Zohran Mamdani news
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The gist
Mayor Zohran Mamdani shook Rudy Giuliani's hand at Ground Zero on the 9/11 25th anniversary.
The moment caps a fight over whether the city's first Muslim mayor should attend.
Background
Mamdani, a 34-year-old former Assembly member, became New York's first Muslim mayor after a surprise win, and his thin management experience has focused attention on the mix of veterans and newcomers in his administration. As the city's top elected official he must speak about Sept. 11, while also belonging to a religious group that has faced hostility and suspicion since the attacks. In the weeks before the ceremony he visited firehouses around the city, trying to keep attention on the victims rather than himself.
How it unfolded
- Sep 10, 2026Conservative politicians stood with victims' relatives on the steps of City Hall to repeat their demand that Mamdani not take part in Friday's memorial ceremony.
- Sep 10, 2026Rep. Mike Lawler called on Mamdani to skip the NYC 9/11 memorial; Giuliani had also called on him to skip it, and a Giuliani spokesperson said the former mayor's administration had relied on federal air quality assessments.
- Sep 11, 2026Mamdani and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani genially shook hands at Ground Zero ahead of the 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony.
- Sep 11, 2026A brief interaction between Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, captured on video at the ceremony, drew fierce criticism and pushback from those who said the video was taken out of context.
- Sep 11, 2026After the ceremony, Mamdani spoke at an interfaith memorial service at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11.
- Sep 13, 2026An interview with Mamdani was published by EL PAÍS.
Who’s saying what
- Party
- Mike Lawler, Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki and Bruce Blakeman called on Mamdani to stay away from the memorial; Giuliani said Mamdani 'doesn't agree that September 11 was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America' and that his attending 'offends' him.
- Official
- Mamdani said the focus 'should be on the New Yorkers who were killed that day, their families, the survivors, the first responders. I don't think it should be on politicians.'
- Official
- Mamdani said 'People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,' and that the government was 'nowhere to be found' when they dealt with the illnesses that followed.
- Caution
- Critics of the Mamdani–Ocasio-Cortez video said it was taken out of context, while others criticized the interaction itself.
Still unverified
A brief interaction between Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez captured on video at the ceremony sparked fierce criticism that was met with pushback from those who say the video was taken out of context.