Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is a “rich person” hogging affordable housing from homeless New Yorkers — and it’s “time to move out,” ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote in a scathing social media post.
Cuomo unleashed his tirade on X Friday alongside a video of the left nominee and frontrunner for City Hall openly admitting he pays $2,300 for a rent-stabilized one-bedroom unit in the high-demand neighborhood of Astoria, Queens.
“Somewhere last night in New York City, a single mother and her children slept at a homeless shelter because you, assemblyman Zohran Mamdani are occupying her rent controlled apartment,” Cuomo wrote in the viral tweet that has racked up more than 19 million views.
Zohran Mamdani pays $2,300 per month for his Astoria apartment. Brigitte Stelzer
“You grew up rich and married an even wealthier woman. You’ve had weddings on 3 continents. You own property in LGTBQIA+ murderous Uganda,” he continued, pointing to the politician’s $142,000 base salary and the additional income his illustrator wife, Rama Duwaji, brings home.
The couple married earlier this year at the City Clerk’s office before jetting off for a small, but lavish Dubai engagement and wedding celebration.
They capped off their nuptials with a blockbuster, three-day affair at his family’s ritzy, secluded Ugandan compound, complete with masked security guards and a cellphone jamming system –– which Cuomo was quick to point out.
“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. 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,” Cuomo said.
“Today, I am calling on you to move out immediately and give your affordable housing back to an unhoused family who need it. Leaders must show moral clarity. Time to move out.”
Mamdani had previously claimed he had plans to move out of his cheap digs. He told the New York Editorial Board in February he found the listing on StreetEasy back when he was making $47,000 per year as a foreclosure prevention housing counselor.
Despite hailing from renowned, wealthy parents who sent him to the elite $66,000-a-year Bank Street School, Mamdani has recently claimed to have less than $2,000 in the bank.
His parents have plenty of cash of their own, however.
His Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated filmmaker mother, Mira Nair, recently sold a posh West Chelsea 2-bedroom that she had owned for more than 10 years in 2019 for $1.45 million.
Cuomo wrote: “Somewhere last night in New York City, a single mother and her children slept at a homeless shelter because you, assemblyman Zohran Mamdani are occupying her rent controlled apartment.” Matthew McDermott
His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a chaired Columbia University professor, a position which on average reaps a salary of $308,000 a year.
The Harvard-educated couple still live in the stylish Ivy League and taxpayer-subsidized 3-bed, 3-bath corner apartment on Riverside Drive — with weekly maid service.
Mamdani also owns four acres of land in Uganda worth between $150,000 and $250,000.
When he moved in, Mamdani claimed he had not realized he had nabbed a rent-stabilized unit.
The average price of rent for a one-bedroom in the trendy Queens nabe is closer to $3,000, according to Apartment Advisor — meaning Mamdani saves an average of $8,400 per year more than his constituents.
“In that time since, I’ve become an assemblymember 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,” he said.
Mamdani — who makes a $140,000 salary — lives in this apartment building with his wife. Brigitte Stelzer
Mamdani’s camp brushed off Cuomo’s tirade, accusing the disgraced governor of trying to distract voters from his own flaws.
“Andrew Cuomo isn’t just working with Donald Trump — he’s becoming him. Ranting to reporters, firing off unhinged social media posts, lodging personal attacks — all to avoid talking about the corruption, sexual harassment, and abuse of power that drove him from office. The only thing missing is a red hat,” spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement.
The Queens assemblyman hurled his own jabs at Cuomo on Friday, about 90 minutes before Cuomo’s X post.
At the news that the former governor was attending a Hamptons fundraiser for Pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman — who previously backed Cuomo before ditching him for Mayor Adams — Mamdani posted: “Suburban man retreats to safe space.”
Cuomo had reportedly been living comfortably in Westchester until he threw his hat in the mayoral race, taking up residence at a posh Sutton Place apartment that was last year priced at $8,242 a month.
After Cuomo ripped Mamdani’s rent-stabilized living situation, critics flocked to Mamdani’s post, with one pointing out the socialist celebrated his wedding in a “guarded private fortress.”
“Guy who grew up supremely comfy says what?” wrote another person on X in response to Mamdani’s post. “How much was your wedding again? The wedding with guards? The cell phone jammers? Your mother alone is worth $22M. Hypocrite.”
“The truth hurts and the truth is Mamdani is gaming a system meant to help those with way less privilege,” Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi told The Post.
“I understand his diehard supporters don’t know how to deal with his mask slipping,” he added, referencing backlash from Mamdani backers, “but the comments I see are full of New Yorkers who are appalled by his hypocrisy.”