Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamadani is embarking on a trip to Uganda to celebrate his wedding, he announced Sunday — six weeks after indicating he would not take any foreign trips if elected mayor.
Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and lived there until the age of five, announced the trip via social media.
“I’m going back to Uganda,” he said. “I’m headed there in a personal capacity to celebrate Rama and I’s marriage with our family and friends.”
Mamdani, who was born and raised in Kampala, is a dual citizen of Uganda and the U.S., according to The New York Times. His father’s side of the family belongs to a community of East Africans that have lived in the region for generations and are originally from the Indian state of Gujarat. After Uganda, Mamdani moved with his family to South Africa and then finally to New York at the age of seven.
Mamdani said he would be back in the city by the end of the month. He was legally married to his wife Rama Duwaji in New York City in February. The two also celebrated their marriage in Dubai in December.
The mayoral nominee’s announcement of the overseas trip comes after the candidate told voters, “I would stay in New York City” when he was asked in the first primary debate what his first international trip would be as mayor.
“My plans are to address New Yorkers across the five boroughs and focus on that,” Mamdani said.
He was one of the only candidates on the stage to say he would not visit Israel as mayor. He has also said he wasn’t sure if Israel would allow him entry given his history of supporting an economic boycott of the country in response to its treatment of Palestinians.
Mamdani identifies as Ugandan and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018. One right-leaning House Republican has called for an investigation into his naturalization proceedings, and President Donald Trump said earlier this month that he would look into whether Mamdani is “here illegally.”
In the video, the Democratic mayoral nominee sarcastically described the trip as a response to xenophobic comments on social media telling him to “go back to Africa.”
“Being a politician means listening, not just to your supporters, but your critics, too,” Mamdani says in the video. “And some of these critics, especially on a certain website, have been giving me consistent advice.”
He continues, cheekily, “I hear you and I agree: I’m going back to Uganda.”
He also sought to preempt any negative press the trip could receive from the city’s politically influential and right-leaning tabloid: “Since you will undoubtedly read about this trip in the New York Post —inshallah on the front page — here are a few of my humble suggestions for headlines.”
A few of them: “Uganda Miss Me”; “He’s Kampala-etely Crazy”; “Carl Kampalanile Investigates Mamdani”; “Zo-Running Away?”
Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assembly member from Queens, handily defeated the more moderate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary last month. He faces Cuomo, who is now running as an independent, Republican Curtis Sliwa, independent Jim Walden and Mayor Eric Adams, also running as an independent, in the general election.
