Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) called for wealthy New York City mayoral candidate Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to “move out” of his rent stabilized apartment, noting that someone else probably needs it more.
In a post on X, Cuomo pointed out that Mamdani and his wife are wealthy, have had weddings on three continents, and that together they “likely make well over $200,000.” Cuomo added that although Mamdani is a “rich person,” he and his wife pay $2,300 a month for an apartment in Astoria, which “should be housing for someone who needs it.”
Cuomo’s post included a video from a Democrat mayoral primary debate in which Mamdani shared that he was paying $2,300 for a one bedroom in Astoria. During the debate, Cuomo, who has launched an independent run to be the next mayor of NYC, revealed that he paid $7,800.
“Somewhere last night in New York City, a single mother and her children slept at a homeless shelter because you, assemblyman @ZohranKMamdani are occupying her rent controlled apartment, Cuomo wrote. “You grew up rich and married an even wealthier woman. You’ve had weddings on 3 continents. You own property in LGTBQIA+ murderous Uganda. You make $142,000 a year plus stipends, and your wife works too, meaning you together likely make well over $200,000. No matter which way you cut it: Zohran Mamdani is a rich person. You are actually very rich.”
“Yet you and your wife pay $2,300 a month, as you have bragged, for a nice apartment in Astoria,” Cuomo continued. “That should be housing for someone who needs it. We are in the middle of a historic affordability crisis. Millions of low income New Yorkers need this apartment and an apartment like it. Yet your apartment remains rented to rich people who don’t need it.”
“Today, I am calling on you to move out immediately and give your affordable housing back to an unhoused family who need it,” Cuomo continued. “Leaders must show moral clarity. Time to move out.”
Cuomo’s comments came in response to another post sharing comments Mamdani made during an interview in February with The New York Editorial Board. During the interview, Mamdani confirmed that he lived in “rent-stabilized housing.”
When asked if he needed a rent freeze, Mamdani stated that if he was “able to put in a rent freeze,” he would not be living in a rent-stabilized apartment, but rather “on the Upper East Side, in a new apartment.”
“I think what we should be fighting for is the vast majority of people who are living in those apartments,” Mamdani stated during the interview. “If I was able to put in a rent freeze, I wouldn’t be in a rent-stabilized apartment. I would actually be on the Upper East Side, in a new apartment.”
Mamdani continued to explain when he moved into his apartment, he was earning $47,000 a year and “working as a foreclosure prevention housing counselor for Chhaya CDC in Richmond Hill and Jackson Heights,” adding that he had been searching for an apartment he “could afford” on his own.
“I found that in this apartment,” Mamdani continued:”I didn’t know it was rent-stabilized. I found it through StreetEasy. In that time since, I’ve become an Assembly member and I’m now able to pay for that apartment and able to also move out of that apartment and I plan on doing so. I don’t plan on living in that apartment for perpetuity.”
Breitbart News’s Paul Bois has previously reported that Mamdani is the “son of acclaimed Indian-American director Mira Nair” and that he “grew up around privilege.”
The son of acclaimed Indian-American director Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding), Mamdani grew up around privilege and has gone to great lengths to hide it. In some instances, Mamdani has employed fake accents depending on the group of people he’s addressing.
City and State New York reported in April 2023, that Mamdani, whose father is Mahmood Mamdani, “a prominent Marxist scholar at Columbia University” spent “part of his childhood” on movie sets.
Breitbart News previously reported that while Mamdani eloped with illustrator Rama Duwaji in February, they “traveled to Uganda for the celebration at Mamdani’s family’s private compound.”