Islamophobic, not only racist, it’s also disgusting,” Mamdani instructed reporters Thursday. “Andrew Cuomo’s message is to smear and slander the first Muslim candidate on the verge of leading this city where 1 in 8 New Yorkers are Muslim and say that by virtue of your faith you are worthy of suspicion.”
Among the Democrats who ripped Cuomo’s feedback was US Rep. Ritchie Torres, who has been a sharp critic of Mamdani.
“It should be possible to critique a candidate’s ideas without demonizing the candidate himself,” Torres wrote on X. “To insinuate that a mayoral candidate would celebrate a second 9/11 is beyond disgusting and disgraceful. We all have a responsibility to lower the temperature and to restore a measure of civility to our public discourse.”
In one mayoral debate, Cuomo tore into Mamdani, who’s a Shia Muslim, by referencing Sunni Muslims and saying Mamdani had concepts that have been “haram,” or forbidden. The Shia-Sunni break up dates almost to the founding of Islam and has typically animated non secular and political tensions amongst Muslims.
“To Zohran, I believe you have been a divisive force in New York, and I believe that’s toxic energy for New York,” Cuomo stated. “It’s with the Sunni Muslims when you say decriminalize prostitution, which is haram.”
Standing subsequent to Mayor Eric Adams Wednesday hours after his radio interview, Cuomo nodded as Adams appeared to counsel Mamdani’s election would usher in Islamic extremism to New York.
“New York can’t be Europe, folks,” Adams stated “You see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism, not Muslims. Let’s not mix this up.”
During Wednesday night time’s debate, the Cuomo marketing campaign posted after which shortly deleted an AI-generated video to social media, exhibiting a pretend model of Mamdani utilizing his arms to shove rice into his mouth as a voiceover warned about Mamdani’s “radical” concepts.
And in the course of the Democratic main marketing campaign, an anti-Mamdani tremendous PAC that raised thousands and thousands for Cuomo ran tv advertisements that described Mamdani as “dangerous” by solely utilizing footage of him sporting conventional South Asian clothes. Mamdani normally wears a go well with when campaigning. Mamdani additionally accused Cuomo of sending mailers to voters which confirmed him with a darkened beard.
Zara Rahim, a senior adviser on Mamdani’s marketing campaign, stated Cuomo was “trying to define what being Muslim should look like.”
“He has only tried to court Muslim people by saying look at this bad Muslim – that is a desperate tactic from a man who has nothing to say to Muslim people,” Rahim stated.
Cuomo was questioned earlier this 12 months for by no means having visited a mosque throughout his almost 12 years as governor of New York, a state residence to at least one of the biggest Muslim populations in the nation. Now, his marketing campaign says he’s been to a number of, typically making a number of stops in a single week.
Cuomo’s newfound effort to courtroom the South Asian neighborhood was additionally the subject of intense sparring between Cuomo and Mamdani in the primary debate, with Cuomo at one level suggesting Mamdani’s politics will not be “representative” of the Muslim neighborhood or “follow the Muslim faith.”
A visibly miffed Mamdani responded by declaring Cuomo hadn’t visited a mosque till after he misplaced in the Democratic main.
“It took me to get you to even see those Muslims as part of this city, and that frankly is something that is shameful,” Mamdani stated.
Cuomo’s marketing campaign additionally launched an effort referred to as “Hindus for Cuomo,” with visits to Hindu mandirs, or temples, the place he decries democratic socialism. And following others’ cues, he’s discovered to bow and contact the ground when coming into a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship.
Aides to Cuomo imagine he might be able to peel away some assist amongst older, extra conservative voters who are likely to give attention to public security and training. They are hoping Cuomo’s guarantees to rent extra officers and develop the town’s gifted and proficient faculties might pull some immigrant voters away from Mamdani, who has referred to as for police reforms whereas disavowing his previous calls to defund regulation enforcement and proposed narrowing gifted applications.
Mamdani, an immigrant from Uganda, was raised by Indian dad and mom in Manhattan and was 9 years outdated on September 11, 2001.
He has spoken about how rising up in the submit 9/11 world formed his childhood, echoing the same story instructed by 1000’s of youngsters who have been in faculty the morning of the assaults.
“Zohran grew up in the shadow of 9/11,” Rahim, his senior adviser, stated Thursday. “At the end of the day, this is New York City and New Yorkers are very familiar with garden-variety Islamophobia; they see it and reject it.”