The woman New York lawmaker Zohran Mamdani referred to as his "aunt," who he said was too scared to wear her hijab on the subway after 9/11, is in fact his father's cousin. The socialist candidate leading the mayoral race addressed the issue at a press conference on Monday, after critics questioned his story and circulated photos online of a woman they claimed was his aunt — shown without a hijab.
"I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father's cousin, who passed away a few years ago," Mamdani told reporters about the relative, whom he said he lovingly called his aunt. He tried to clarify after critics called him a liar.
Mamdani Tries Damage Control
In Urdu and Hindi, the word 'fuhi' refers to a paternal aunt. When asked for clarification, Mamdani's campaign declined to share the cousin's full name. Questions started surfacing online after an emotional Mamdani recalled on Friday how his "aunt" stopped taking the New York City subway following incidents of Islamophobia in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement," Mamdani said as he criticized his election rivals Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, as well as Mayor Eric Adams, for what he described as anti-Muslim attacks targeting his campaign.
"I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab," he said during the emotional speech outside the Islamic Cultural Center in The Bronx.
Mamdani's remarks sparked their own wave of backlash, drawing responses even from Vice President JD Vance.
"According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks," he railed in a post to X.
Online sleuths soon pointed to Masuma Mamdani, a public health consultant, as the lawmaker's only aunt. They shared photos of her without a hijab and noted that she was living in Tanzania during 9/11.
When asked about these posts on Monday, Mamdani moved to clarify the situation, explaining that he had not been referring to a biological aunt.
"For the takeaway from my more than 10-minute address about Islamophobia in this race and in this city, to be the question of my aunt, tells you everything you need to know about Cuomo and his inability to reckon with a crisis of his own making," he said.
Losing His Own Ground
Cuomo, running as an independent, has been taking aim at his main rival Mamdani as the Nov. 4 election draws near, with many New Yorkers already turning out for early voting.
While the former governor didn't directly reference Mamdani's aunt remarks on the campaign trail, he slammed the Queens assemblyman on Monday for inviting controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker to his "New York is Not For Sale" rally in Forest Hills.
"I think that is insulting to all New Yorkers," Cuomo told reporters. "Hasan Piker is the person who said, 'America deserved 9/11.'"
Mamdani has drawn criticism for appearing in an interview last April with popular left-wing influencer Hasan Piker, ahead of the Democratic primary. Critics condemned Piker's past remarks — including his shocking statement that "America deserved 9/11."
When questioned about those comments during a debate two weeks ago, Mamdani publicly denounced them for the first time.
"I find the comments that Hasan made on 9/11 to be objectionable and reprehensible," Mamdani said during the first mayoral debate.
