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Vice President JD Vance criticized New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Saturday, writing on X that according to the Democrat, “the real victim of 9/11” was his aunt.
Vance made the remark as early voting began Saturday in New York City, where Mamdani, the frontrunner in the race, is trying to fend off challengers Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
“I want to speak to the memory of my aunt. Who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” Mamdani said in a clip of a Friday campaign event that Vance shared.
“According to Zohran, the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks,” Vance said.
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Mamdani also said Friday that, “I want to speak to the Muslim who works for our city, whether they teach in our schools or walk the beat for the NYPD, New Yorkers who all make daily sacrifices for the city they call home, only to see their leaders spit in their face.”
“I want to speak to every child who grows up here marked as the other, who is randomly selected in a way that never quite feels random, who feels that they carry a stain that can never be cleaned. Growing up in the shadow of 9/11, I have known what it means to live with an undercurrent of suspicion in this city,” Mamdani added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mamdani campaign for reaction to Vance’s comment.
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Mamdani accused Cuomo this week of “Islamophobic rhetoric” after the former governor joined a radio show and its host speculated that Mamdani would be “cheering” if New York City faced another 9/11-style attack.
During an appearance on WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning” on Thursday, Cuomo questioned Mamdani’s ability to lead the city through a crisis situation.
“Any given moment, there’s a crisis, and people’s lives are at stake. God forbid, there’s another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Cuomo asked host Sid Rosenberg.
“He’d be cheering,” Rosenberg retorted.
“That’s another problem,” said Cuomo, before returning to his hypothetical question: “But could you imagine that?”
During a Mamdani campaign event in Manhattan later on Thursday, a reporter asked Mamdani if Cuomo’s comments were Islamophobic.
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“Yes, I believe that they were,” Mamdani said, before adding, “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.”
Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.