St. Paul elects first Hmong and Asian American mayor

For the first time in the history of St. Paul, Minnesota, a Hmong and Asian American woman will lead the city.

The Rebel Yellow - Issue #142

Zohran Mamdani’s historic election as New York City’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor sparked racist backlash from right-wing figures, exposing ongoing hostility toward immigrant and Muslim leaders. His victory, achieved despite a $22 million campaign funded by billionaires including Michael Bloomberg and Bill Ackman, marked a major political shift in the nation’s largest city. Elsewhere, Hmong American lawmaker Kaohly Her made history as St. Paul’s first Asian American mayor, while Ghazala Hashmi became Virginia’s first Indian American lieutenant governor. In other news, Yale expelled a student who fabricated her identity to hide her Chinese heritage, a San Francisco man was convicted for a deadly 2019 anti-Asian attack, and Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were named finalists for Major League Baseball’s top National League awards.

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MAGA has racist meltdown over Mamdani’s historic mayoral victory

Right-wing figures and followers erupted with racism and Islamophobia following Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s mayoral race, with some calling for his deportation and spouting anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.

What they’re saying: Mamdani, a democratic socialist, defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by about nine percentage points Tuesday to become the city’s first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born mayor. In an apparent continuation of similar attacks prior to the election, conservative social media’s response combined religious bigotry with racist attacks on his heritage. For one, podcaster Matt Walsh wrote on X, “A third-world communist won in New York because New York is a third-world city now. This is mass migration working exactly as intended.” On his podcast, ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon called for Mamdani to be “denaturalize[d]” and told officials to “ship him back to Uganda,” where the dual U.S.-Ugandan citizen was born.

The racism extended beyond religion. One X user told NYC Council Member Shekar Krishnan, who had posted celebrating his own re-election, “You and Mamdani are the poster boys for how broken our immigration system is! Go back to India!” Another user wrote, “Mamdani is Indian and Muslim. The smell must be unbearable.” Meanwhile, influencer Laura Loomer shared a fabricated ISIS statement purporting to threaten Election Day violence, linking it to Mamdani’s win. Researchers at NewsGuard and the Information Epidemiology Lab confirmed that the document originated on 4chan and lacked the hallmarks of authentic extremist communications.

What this means: The attacks against Mamdani highlight the compounded discrimination South Asian and Muslim Americans face in public life, where ethnic and religious identities are weaponized regardless of a candidate’s actual platform. Mamdani campaigned on affordability measures including free childcare, city-owned grocery stores and addressing rising living costs, yet opponents dismissed policy substance to focus on identity-based attacks.

The xenophobia also reached mainstream figures. Ahead of Election Day, Elon Musk urged voters to choose Cuomo over “Mumdumi or whatever his name is,” exemplifying the casual racism Asian American politicians routinely face. For the Asian American community, Mamdani’s victory represents both a milestone in representation and evidence that electoral success does not shield leaders from prejudice questioning their legitimacy in American politics.

What’s next: Mamdani’s all-women transition team, co-chaired by Filipino American development leader Maria Torres-Springer, launched a hiring portal Thursday to build his administration under leaders including former FTC chair Lina Khan and three veterans of previous mayoral administrations. However, federal confrontation looms as Trump posted on Truth Social Monday threatening to cut federal funding if Mamdani won, predicting NYC would face “Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster.”

Other Republican officials have escalated the rhetoric. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened imposing a “100% tariff” on anyone relocating from New York to Texas, while House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that “the consequences will be felt across our entire nation.” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who designed the administration’s immigration enforcement strategy, posted data showing roughly half of NYC households include immigrants, offering no additional comment.

How Mamdani navigates federal opposition while implementing his progressive agenda will determine not only the course of his mayoralty but the broader relationship between Democratic-led cities and the Trump administration.

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Billionaires spent $22 million to stop Mamdani, but New Yorkers voted for him anyway

Public filings show more than two dozen billionaires bankrolled a $22 million push against Zohran Mamdani’s platform of rent freezes, corporate tax hikes and free city bus service. The campaign, led by Michael Bloomberg and Bill Ackman, financed ad buys and mailers framing Mamdani’s proposals as threats to business stability. Voters instead delivered him a near nine-point victory, defying the city’s most expensive independent spending effort in decades.