Curtis Sliwa, the Republican who lost last year's New York City mayoral race to Zohran Mamdani, has told 9/11 families demanding the mayor be barred from this year's Ground Zero ceremony to 'stop being sore losers'.
'He's the Mayor,' Says Sliwa
Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder who ran as the Republican nominee and lost to Mamdani in November, dismissed the campaign to keep the mayor away as 'ridiculous' when reporters approached him in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday.
'He's the mayor. Stop being sore losers,' he said. 'You knew this is Zohran Mamdani. He was never a fake, phony, fraudulent, fugazi like a lot of politicians. He told you who he was.'
Sliwa argued that voters chose Mamdani knowing his record, and that his presence at the 11 September ceremony should have been a given once he won. He stopped short of telling grieving relatives how to behave, saying those who wish to turn their backs on the mayor may do so, though he insisted the office itself deserves respect.
Hundreds of Families Want Him Gone
The comments land in the middle of a fight that has been building for weeks. Hundreds of victims' relatives have signed a Change.org petition urging the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to leave Mamdani off the guest list for the 25th anniversary, which marks the 2,977 people killed in 2001.
Giovanni Galante, who lost his wife in the attacks, is leading the effort. The petition lists eight objections, including Mamdani's refusal to condemn the phrase 'globalise the intifada' and his association with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who once said the US deserved 9/11 before walking the comment back. By early this week, the petition had drawn more than 82,000 signatures, and the New York Post first reported the family campaign last month.
Republican Senators Join the Push
Several Republican senators have backed the families. Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana told Fox News Digital that Mamdani is 'a disgrace and an embarrassment to the country' and that relatives 'should have the say' over who attends. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said it might be acceptable for the mayor to appear only 'wearing a paper bag over his head', while Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he could not defend anything Mamdani says or does.
Sliwa broke sharply from his own side. He also turned on former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who agreed on air last year with a radio host's suggestion that Mamdani would side with terrorists, calling the exchange 'Islamophobic'.
A Ceremony Built To Stay Apolitical
The dispute tests a tradition the memorial has guarded since 2012, when organisers limited the programme to relatives reading the victims' names aloud. A spokesperson for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum said officials from across the political spectrum attend only to bear witness, without delivering remarks, and that the organisation has worked to keep the day free of partisanship.
Mamdani, the first Muslim to serve as New York City mayor, has said he still intends to attend and would 'proudly honor' those affected by standing alongside them. His office has not commented on the petition. The clash leaves one of the country's most solemn gatherings, long shielded from politics, at the centre of a partisan storm weeks before families return to Ground Zero.
