Do we like Zohran Mamdani?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Solid on trans rights, climate and housing, with one fiercely contested position on Israel and Gaza that costs him points.
Zohran Mamdani was born in Kampala to academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair, and the family moved to New York when he was seven. He became a US citizen in 2018. After a degree in Africana Studies at Bowdoin he worked as a foreclosure prevention counsellor in Queens, which he says pushed him into politics.
In 2020 he narrowly beat a four-term incumbent to win a state Assembly seat, becoming the first South Asian man to serve there. His Assembly record was modest: more than 20 bills introduced, and the New York Times noted only three relatively minor items became law. His signature free bus pilot wasn't renewed, but the affordability pitch carried him all the way to the mayor's office.
On the harm check, the trans record is the headline. He promised $65 million for gender-affirming care through public hospitals and an LGBTQ+ affairs office. When NYU Langone and Mount Sinai closed trans youth clinics in February 2026 under federal pressure, The Nation reported no specific response from him yet, and many promises still unrealised two months in. On the planet, he fought a gas plant in Astoria that regulators ended up refusing, and pledged to keep the city's building emissions law.
The sticking point is Israel. He backs the boycott movement, calls Israel's conduct in Gaza a genocide (Israel denies it), and condemned Hamas's October 7 attack as a war crime. He first said a mayor shouldn't police language like “globalize the intifada”, then said he'd discourage it. The ADL's boss said “Globalize the Intifada is an explicit call for violence,” and 66 state lawmakers condemned his earlier “Not On Our Dime!” bill, which he says didn't target synagogues.
The latest round came on the October 7 anniversary. His statement acknowledged the attack, then accused Israel of genocide, and Jewish Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman called it “egregious and insulting”. Mamdani declined to retract it and said there must be room to mourn every life. Where you land depends on whether you read it as honest grief for Palestinians or as muddying a day of mourning for Israelis.
He has also copped a lot himself. A talk radio host called him a “radical Islam cockroach”, a senator's post invoked 9/11 over his photo, and there was an anti-Muslim protest at his doorstep. He told ABC7 “It takes a toll.” Former mayor Rudy Giuliani urged him to skip the 9/11 ceremony and made claims about Islam that the report calls false; Mamdani said he'd attend. Faith alone is no mark against anyone here.