Overview

• Mayor Eric Adams labeled Mamdani’s African American identification deeply offensive and urged Columbia University to clarify whether he misrepresented his race for personal gain.
• Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo backed calls for an investigation, warning that discrepancies on the application could signal broader fraud.
• Republican Rep. Andy Ogles called on the Trump administration to consider denaturalization and deportation proceedings against Mamdani.
• Mamdani defended checking both “Asian” and “Black or African American” and writing “Ugandan” as an honest effort to capture his Indian-Ugandan-American heritage.
• Columbia records confirm Mamdani was not admitted in 2009 and the controversy prompted broader debates over racial self-identification in politics.