Fresh off his upset primary victory, NYC’s Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani has found himself in President Trump’s crosshairs over his campaign vow to obstruct federal immigration raids.
“Well, then we’ll have to arrest him,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday at a migrant detention center in Florida. “Look, we don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over them very carefully on behalf of the nation.”
Mamdani officially clinched the Democratic nomination just hours earlier after ranked-choice voting results confirmed his stunning upset over former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Final tallies showed the 33-year-old assemblyman defeating Cuomo 56% to 44%, marking one of the biggest political upsets in recent NYC history.
During his primary campaign, Mamdani vowed to “Trump-proof” New York City and prevent what he called “masked” ICE officials from “deporting our neighbors.” Other campaign promises include freezing rents on stabilized apartments, making city buses free, creating publicly-owned grocery stores, and raising taxes on wealthy residents.
“I think the people in New York are crazy because they go this route,” Trump remarked. “We will have a communist in there for the first time, really a pure, true communist.”
Mamdani quickly fired back at Trump’s deportation threat.
“The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city,” he stated,
“His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you.”
November’s general election will feature Mamdani against current Mayor Eric Adams, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and potentially Andrew Cuomo running on an independent ballot line.
After attacking Mamdani, Trump praised current Adams, who’s running as an independent after the Justice Department dropped corruption charges against him in September.
“You have a good independent running – Mayor Adams, who is a very good person,” Trump said. “I helped him out a little bit; he had a problem.”
If elected, Mamdani has vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited the city over “war crimes” in Gaza. He has also led chants in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and has refused to condemn the term “globalize the intifada.”
Even progressive House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has broken with Mamdani, telling ABC News that the antisemitic phrase is “not an acceptable phrasing” and demanding clarification.
“With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent,” Jeffries said. “I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development.”
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