❓WHAT HAPPENED: A coordinated campaign allegedly linked to foreign influence helped propel Zohran Mamdani’s political rise in Queens, New York.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Zohran Mamdani, Kazi Fouzia, Neville Roy Singham, DRUM, DRUM Beats, CAIR, Linda Sarsour, and foreign-aligned networks, including CCP-linked entities.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The campaign unfolded in Queens, New York, with significant digital and in-person mobilization efforts leading up to Mamdani’s election.
🎯IMPACT: The campaign revealed vulnerabilities in American civic processes, with foreign influence operations using non-profit networks in order to interfere in American elections.
The alleged grassroots campaign that catapulted radical socialist Zohran Mamdani into the New York City mayor’s office appears to have been largely a farce, with the operation instead involving a well-coordinated network of politically radical non-profit groups and foreign-aligned operatives. Mamdani’s vaunted army of “Bangladeshi aunties,” who he claimed were swarming New York City neighborhoods to get out the vote, were in reality part of a campaign operation overseen by Kazi Fouzia, a radical Bangladeshi Islamist-Maoist.
Fouzia’s ties to radical elements in the South Asian community were critical to the Mamdani campaign’s ground effort, as was the organization she runs, DRUM, and its affiliate, DRUM Beats. Notably, several of the key organizers for DRUM’s get-out-the-vote operation have close ties to the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party—a radical socialist political party in Pakistan that is widely considered a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Concerningly, Fouzia and DRUM are also linked to Shanghai-based billionaire Neville Roy Singham, who a number of American media outlets have identified as a key figure in CCP influence operations.
Even more troubling, the unofficial headquarters of the Mamdani campaign was located at Singham’s own nonprofit group, The People’s Forum. The group is currently under congressional investigation over allegations that it acts as an unregistered foreign lobbying operation. Solidifying Mamdani’s ties to Singham further, Alicia Singham Goodwin—the niece of the pro-CCP billionaire—headed Jews for Zohran, an operation aiming to deflect criticism of the candidate’s stance on Israel and allegations of anti-Semitism.
In addition to Mamdani’s ties to South Asian and CCP-tied radicals, the mayor-elect also has long documented ties to radical Islamists as well. The National Pulse previously reported that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) emerged as one of the dark money funders of Mamdani’s mayoral bid. Campaign finance records show the group—with alleged ties to Islamic extremists—both directly and indirectly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign over the last year. In addition, Muslim activist Linda Sarsour claimed CAIR was instrumental in pushing the broader American Mulsim community to contribute to Mamdani, making its impact far larger than data suggests.
Just weeks before election day, Mamdani shared a photo on social media where he appeared alongside radical Islamist Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In the post, Mamdani praised Wahhaj as one of America’s foremost Muslim religious scholars and a local Brooklyn community leader.
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