South Africa #14
Zohran Mamdani’s Radical Islamic Ties and Policies Threatens New Yorker’s Public Safety
“South African-schooled Zohran Mamdani stuns in New York City mayoral race”
Zohran Mamdani, who attended school in Cape Town in the 1990s, could become New York City’s first Muslim mayor.
Young self-declared socialist Zohran Mamdani was on the cusp of a stunning victory Wednesday in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary – pummeling his scandal-scarred establishment rival in a race seen as a fight for the future of the Democratic Party.
Results were not yet final, but Mamdani – who is just 33 and would become the city’s first Muslim mayor – had such a commanding lead that his biggest rival, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, conceded defeat overnight.
The Ugandan-born, Cape Town-schooled state assemblyman was behind Cuomo in polls until near the end, surging on a message of lower rents, free daycare and other populist ideas in the notoriously expensive metropolis.
Commenting on the primary result in his former hometown, Trump lashed out at Mamdani as “a 100% Communist Lunatic,” adding that Democrats had “crossed the line” by choosing him.
On Wednesday he suggested his campaign and shock upset could serve as a model for the future for Democrats.
“It has been tempting, I think, for some to claim as if the party has gone too left, when in fact what has occurred for far too long is the abandonment of the same working-class voters who then abandoned this party,” he told public radio WNNY.
The son of Indian-origin immigrants, he is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America party — the kind of niche, leftist affiliation that many Democratic leaders believe their party needs to shed.
The fact Mamdani speaks out for Palestinians and has accused Israel of “genocide” also makes him a prime target for Trump.
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/politics/cape-town-schooled-zohran-mamdani-south-africa-new-york-city-mayor/26-06-25