Laura Loomer and Mehdi Hasan Lock Horns Again Over JD Vance's Remarks

A local political contest—the 2025 New York City mayoral race—has dramatically escalated into a national debate on identity, race, and religion, driven by a social media spat involving Vice President JD Vance, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, journalist Mehdi Hasan, and activist Laura Loomer. The core conflict is rooted in Vance's public criticism of Mamdani's emotional remarks concerning the trauma faced by Muslim New Yorkers after 9/11.

The 9/11 Story and Political Backlash

Zohran Mamdani, a sitting New York State Assemblyman and the Democratic nominee aiming to become the city’s first Muslim mayor, recently delivered a visibly emotional account of the lingering effects of Islamophobia. He shared an anecdote about his aunt who, post-9/11, became afraid to wear her hijab while taking the subway. Mamdani used this story to emphasize the need for greater representation and a stronger political voice for the Muslim community.

Vice President Vance, however, swiftly seized on the remarks to mock the candidate, posting a message that suggested Mamdani was minimizing the scale of the national tragedy. Vance wrote that, in Mamdani's view, "the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks." This comment drew immediate fire, with critics arguing that Vance was using the collective grief of 9/11 to dismiss the reality of anti-Muslim discrimination.

The Race and Religion Divide

The dispute took an unexpected turn when journalist Mehdi Hasan responded to Vance by questioning his judgment, particularly given that Vance is married to a "Brown woman" and has mixed-race children. Hasan challenged the Vice President for publicly "mocking other Brown people" while his family shares a minority background.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer then interjected, attempting to refute Hasan’s point by focusing on religious identity. Loomer explicitly stated that Usha Vance, the Vice President's wife, "isn’t a Muslim," and then questioned Hasan on whether he believed "Hindus and Muslims are the same." Loomer’s intervention sought to highlight the distinction between Usha Vance, an American lawyer of Indian descent and a practicing Hindu, and Mamdani, a Muslim candidate. This exchange reaffirmed Loomer's documented history of xenophobic rhetoric, including a previous incident where she targeted Hasan, who is of Indian origin, by telling him to return to the "Islamic country" he came from.

Mamdani’s Second Controversy: The Imam Wahhaj Meeting

The criticism against Zohran Mamdani has also centered on a separate issue: his association with a controversial religious figure. Vance and other high-profile Republican leaders have fiercely attacked Mamdani for recently posing in a photo with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a prominent Brooklyn-based religious leader. The core of the attack lies in the fact that Wahhaj was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator during the trial for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Vance used this meeting to challenge Mamdani’s fitness for office, urging Democrats to "universally condemn Zohran Mamdani for campaigning with an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorist plot."

Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has defended his meeting and his faith, calling Vance’s comments part of a larger Republican effort to offer "cheap jokes about Islamophobia." He concluded a recent speech in the Bronx by affirming his political and religious resolve: "I will not change the faith that I’m proud to belong to. I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light."