Hegseth Refuses to Admit Courts Can Stop Him in Alarming Testimony
A pro–Andrew Cuomo super PAC released a mailer this week that modified the image of Zohran Mamdani, the progressive front-runner in New York City’s mayoral race, to appear as if he has a darker, longer beard.
The altered image of Mamdani, a New York state representative, appeared next to text on a mailer claiming that Mamdani “rejects” the police and capitalism. It also claimed that Mamdani “rejects Israel,” on the basis that the Ugandan-born Democratic Socialist supports a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement known as BDS that advocates for economic sanctions against Israel.
The advert also advertised Mamdani as a candidate who “rejects Jewish rights,” claiming that he “refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.” It was developed by Fix The City Inc., whose largest donor is DoorDash, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board and the group’s website.
Fix the City denied releasing the mailer.
“The mailer was proposed by a vendor; upon review it was immediately rejected for production and was subsequently corrected,” Liz Benjamin, a spokesperson for the group, told The New Republic. “We are disturbed that this was posted online without our consent.”
But the backlash was already underway.
“Andrew Cuomo is afraid he’ll lose, so his donors want you to fear me,” the assemblyman posted on X Thursday. “His SuperPAC just sent out a mailer that artificially lengthened and darkened my beard.
“This is blatant Islamophobia—the kind of racism that explains why MAGA billionaires support his campaign,” he added.
Mamdani’s connection to New York City’s Jewish community was challenged by a curveball during last week’s mayoral debate when he was asked, as a hypothetical mayor of New York City, if he would visit Israel.
“I believe you need not travel to Israel to stand up for Jewish New Yorkers,” Mamdani said. “That is what I’ll be doing as the mayor.”
Why Mamdani would be involved with sensitive foreign affairs as the local leader of New York is unclear, but the debate moderators did not appear privy to their own lack of rationale. Instead, they followed up by questioning Mamdani if he believed Israel had a right to exist.
