GOP lawmakers push to strip Mamdani of US citizenship ahead of election

With New York City’s mayoral election set for Tuesday, Republican legislators are pressing federal authorities to investigate Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s path to citizenship and potentially revoke it.

State of play: Two GOP representatives have spearheaded the campaign against Mamdani, who naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018 and holds dual citizenship with Uganda. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) has been pursuing the issue since June and sent another letter to the Department of Justice on Tuesday, writing that “additional public reporting has raised further questions about Mr. Mamdani’s past statements and associations.” Meanwhile, Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) recently called for a review of naturalization cases in the past 30 years, beginning with Mamdani.

The central allegation centers on Mamdani’s membership in the Democratic Socialists of America, which Ogles previously described to Newsmax as “a communist organization which, quite frankly, at that time, would have disqualified him from becoming a United States citizen.” When questioned about the feasibility of removing an elected official’s citizenship, Fine told the New York Post, “If they’re not Americans, they can’t be in office.”

Is it possible?: The denaturalization effort faces steep legal and factual obstacles. Under U.S. law, citizenship can only be revoked through federal court proceedings that prove it was fraudulently obtained. The deportation of American citizens, therefore, is illegal. Ogles’ claim that Mamdani failed to disclose DSA membership appears legally questionable: the naturalization form asks about “Communist or any other totalitarian party” membership, but the DSA is a democratic political organization that participates in elections, not a totalitarian party.

Beyond the weak legal case, the timing and targeting suggest racial and religious animus. The push was launched against a Muslim candidate of South Asian descent immediately after his decisive primary victory, with Fine warning about “the enemy within — people who have come to this country to become citizens, to destroy it.” Civil rights advocates have condemned the push, with advocacy group DRUMBeats slamming the attacks as “dangerous racist dog whistles” reflecting “a long and violent history of portraying Muslim, Sikh, Arab, South Asian and Black New Yorkers as outsiders and threats.”

What Mamdani is saying: Mamdani has directly confronted the attacks in the race’s final stretch. Standing outside a Bronx mosque last Friday, he delivered a speech responding to “racist, baseless attacks,” declaring, “I will no longer look for myself in the shadows … I will find myself in the light.” Three days later, his campaign mounted a major show of force at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, where he appeared before thousands alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). At the rally, Mamdani told supporters that “while Donald Trump’s donor billionaires think they have the money to buy this election, we have a movement of the masses.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani in September, also spoke at the event, defending him from “Islamophobia and bigotry and hate-filled speech.” She told the crowd, “That kind of bullshit doesn’t belong in New York.” Recent polling shows Mamdani commanding 43.2% support against independent candidate Andrew Cuomo’s 28.9.% and Republican Curtis Sliwa’s 19.4%.

The Nov. 4 election will determine who succeeds outgoing Mayor Eric Adams.