New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has faced a litany of derogatory attacks concerning his religion in the week since he became the presumed winner of the Democratic primary. 

The attacks have primarily come from the right, with Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) calling for Mamdani to be denaturalized and deported and President Trump even chiming in on Tuesday referencing false claims that Mamdani entered the country illegally. 

But Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) also faced backlash in recent days for a comment she made claiming Mamdani had called for “global jihad,” which her communications director said was a misstatement and for which she has apologized. 

Experts said comments referencing the religion of Muslim political figures isn’t anything new but has expanded its reach over time. 

“That’s the decades-long pattern,” said Corey Saylor, the research and advocacy director for the Center on American-Islamic Relations. “What’s new in the last couple of weeks is figures with mainstream reach using some of the most vile possible stereotypes.” 

Mussab Ali, a Muslim Democratic candidate running for mayor in Jersey City, N.J., just over the Hudson River from New York, said he’s been disappointed that more Democrats haven’t publicly pushed back against the comments Mamdani has received. 

“I don’t think we expected Republicans to even push back at all at this point,” he said. “But I think the fact that Democrats have not been more vocal in holding the line and having Mamdani’s back, I think, is very telling.” 

As Mamdani rose in the polls in the primary and pulled off a shocking upset win over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become the Democratic nominee, he received a wide range of attacks for his political positions, identifying as a democratic socialist. 

But a handful of right-wing figures have made personal attacks on Mamdani, directly or indirectly referencing his religion. If elected, Mamdani would be the first Muslim mayor of New York City. 

Some of the comments have come from right-wing media figures, connecting the 9/11 attacks to Mamdani’s religion and potential election. 

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote last Tuesday that a “group of Muslims” killed more than 2,750 people on 9/11 and “Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.” Right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who has a history of anti-Muslim sentiments and is also a Trump ally, said New York City is “about to see 9/11 2.0” given Mamdani’s nomination. 

Staunchly conservative members of Congress have also made comments leaning into Mamdani’s identity as a person rather than his politics. 

Ogles, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, called for Mamdani to face denaturalization proceedings and be deported, dubbing him “little muhammad” in an apparent reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. 

And Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), another member of the caucus, went after Mamdani for a video in which he was seen eating biryani, a rice dish, with his hands. 

“Civilized people in America don’t eat like this,” he said in a post on X. “If you refuse to adopt Western customs, go back to the Third World.” 

Saylor said the comments mirror a pattern that members of both parties have engaged in. He referred to former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) saying that the U.S. could “take out” Islamic holy sites if al-Qaeda launched a nuclear attack on the country and the Obama administration restarting its Countering Violent Extremism Initiative that heavily targeted Muslim Americans. 

Saylor said the rhetoric has remained the same, but the rise of social media has given it even more attention. He argued the closeness that figures like Loomer have to the White House “suggests that kind of vile rhetoric has greater access to the highest levels of power in our country than it did a decade ago.” 

Ali, the mayoral candidate in Jersey City, said the best way to combat these types of comments is to continue electing Muslim political candidates. He said many people in the country don’t know any Muslims personally because they make up a small minority, so depictions on television are their only picture of them. 

“It’s not the idea that people should be elected because they’re Muslim,” he said. “But once you get into power, once you get into office, I think it makes it less acceptable for people to tolerate racial slurs or these religious slurs, because people [say], ‘Look, this is someone who I respect. This is someone who is in power. This is somebody that I know.’”

While Trump himself hasn’t made the same kind of comments as some of his allies, he has targeted Mamdani personally and hinted that the administration may look into his legal status. 

Trump said during a press conference on Tuesday that “a lot of people are saying” Mamdani entered the country illegally and “we’re going to look at everything.” 

Mamdani legally immigrated to the U.S. as a young child with his family after first growing up in Uganda. 

Trump also suggested Mamdani may be arrested if he tries to interfere with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents trying to conduct operations to deport people. 

Mamdani responded that Trump’s words were a “message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you.” 

Preston Nouri, the director of government affairs for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said using this type of messaging as a political tool has been common since 2001, but he was surprised by the extent of the “hatred and genuine vitriol.” 

“They’re calling into question citizenship, his motives, trying to say that he’s an actual terrorist or something like that,” Nouri said. “It’s quite frankly disgusting when he ran on a platform of trying to support all New Yorkers.” 

He argued Mamdani proved his ability to have widespread appeal and interest in representing the coalition he put together. In the primary, Mamdani performed well with groups like young voters and those with a college degree, but he also outperformed expectations with other groups, winning some mixed Black-Hispanic neighborhoods and wealthy older white areas. 

But the criticisms of Mamdani haven’t just come from the right. 

Gillibrand stirred a significant reaction for comments she made last week calling on Mamdani to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been a lightning rod throughout the war between Israel and Hamas. Activists disagree on the meaning of the phrase, with various groups deciphering it in different ways, from it being a broader call for peaceful resistance against Israeli occupation to promoting violence against Jews.

Mamdani has avoided denouncing it, saying it has different meanings to different people. 

But Gillibrand also claimed Mamdani made references to “global jihad,” which religious extremists have used to refer to conducting violent attacks against those not aligned with their beliefs. Mamdani hasn’t made references to this. 

A spokesperson for Gillibrand said after her remarks that she misspoke, and she called Mamdani to apologize on Monday for the comment and her tone. 

Ani Zonnevald, the president of Muslims for Progressive Values, said Gillibrand’s apology “really goes a long way.” 

“It does matter, particularly after you’ve said such mean things about someone and for Gillibrand to correct herself the way she did, I think it’s a huge plus,” she said. 

Zonnevald attributed grassroots pushback to helping lead to Gillibrand’s apology. 

“Violence starts with hate speech. And this is what it is. It’s hate speech, and the fact that we have our government officials doubling down on hate speech is really appalling, but that’s where we are at this moment,” she said. “We really have to count on the masses, the American population, to step forward and to say, this is unacceptable.”