Criticism grows over Zohran Mamdani's ethnicity
He confirmed writing 'Ugandan' in a space that allowed for additional background, adding, 'I wanted my college application to reflect who I was.' The Ivy League institution ended up rejecting Mamdani even though his father - Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani - has worked there since 1999. But several on social media - and the hosts of Fox & Friends - accused Mamdani of filling out the form as he did to gain an upper hand in the admissions process.
At the time, Columbia considered race in its admissions process, a system designed to boost the chances of underrepresented minorities. 'Mamdani just baldly lying on every one of his college applications that he was "racially Black" in order to exploit an utterly corrupt & unjust system for his own selfish advancement,' wrote UNC School for Civic Life & Leadership Associate Dean David Decosimo on X. '[M]ay be the most authentically communist thing he has ever done.'
Prominent progressive Chris Cillizza got it on the action as well, re-sharing a portion of the report that discussed the discrepancies between Mamdani's current Muslim immigrant identity and the labels unveiled in the leak. 'Oops!' the former legacy journalist wrote, as another called Mamdani's application 'The latest in a long list of frauds from the Democrat Party.' Over on the Fox & Friends sofa, the outrage was similarly swift, with Fourth of July fill-in hosts Charlie Hurt, Griff Jenkins, and Katie Pavlich airing suspicions about Mamdani's motivations as well.
'Democrats' new nominee to be the mayor of New York City, Mr. Mamdani, clearly despises America and everything that we stand for,' said Hurt to start the segment, calling Mamdani a 'full-blown communist.' 'Also a racist, by the way,' he added. 'It turns out that he had-, when he applied for Columbia University, he described himself as being Black and African-American because his parents happened to be in Uganda when he was born.' Pavlich compared the case to the controversy the one that's plagued Elizabeth Warren, while joking about Mamdani still not being accepted after the fact.
'He said his answers on the college application were an attempt to represent his complex background given the limited choices before him, and not to gain an upper hand in the admissions process,' she said. 'Maybe he should call Elizabeth Warren and see how this worked out for her, but she did use it to get ahead. So, you know, maybe there's a difference there.' Others compared it to the controversy surrounding Warren's Native American heritage as well, years after it resurfaced when Donald Trump referred to the Democratic senator as 'Pocahontas' during a 2017 ceremony at the White House.
Warren's ancestry came into question in 2012, when she was a candidate trying to unseat then-Sen. Scott Brown. At the time, the former Harvard professor claimed to be part Cherokee and Delaware Indian - without a shred of evidence. Brown - and many others - subsequently accused her of claiming to be a descendant of American Indians to advance her career in academia. Warren denied it. 'Let me be clear. I never asked for, never got any benefit because of my heritage,' Warren said in a 2012 TV rebuttal ad at the time.
When pressed by the Times, he said that aside from those forms, he could not recall another time where he identified as black or African-American. He also said he doesn't identify as either race he checked, and that he sees himself as 'an American who was born in Africa.' The information comes from a leaked database of past Columbia applications laid uncovered in a recent hack.
It also comes as Mamdani is set to face off with incumbent Eric Adams, Republican Curtis Silwa, and reportedly Andrew Cuomo - this time as an independent - in November, following a whirlwind campaign that saw him upset the latter last month. His promises to freeze rents, streamline transportation, and strengthen the city's social services has been panned by some as realistic.
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