Zohran Mamdani rebukes Republican senator for Islamaphobic posts targeting him and Muslims

“Those with power and platform have sought to dehumanize us,” said NYC’s first Muslim mayor.

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, is speaking out after being targeted in a series of social media posts from Republican U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville.

Tuberville, a controversial Republican from Alabama who compared Black descendants of slavery to criminals, referred to Mamdani, NYC’s first Muslim mayor, as the “enemy inside the gates,” along with side-by-side images of Mamdani as he broke he hosted niftar at City Hall, and a photograph of the World Trade Center buildings engulfed in flames following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist committed by al-Qaeda.

Tuberville posted several other posts calling out “radical Islamists” and accusing Democrats of wanting “illegal aliens to be allowed to vote.”

Other Republicans like U.S. Reps. Randy Fine and Andy Ogles were also called out by Democrats for their anti-Muslim posts in recent days.

“If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” Fine wrote on X. Ogles drew outrage when he wrote, “Muslims don’t belong in American society.”

Responding to Tuberville’s personal jab on Thursday, Mamdani wrote on X, “Let there be as much outrage from politicians in Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New Yorkers.”

The enemy is inside the gates. https://t.co/YSNHIpDnds— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) March 12, 2026

The New York City mayor elaborated on his feelings about the posts later that evening at an iftar dinner, saying, “Those with power and platform have sought to dehumanize us…When I hear such hatred and disdain unchecked in its rancor, I feel a loneliness and isolation that I know many of you have felt as well.”

He continued, “Who here has been told you do not belong in New York City? Who here has been told, go back where you came from?”

The post targeting Mamdani was also called out by other national Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, who called the “vile and disgusting rhetoric.”

“Hate directed at the Muslim community and Mayor Mamdani has no place in America. It is deeply unpatriotic. Islamophobia is a cancer that must be eradicated from both the Congress and the Country. The shocking silence from Republican leadership is deafening,” said Jeffries, the first Black American to serve as party leader.

Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X, “Senator Tuberville’s post on Mayor Mamdani is nothing less than blatant Islamophobic racism. Not only should Tuberville apologize, but the Republican leadership should strongly condemn this kind of ugly behavior. We must fight racism of all kinds, not condone it.”

Tuberville also falsely claimed that “Americans are being gunned down in the streets almost daily by Radical Islamists.” However, experts say violent attacks in the U.S. committed by Muslim extremists are rare and are “not resurgent,” according to a 2025 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.