Mamdani Travels to Uganda in Break From Mayoral Campaign

New York Times

a day ago

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, said on Sunday that he was visiting Uganda, where he was born, in a break from campaigning for the general election in November.
In a video posted on X and Bluesky, Mr. Mamdani said he was making the trip to Africa with his wife, Rama Duwaji, whom he married in February, to celebrate their marriage with family and friends.
He left the city during the traditional summer lull in the weeks after the June primary, while, at the same time, his most formidable opponent, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, was seeking to strengthen his own run on an independent ballot line with appearances across New York in the aftermath of his surprise defeat by Mr. Mamdani.
In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who is running for re-election as an independent, criticized his opponent for taking a vacation. (Mr. Adams has taken numerous trips abroad before and after becoming mayor, including a weeklong 'spiritual journey' to Ghana shortly after his election in 2021.)
'At a time when public safety, housing, and education remain top concerns for working New Yorkers, the mayor is here — managing the responsibilities of running the largest city in America,' Mr. Adams said in a prepared statement. 'This election is about who's prepared to lead, not who can rack up the most passport stamps or press headlines. Eric Adams is working. Others are sightseeing.'
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Mamdani's spokesman, Jeffrey Lerner, said in a statement that the candidate would return to New York before the end of the month 'and looks forward to resuming public events and continuing his campaign to make the most expensive city in America affordable.'
In his video post, Mr. Mamdani announced the trip by satirizing xenophobic remarks by social media users urging him to 'go back to Africa.'
'I hear you, and I agree,' Mr. Mamdani says to the camera. 'I'm going back to Uganda.' But, he added, 'I do want to apologize to the haters, because I will be coming back.'
He also mocked how The New York Post might portray his trip, showing fanciful mock-ups of the paper's front page with headlines like 'M.I.A.: Mamdani in Africa.'
Mr. Mamdani's trip followed a New York Times report earlier this month that he had identified his race as both 'Asian' and 'Black or African American' when he was a high school senior applying to Columbia University.
The information came to light after a hack of internal data from Columbia that was shared with The Times by a right-wing academic who has promoted eugenicist views. In an interview, Mr. Mamdani said he had checked the boxes to try to describe his complex background, saying he did not consider himself either Black or African American, but rather 'an American who was born in Africa.'
Since his decisive win in the June 24 primary over Mr. Cuomo and other contenders, Mr. Mamdani has been gaining endorsements from labor unions and some local elected officials, including some who had previously supported Mr. Cuomo. Last week, he sought to garner more support from Washington Democrats, meeting for an hour with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, who has been cautious about endorsing him.
Although Mr. Mamdani has been endorsed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, he has notably not received the support of Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader. Mr. Schumer has said he plans to meet with Mr. Mamdani soon.