NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani 'Heeds Critics' and Goes Back to Africa - for a Visit

Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani takes photos with union members during a rally at the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council headquarters in New York, Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Africa News

Zohran Mamdani is visiting Uganda ahead of New York City mayoral election in November. 

New York City’s Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is visiting his birth place of Uganda to celebrate his recent marriage and take a short break from the campaign trail ahead of the November election. 

Mamdani announced the trip in a video posted to social media. In the video, he jokes that he’s decided to heed the advice of some online critics to ‘go back to Africa.’ But, he says, he wants to apologise to haters because he would be back in New York at the end of July.  

Mamdani announced his marriage to Rama Duwaji, an animator and illustrator, earlier this year. Mamdani was born in was born in Kampala to Indian parents and moved to New York when he was 7. He was naturalized as an American citizen in 2018. 

Mayoral opponents

The 33-year-old State Assemblyman has been under attack from opponents  - and even members of Democratic party – since he beat former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo to the Democratic nomination. Mamdani, who is a Democratic Socialist, campaigned on freezing rent, universal childcare and free public transport.

He's now facing a crowded field of opponents. Despite losing the Democratic nomination, Cuomo later relaunched his campaign to run as an independent candidate. Incumbent Eric Adams is a Democrat but skipped this year's primary to instead run as an independent because of the political fallout over his now-dismissed federal corruption case. Jim Walden, a former prosecutor, is also running as an independent. Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the anti-crime Guardian Angels patrol group, is running as a Republican.