Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zahran Mamdani does not appear to deny his rival’s accusation that he did not vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
During Thursday’s debate, ahead of New York City’s mayoral general election, former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran for mayor as an independent, accused Mamdani, a democratic socialist, of not being a Democrat and not voting for Harris. Harris was the party’s unsuccessful nominee against then-candidate Donald Trump. Mamdani responded that he did not directly say who he voted for in the 2024 general election. He instead said he supported leaving that year’s Democratic primary ballot blank in protest of what he called “Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.” (RELATED: Democrats hold socialist Zahran Mamdani at arm’s length after he declares victory over party ‘soul’)
“You’re not a Democrat. You’re not a Democrat,” said Cuomo, who lost to Mamadani in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary on June 24. “You’re a democratic socialist. You didn’t vote for Kamala Harris, did you?”
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“This is an incendiary charge,” Mamdani responded while pleading with the moderator — who appeared to want to move on to another topic — for a chance to respond.
“You didn’t say leave it blank in Kamala’s campaign?” Cuomo asked, referring to Mamdani support A campaign For Democrats in New York to oppose former President Joe Biden during the party’s 2024 primaries. This is in protest of the way the Biden administration handled the war between Israel and Hamas. Harris was not a candidate during the primaries. She did not enter the presidential race until after Biden withdrew in July 2024.
“I said leave it blank for presidential primaries because primaries are a place to express dissent,” Mamdani told Cuomo. “Like many Americans, I was horrified by Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.”
“And if you want to look for me on the ballot you will find me as a Democrat,” Mamdani added, without directly addressing how he would vote in the 2024 general election.
Mamdani has been heavily criticized for failing to directly condemn the phrase “globalization of uprising,” which is widely seen as a call for anti-Semitic violence.
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