Andres Kudacki/FR170905 AP
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is condemning a series of anti-Muslim social media posts by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama as “bigotry.”
On X, Tuberville reposted an image of Mamdani next to a photo of the deadly 9/11 terror attacks in New York City along with the words “the enemy is inside the gates.”
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has been the subject of repeated verbal attacks during the Ramadan season now underway.
Speaking at an iftar dinner Thursday evening, a special meal held to break the daily Ramadan fast, Mamdani said many American Muslims face prejudice.
“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,” Mamdani said. “Who here has been told, you do not belong in New York City? Who here has been told, go back where you came from?”
On Thursday, Tuberville also claimed falsely that “Americans are being gunned down in the streets almost daily by Radical Islamists.”
Experts say attacks in the U.S. by Muslim extremists are rare and are “not resurgent,” according to a 2025 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Republican leaders have been largely silent about Tuberville’s anti-Muslim posts. A growing number of Democrats, meanwhile, have condemned his statements. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader, described Tuberville’s posts as “mindless hate.”
Andres Kudacki/FR170905 AP
“Muslim Americans are cops, doctors, nurses, teachers, bankers, bricklayers, mothers, fathers, neighbors, mayors, and more,” Schumer said. “Islamophobic hate like this is fundamentally un-American.”
Vermont’s Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders called Tuberville’s attack on Mamdani “nothing less than blatant Islamophobic racism.”
Earlier this month, prominent far-right New York City radio host Sid Rosenberg issued a partial apology after calling Mamdani an “America-hating, Jew-hating, Radical Islam cockroach.” Rosenberg later said his comments were “a bit over the top.”
During Thursday’s iftar dinner, Mamdani called on Muslim Americans to continue celebrating their faith and culture openly and with joy, but he also described a deepening climate of distrust.
“What I so often hear is the pressure to fit oneself into an ever-narrowing box, to suppress parts of oneself in the hope of finding acceptance,” Mamdani said.
