An aide to New York City’s mayor, known for her progressive stance, finds herself embroiled in controversy due to her father’s business dealings. Cea Weaver, who leads efforts in Zohran Mamdani’s Office to Protect Tenants, has sparked outrage among locals with her radical ideas, including the notion that white property ownership is inherently racist and her proposition to ‘seize private property’ as a counter to gentrification, which she labels as an extension of white supremacy.

Weaver, aged 37, was reportedly emotional when questioned by a Daily Mail journalist about her controversial opinions, particularly in light of her father’s activities, which seemingly contradict her stance. Her father, Stewart A Weaver, is a history professor who also operates as a landlord, a fact that complicates her public statements.

Residing in a charming home in Rochester’s Highland Park area, valued at over $514,000, Stewart and his wife, Tatyana Bakhmetyeva, have additional property interests. They own a townhouse in Brighton, appraised at nearly $159,000, which they lease out for additional income, as uncovered by the Daily Mail.

The couple purchased this townhouse in June 2024, paying $224,900, according to property records. However, the latest valuation from the Monroe County assessor’s office lists the property’s worth at $158,600, highlighting a disparity between purchase price and current market assessment.

But the couple also own a near-$159,000 townhouse in nearby Brighton that they rent out as a secondary stream of income, the Daily Mail can reveal.

The University of Rochester professor and his wife purchased the home in June 2024 for $224,900, property records showed. But the Monroe County assessor’s office last year only valued the residence at $158,600.

Mr Weaver has publicly backed his daughter’s calls for tenant protections and even testified before the New York State Assembly’s housing committee in May 2019 in favor of ‘robust tenant protection’ and rent stabilization.

He told the legislature: ‘In the years that I have been myself renting a home in Brighton, New York, I have not raised the rent once.’ He argued that the rent his tenants paid covered the mortgage and built up his equity in the home. 

Woke New York City mayoral aide Cea Weaver burst into tears on Wednesday morning when confronted about her anti-white tweets and hypocrisy

Weaver’s father, Stewart A Weaver, and his wife, Tatyana Bakhmetyeva, own and are landlords of a $159,000 townhouse in Brighton, New York

The couple purchased the home in June 2024, property records showed

Given he and Bakhmetyeva purchased their Brighton townhouse just two years ago, it is unclear to which property Mr Weaver was referring. The Daily Mail did not find any records linking the couple to other residences in Brighton.

Her father’s financial sideline was uncovered just one day after the Daily Mail revealed Weaver’s mother Professor Celia Appleton owns a $1.4 million home in Nashville. 

Weaver previously tweeted that ‘homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy’ and that ‘homeownership is racist’ in social media posts that also urged people to ‘impoverish the white middle class.’ 

In another Twitter missive from 2018, she wrote: ‘There is no such thing as “good gentrifier,” only people who are actively working on projects to dismantle white supremacy and capitalism and people who aren’t.’

Weaver further called for the election of communist lawmakers, although publicly she claims to be a member of the far-left Democrat Socialists. 

But the privileged former Bryn Mawr College student’s own parents appear to be among the type of homeowners who she has publicly slammed. 

Weaver’s mother Applegate, a professor of German Studies at Vanderbilt University and her partner David Blackbourn, a professor of history, purchased their home in Music City USA’s Hillsboro West End neighborhood in July 2012 for $814,000, according to county property records.

Since then, its value has soared by nearly $600,000 – a surge in value likely to infuriate Weaver, who has been vocal in her dislike of wealth-building through property ownership.

Her father, who purchased his Rochester residence in 1997 for $180,000, has seen a similar surge in appreciation with the home now valued at more than $516,000.

Despite being a landlord, Mr Weaver has joined his daughter in her fight to combat the housing crisis in New York state.

Weaver sniffed ‘no’ through tears when a Daily Mail reporter asked about her mother’s $1.4million home, after she claimed white people owning property is racist 

Her mother Celia Applegate owns a $1.4 million home in the gentrified Hillsboro West End neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee

Weaver grew up in a single-family home in Rochester, New York, that her father purchased for $180,000 in 1997. The home is now worth over $516,000

In his testimony in 2019, urged lawmakers to pass then-proposed Good Cause Eviction law, which prohibits the removal of tenants from their homes without ‘good cause’ and price gouging of monthly rent. The law went into effect in April 2024.

‘It’s clear that we have an eviction crisis in New York State. We have an affordable housing crisis. We have a homelessness crisis in New York State and the City of Rochester and far too many of our local residents are rent burdened,’ Mr Weaver told the assembly.

He argued that rent stabilization is ‘critical to the long term wellbeing of all New Yorkers,’ and claimed that landlords need a ‘stable housing market’ and ‘tenants with secure long term leases.’

Highlighting how he had not raised his tenant’s rent, Mr Weaver added: ‘I have not raised the rent once, and yet, still between the mortgage interest deduction and various other tax deductions that are available to me – and the simple fact that my tenants are covering my mortgage and, in fact, building up my equity in the home –  it isn’t necessary for me to charge rent in excess of the mortgage for this to work to my benefit and, I believe, the benefit of the neighborhood.

‘Landlords should want tenants who have security, who have pride of occupation, who have a vicarious sense of ownership, even in the place where they live, to the extent that they’re willing to live there for a long time. This is in all of our interest.’

It is unclear if Mr Weaver has maintained his stance against increasing tenants’ rents as calls to the professor and the last known residents of his townhouse went unanswered. 

Weaver was appointed to Mamdani’s team under one of three executive orders the new mayor signed on his first day in office. The duo are pictured together

Weaver now lives in Brooklyn’s once-historically black Crown Heights neighborhood, seemingly renting a three-bedroom unit for around $3,800 per month. A Working Families Party sign can be seen displayed in a window of what is believed to be her apartment

Cea Weaver, who runs Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Office to Protect Tenants, was overcome with emotion when confronted outside her apartment in Brooklyn on Wednesday morning.

The 37-year-old began running down the street after seeing a Daily Mail reporter outside her home, then said ‘No’ through tears when asked if she wanted to comment on her professor mother Celia Appleton’s ownership of the $1.4 million property in fast-gentrifying Nashville.

Weaver appeared to be walking towards a nearby subway station, but then turned back and ran inside her home, which has a ‘Free Palestine’ poster taped to one of its windows. 

She was subsequently seen peering out the same window with the poster in it. 

Weaver lives in Crown Heights – a historically black neighborhood whose longtime residents have also been priced out by white newcomers.  

In a press conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he stood by Weaver, but his team is understood to have been caught by surprise by her anti-white tweets.

Weaver deleted her X account after her old posts were unearthed by anti-woke campaigner Michelle Tandler.  

She attempted to distance herself from them yesterday in a statement that said: ‘Regretful comments from years ago do not change what has always been clear –  my commitment to making housing affordable and equitable for New York’s renters.’

A selection of Cea Weaver’s anti-white tweets emerged after her appointment by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani 

The Trump administration said it is aware of Weaver’s anti-white tweets and warned she faces a federal investigation if any evidence of anti-Caucasian discrimination emerges. 

When contacted by the Daily Mail via phone on Tuesday, Weaver said: ‘I can’t talk to you now, but can talk to you later,’ and hung up before a reporter could ask any questions. She did not respond to a follow-up text sent on Wednesday.

Mayor Mamdani swept to victory in a stunning political upset in November 2025 thanks mainly to his vow to tackle the soaring cost of living in New York City.

He vowed to freeze rent on the Big Apple’s one million rent stabilized homes that house around 2.5 million people, 30 percent of the city’s population.