Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, cautioned New York City Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday about not speaking out against the antisemitic wing of his supporters.
“I’ll say this about Mamdani or any other leader. If you want to lead New York, you want to lead Pennsylvania, you want to lead the United States of America, you’re a leader,” Shapiro said in an interview with Jewish Insider.
“I don’t care if you’re a Republican or Democratic leader or a democratic socialist leader, you have to speak and act with moral clarity; and when supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can’t leave room for that to just sit there. You’ve got to condemn that.”
Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim born in Uganda, defeated the establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo in what some observers see as a battle for the soul of the modern Democratic Party. A self-labeled “democratic socialist,” Mamdani will now face two independent candidates in Cuomo and current mayor Eric Adams as well as Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election in November.
Mamdani has long supported the boycott divest and sanctions movement against Israel, which seeks to punish companies, schools, and organization that do business with or invest in Israeli companies.
The progressive New York state assemblyman has also received criticism for defending the slogan “globalize the intifada,” saying the phrase demonstrated “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”
As the Democrats struggle with how to define their party platform in the age of President Donald Trump, many in the centrist wing worry that a candidate such as Mamdani will further alienate middle-class voters.
With Adams being somewhat aligned with the president on matters such as immigration, Cuomo’s staying in the race could pull those moderate Democrats who despise any allegiance with Trump. And that small fraction likely will be just enough to ensure a Mamdani victory.
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