Zohran Mamdani Shares Aunt Felt Unsafe in Hijab After 9/11; JD Vance Responds

Zohran Mamdani on Aunt’s Post-9/11 Hijab Fears, JD Vance Fires Snarky Response.

In a pointed exchange during the New York City mayoral campaign, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani shared that his aunt stopped taking the subway after the 9/11 attacks because she did not feel safe wearing her hijab. Speaking outside a Bronx mosque alongside Muslim community leaders, Mamdani highlighted the “indignities” faced by Muslims in the city.

“These are lessons that so many Muslim New Yorkers have been taught,” Mamdani said, noting that in recent days, these lessons were echoed by political rivals Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, and Eric Adams.

Mamdani also spoke about navigating politics as a Muslim, saying he had been advised to downplay his faith early in his campaign.

“I thought that if I behaved well enough, or bit my tongue enough in the face of racist, baseless attacks, it would allow me to be seen as more than just my faith. I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough,” he said.

The remarks prompted a snarky reaction from US Vice President JD Vance, who tweeted that, according to Mamdani, the real victim of 9/11 “was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks.”

Mamdani’s comments come amid ongoing political attacks, with his opponents painting him as a radical. Cuomo, running as an independent, recently appeared on a conservative radio station, where he laughed along at a host’s suggestion that Mamdani would “be cheering” another 9/11 attack. Sliwa, the Republican candidate, has accused Mamdani of supporting “global jihad,” while Mayor Adams has repeatedly linked issues of Islamic extremism to broader European-style societal problems.

Mamdani emphasized his goal for Muslims to be treated equally, saying:

“The dream of every Muslim is to be treated the same as any other New Yorker. And yet for too long we have been told to ask for less than that, and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive. No more.”

“I will not change who I am, how I eat, for the faith that I’m proud to call my own. But there is one thing that I will change. I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light,” he said.