Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani boasted he was a “proud democratic socialist” Sunday as he brushed off congressional Republicans’ threats to revoke his citizenship over his naturalization paperwork.
Mamdani, 34, denied being a communist after opponents claimed he lied by not disclosing on his 2018 citizenship forms that he was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“No matter how many times these Republican Congress members or the president of this country calls me a communist, it doesn’t make it true.” Mamdani told The Post Sunday, adding it was “telling” that DC Republicans were more concerned about deporting him than ending the ongoing government shutdown..
“I’m proud to be a democratic socialist,” he added.
That dismissal comes days after Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) renewed calls to have Mamdani’s citizenship investigated — and revoked — echoing allegations from GOP Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.).
The Republicans have claimed the DSA is a communist organization, and that Mamdani’s membership could have disqualified him from citizenship — citing congressional rules that categorize communism as part of a totalitarian umbrella and can disqualify followers from becoming US citizens.
How well that argument would hold water is unclear, however, as the DSA is not officially a communist party — even though some members are communists.
Mamdani was born in Uganda and moved to New York City at the age of 7 while his father taught at Columbia University, and became a naturalized US citizen in 2018.
He has also always maintained that he is not a communist, but merely a DSA member — and doubled down on those claims when asked about Fine’s and Ogles’ crusade.
“I think it is telling that in a moment where their Republican Party has shut down the federal government out of an attempt to throw four million Americans off their healthcare, a moment when active duty military families are forced to line up at food banks, they would rather focus on my citizenship,” Mamdani added.
The communist angle is not the GOP’s only attempt to probe Mamdani’s citizenship.
In June, Ogles also sent a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for a Department of Justice investigation into his citizenship over lyrics Mamdani once rapped that appeared to express solidarity for Hamas terrorists.
Mamdani leads his rivals — Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa — in the polls just over a week ahead of the Nov. 4 mayoral election.
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