Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary is serving as a flashpoint for anti-Muslim bigotry from the far right. Almost immediately after the election, Mamdani, an Indian-Muslim born in Uganda who became a citizen in 2018, faced calls for deportation, along with a slew of Islamophobic rhetoric rooted in baseless conspiracies about Muslims.
Muslims are routinely and ruthlessly profiled by racists, painting them as national security threats, terrorists, and aiming to undermine American sovereignty. This recent surge of hateful rhetoric is just the latest in American post-9/11 Islamophobia which had deadly consequences for anyone perceived to be a Muslim. That included Balbir Singh Sodi, a Sikh man, who was murdered days after 9/11 by a racist looking to “go out and shoot some towel-heads.”
Mamdani reported facing racism from political opponents and received bomb threats, which are being investigated by the NYPD, during his campaign. After winning the Democratic mayoral primaries on June 24, he faced a tidal wave of bigotry from the far right. Many of these attacks based their hatred of Mamdani on a belief in the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which falsely purports that “elites,” often Jews, are plotting to “replace” the “native” European populations of countries with non-white immigrants. Many called for his deportation.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller blamed Mamdani’s victory on “how unchecked migration fundamentally remade the NYC electorate,” claiming “Democrats change politics by changing voters.” Miller’s comments are fundamentally and falsely based on the belief that non-white immigrants are admitted into the United States to vote for Democrats, a common racist lie with “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory origins peddled by the far right.
The hate barrage included Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) tweeting on June 26 that Mamdani “be subject to denaturalization proceedings” based on the assertion that “Zohran “little muhammad” Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York.” Ogles followed up with an apparently AI-generated image insinuating Mamdani as a communist and, once again, calling for his deportation. The tweet has over eleven million views. Only a few days later, on July 1, Trump, referring to Mamdani, said “a lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” indicating a potential willingness to investigate and deport him, even though he is a naturalized citizen. He also threatened to arrest Mamdani if he blocked immigration-related arrests in New York City.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) calls Zohran Mamdani “little muhammad” in a racist tweet also calling for his deportation. (Source: Twitter)
Other MAGA influencers and Trump allies, who have previously had a hand in Trump’s policy-making, contributed to this racist rhetoric. Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, who has been on a racist tirade against Mamdani recently, said “24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City,” going on to use war-like language to describe Mamdani as a “pernicious force…poised to capture city hall” because of his Muslim identity. Laura Loomer, a virulent Islamophobe and staunch Trump ally, echoed Kirk’s statement, making the unfounded claim that “NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.” Similarly, Jack Posobiec, a MAGA influencer who has a history of spreading antisemitism and endorsing the white supremacist 14 words slogan, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,” said “A foreign-born Muslim socialist just won the primary for New York City mayor. Are we allowed to talk about mass immigration now?,” also blaming Mamdani’s victory on immigration.
The New York Young Republican Club, which endorsed an ethnic cleansing conference in Europe featuring American participants, neo-Nazis and white supremacists in May, tweeted a picture of Mamdani with the word “DEPORT” superimposed on his face, asking Presidential advisor Stephen Miller and “border czar” Tom Homan to deport Mamdani, saying “The radical Zohran Mamdani cannot be allowed to destroy our beloved city of New York… The time for action is now — [Stephen Miller] and [Tom Homan], New York is counting on you.”
Extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys, whose leadership were heavily involved in the January 6, 2021, insurrection and pardoned by Trump this year, shared the same views as mainstream MAGA commentators. The Legend Valley Proud Boys, based in Ohio, in a post about Mamdani, called him a “Marxist Muslim from Africa,” and, just like Stephen Miller, blamed the election result on “a society when it fails to control migration,” finishing their post with “The Great Replacement on full display in NYC.”
The Legend Valley Proud Boys describe Mamdani’s victory as an example of “The Great Replacement on full display in NYC,” also calling him an “Islamist Marxist” (Source: Telegram).
Attacks against Mamdani are part of an ongoing campaign against Muslims in public service. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Somali-American and a Muslim, was targeted by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) when he tweeted “America would be a better place if [Omar] were deported back to Somalia” on February 4. Gill’s tweet has over six million views. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a Palestinian-American, was compared to being a terrorist in 2024 when she was depicted in a political cartoon sitting next to a pager exploding, only days after pagers exploded across Lebanon in an attack against Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization, by Israel. A statement from Tlaib’s office strongly condemned the cartoon, saying it would “incite more hate and violence against Arab and Muslim communities.”
Representative Brandon Gill (R-TX) calls for Representative Ilhan Omar’s deportation (Source: Twitter).
When Muslims are featured in the news or are the subjects of world events, they are often targeted by the far right through the use of slurs and violent language, including threats. GPAHE has documented staggering spikes in violent anti-Muslim and antisemitic speech online since Hamas’ initial attacks on Israel in October 2023, and as the conflict continued into 2024. The far right and bigots paint all Muslims, who comprise an estimated 1.57 billion people worldwide, and people they perceive to be Muslims, as accomplices in this plan and deserving of punishment. Previous research conducted by GPAHE demonstrated the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory driving hatred against South Asians online, which included considerable overlap with anti-Muslim rhetoric, demonstrating both the wide brush white supremacists use to spread their bigotry, and the potential for violence against anyone they perceive as “foreign.”
Believers in the “Great Replacement” have committed several acts of white supremacist violence in the United States, including in Buffalo, NY., Allen, TX., Poway, CA., and internationally in Canada, Germany, Norway, and New Zealand. Muslims have been the victims of this racist terrorism, such as in the 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a gunman targeting Muslims killed 51 people whom he believed did not belong in the country. The mélange of Islamophobia and beliefs in the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory embedded within the Trump administration and its allies is a potentially deadly combination, further normalizing hatred against Muslims which has already resulted in senseless acts of violence.
