Zohran Mamdani steers clear of mayoral opponents, Trump admin officials at 9/11 ceremony

Josephine Stratman and Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Sep 11, 2025

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NEW YORK — Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani didn’t interact with of a cadre of Trump administration officials or his opponents in the City Hall race during the 9/11 memorial ceremony in Manhattan on Thursday.

Throughout the hours-long ceremony at Ground Zero, Mamdani, whose upstart campaign is polling as the favorite to win November’s election, remained near the back of a cordoned-off tent area where elected officials and other dignitaries were instructed to stand as the names of the victims of the 9/11 attacks were read.

Upon arriving, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, didn’t greet or otherwise interact with Mayor Eric Adams, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo or a group of Trump administration officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House adviser Peter Navarro.

Mamdani — who has been falsely denigrated as a “communist” by Donald Trump — also didn’t greet or speak with ex-Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani.

Adams and Cuomo, who are running as independents against Mamdani in the November race, did engage with most of the government officials on hand.

Adams — who’s reportedly considering dropping out of the mayoral race in order to take a job in President Trump’s administration or the private sector — was seen exchanging words with Patel, Bongino and Lutnick and also spoke with Giuliani and Bloomberg at length.

Cuomo was also seen speaking with Bongino, Giuliani and Bloomberg, who spent millions of dollars on anti-Mamdani efforts during June’s Democratic mayoral primary.

None of the mayoral candidates were seen speaking with each other.

Mamdani did exchange pleasantries with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Janno Lieber, the chairman of the MTA.

His spokeswoman said the Dem nominee didn’t interact with any Trump aides or other mayoral candidates because the tent was organized by elected rank and, as an Assembly member, he was told to stand toward the rear.

Vice President JD Vance was scheduled to be at the service but pulled out at the last minute to instead visit Salt Lake City, Utah, to pay his respects to Charlie Kirk’s family.

Trump marked the 24th anniversary of the attacks in a ceremony at the Pentagon.

Hundreds of civilians also gathered near Ground Zero to honor the victims.

Randy Mastro, Adams’ first deputy mayor, spoke for a while with Giuliani, his old boss, squeezing hands and kissing the ex-mayor on the cheek.

The mayor, in a series of television hits early Thursday morning, said the city still feels the impact of the tragedy.

“Even 24 years later, we’re seeing the residual impact of that terrorist act,” he said.

Amid buzz he’s considering dropping out of the mayoral race to take a Trump administration job, Adams told business leaders in a Wednesday afternoon meeting he plans to conduct an internal poll “to make a decision” on whether the to stay in — a comment first reported by NBC4 and later confirmed by sources as well as his spokesman, Todd Shapiro.