BERNIE SAYS NO — HONG JUST GOT HIT WITH A BRUTAL CAMPAIGN SETBACK!
Democrats have apparently found a socialist candidate who is even too crazy for Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders to endorse.
Sanders delivered a clear rebuff to Wisconsin’s leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong this week, refusing to endorse the democratic socialist just days before voters head to the polls.
The Vermont independent’s decision leaves Hong without the backing of one of the progressive left’s most prominent figures as she tries to secure her party’s nomination to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Appearing Wednesday on the “Pod Save America” podcast, Sanders was asked directly by host Jon Favreau whether he would support Hong.
He responded flatly: “I don’t think so.”
Sanders described Hong as “very, very nice” but admitted he was not closely following the contest.
“We have not gotten involved in many governors’ races…. My major concern right now is seeing that we have a Senate and a House that is going to stand up to [President] Trump,” Sanders said.
“That’s really where my focus is,” Sanders added. “So as of now, we have really not been involved in that race.”
Wisconsin Democrats vote Tuesday to choose their nominee for the November general election, where the winner is expected to face Rep. Tom Tiffany, the likely Republican standard-bearer.
Polling has shown Hong, a state lawmaker and former professional chef, leading the Democratic field.
Yet she carries significant baggage that even members of her own party have flagged as a liability.
Hong has spent recent weeks scrambling to contain fallout from a since-deleted 2020 social media post in which she wrote: “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621.”
Her explanations have shifted repeatedly. On Monday she told CNN the holiday is “incredibly painful for many people.”
By Wednesday she told Politico that Thanksgiving is actually her “favorite” holiday.
Tiffany has already highlighted Hong’s prior criticism of holidays, including Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, positioning the comments as out of touch with mainstream Wisconsin values.
Layered on top of that controversy is Hong’s earlier advocacy for defunding and abolishing the police.
At a debate last month, she attempted to soft-pedal the stance, saying she needs to be “sensible and practical on what we can achieve.”
This pattern of advancing radical positions only to walk them back when scrutiny intensifies has become familiar among progressive candidates.
Moderate Democrats have poured millions into efforts to stop democratic socialists from winning primaries precisely because such views energize activists but collapse with general-election voters.
Sanders is not alone in keeping his distance.
Evers endorsed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in July after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez exited the race and Crowley reentered.
This week Evers went further, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Hong would likely lose to Tiffany in November.
Hong’s campaign has received support from Our Revolution Wisconsin, an affiliate of the national group Sanders founded, as well as some progressive lawmakers.
Yet Sanders’ absence of an endorsement, along with Evers’ open preference for Crowley, highlights fractures within the Democratic coalition.
Progressive insurgents have captured primaries by mobilizing activist bases, but their general-election track records remain mixed.
In Wisconsin, the establishment is not mounting a massive spending campaign against Hong; it is simply withholding support.
🔥 MAMDANI’S 9/11 MEMORIAL APPEARANCE IS NOW CONFIRMED — AS CRITICISM BUILDS INTO A HIGH-STAKES SHOWDOWN BEFORE FRIDAY… |
MAMDANI VOWS TO ATTEND 25TH 9/11 MEMORIAL DESPITE GIULIANI'S CALL TO STAY AWAY — BUT 9/11 FAMILIES ARE DIVIDED
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he will attend Friday's 25th-anniversary September 11 remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero despite a growing campaign by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. George Pataki, several Republican officials and some relatives of 9/11 victims urging him to stay away.
The central claim is true. Mamdani confirmed on September 7 that he plans to attend the annual reading of the names at the National September 11 Memorial, just as he attended the ceremony in 2025 before becoming mayor.
But the political framing needs two important corrections. Mamdani did not launch a combative attack on Giuliani or 'dismiss' grieving families. When asked about the criticism, he largely declined to engage and redirected attention toward the victims, their relatives and first responders.
And the 9/11 family community is not united against him. Some relatives have organized a large petition opposing his presence, while other 9/11 family members and at least one established family organization have publicly defended his right and responsibility to attend.
The dispute has become a combustible test of how New York remembers September 11 while navigating Mamdani's record, his Muslim faith, the politics of Israel and terrorism, and the legitimate anger of families who believe some of his associations are incompatible with the solemnity of Ground Zero.
Mamdani has definitely said he will attend. It is not accurate, however, to portray all 9/11 families as demanding that he stay away or to imply that his attendance itself proves disrespect for the victims.
Mamdani's Answer Was Direct: He Is Going
Speaking to reporters on September 7, Mamdani made clear that he will be at Friday's ceremony.
He said, "I'm proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country." He then said his focus this week would be on the families whose loved ones were killed 25 years ago and on the first responders who ran toward danger.
He also said he would attend the memorial just as he did last year.
That last point is verifiable. Mamdani attended the September 11, 2025 Ground Zero commemoration while he was the Democratic nominee for mayor. He stood among elected officials and dignitaries as relatives read the names of the dead.
This year is different because he is no longer merely a candidate. He is the sitting mayor of the city that suffered the largest loss of life in the attacks, making his presence both more symbolically important and more politically controversial.
He Did Not Really 'Brush Off' the Families
The viral description that Mamdani 'dismissed' calls for him to stay away overstates the tone of his response.
When asked about Giuliani's remarks, Mamdani said he did not have much more to add. Rather than attacking Giuliani personally, he returned to the themes of remembrance, first responders and the families of those who died.
That does not mean he accepted his critics' argument. By confirming that he will attend, he rejected their demand in substance.
But there is a meaningful difference between refusing a demand and belittling the people who made it, particularly when some of those critics lost spouses, relatives or friends on September 11.
The accurate formulation is that Mamdani rejected the call to stay away, not that he mocked or dismissed the grief of 9/11 families.
Giuliani Said Mamdani's Presence Would 'Offend' Him
Giuliani, who was mayor when al-Qaeda attacked New York in 2001, has become the most prominent voice demanding that Mamdani skip the ceremony.
In a Newsmax interview, Giuliani said that because he lost friends and remains close to many families, Mamdani's planned attendance 'offends me.' He argued that the ceremony belongs first to the families and to the country's historical remembrance of the attack.
That objection carries unusual emotional weight because Giuliani's leadership after September 11 remains a defining part of his public legacy.
But Giuliani went considerably further than criticizing Mamdani's personnel choices or political associations. He made sweeping claims about Muslims seeking to dominate the United States and drew comparisons between Mamdani and the 9/11 hijackers.
Those broader claims are not established by evidence about Mamdani. A mayor's Muslim faith does not itself show sympathy for al-Qaeda, support for terrorism or hostility to the United States.
Giuliani can fairly criticize Mamdani's policies and associations. Comparing Mamdani to the 9/11 hijackers on the basis of unsupported claims about his Muslim faith goes beyond what the public record proves.
Pataki and Other Republicans Have Joined the Opposition
Former New York Gov. George Pataki has also said Mamdani should not attend the anniversary ceremony.
Pataki's criticism has focused less on Mamdani's religion and more on figures around the mayor whom he considers hostile to Israel, dismissive of American institutions or inappropriate for a 9/11 commemoration.
Republican officials including Nassau County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman have echoed calls for Mamdani to stay away.
The political case against the mayor therefore contains several distinct arguments: objections to his democratic-socialist politics, criticism of his past rhetoric about the NYPD, anger over his positions on Israel, and concern about advisers and allies with controversial histories.
Those arguments should be evaluated individually rather than bundled together into a claim that a Muslim mayor is inherently unfit to stand at Ground Zero.
A Petition Organized by 9/11 Relatives Has Drawn Nearly 100,000 Signatures
The opposition is not limited to politicians.
Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace was killed in the North Tower, helped organize an online petition asking Mamdani not to attend the 25th-anniversary ceremony. Other relatives of victims have publicly supported the petition and said they believe the mayor's presence would be disrespectful because of people he has supported or appointed.
By early September, supporters said the petition had gathered roughly 100,000 signatures.
That is a significant political signal, but the number needs careful description. It does not mean 100,000 relatives of 9/11 victims signed it. It is an online petition organized by some 9/11 family members and open to the broader public.
Several relatives have said they plan to ignore Mamdani or turn away from him rather than create a confrontation during the ceremony.
The petition demonstrates substantial opposition. It does not establish that the entire 9/11 family community wants Mamdani excluded.
Other 9/11 Families Explicitly Support His Presence
The family community is divided.
CBS New York interviewed relatives of victims who defended Mamdani's inclusion and argued that elected leaders have traditionally attended the ceremony regardless of party or ideology.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization founded by relatives of people killed in the attacks, issued a statement saying it supports the presence at Ground Zero of anyone who comes to pay respects, mourn the dead and honor the victims.
The organization specifically said Mamdani has stated his intention to honor families, survivors and first responders and that attending is consistent with the responsibility New York City mayors have traditionally carried.
That organization does not speak for every family any more than the anti-Mamdani petition does. The existence of both camps is precisely why headlines should not flatten this into '9/11 families versus Mamdani.'
The Official Ceremony Is Built Around the Families, Not the Politicians
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum says Friday's commemoration will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the first moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
The core of the ceremony is the reading of the names by family members.
The reading honors 2,983 people: the 2,977 victims killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks and the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Political leaders regularly attend, but the ritual is deliberately centered on victims and relatives rather than speeches by officeholders.
That structure gives both sides of the Mamdani argument a point. Critics can reasonably insist that no politician should become the story. Mamdani can reasonably answer that the mayor's job is to stand quietly with the city while the families remain at the center.
Mamdani Has Already Taken Several Official 9/11 Actions
The current controversy is unfolding against a record of formal commemorative activity by the Mamdani administration this year.
On September 2, Mamdani participated in an FDNY World Trade Center Memorial Wall plaque dedication ceremony and called the attacks 'horrific.'
On September 4, he signed Executive Order 21 establishing September 11 as an annual Citywide Day of Remembrance and Service. The order directs the city to honor victims, first responders, survivors, rescue and recovery workers, and families affected by the attacks and later 9/11-related illnesses.
A second executive order updated the city's continuity-of-operations planning and created a senior interagency structure to strengthen preparedness for emergencies.
Earlier in the year, Mamdani visited the 9/11 Memorial & Museum with FDNY leadership and attended a wreath-laying there during the visit of King Charles III.
Those actions do not erase legitimate criticism of his other positions. They do make it inaccurate to suggest he has refused to acknowledge September 11 as a terrorist attack or has avoided official remembrance.
Mamdani's record contains multiple public statements and official actions describing September 11 as a horrific terrorist attack and honoring its victims and first responders. Claims that he refuses to recognize the attack as terrorism are contradicted by the public record.
The Ramzi Kassem Controversy Is Real — but Needs Precision
One of the strongest factual controversies behind the opposition involves Mamdani's chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem.
Kassem is a CUNY law professor and national-security lawyer who previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, a Guantanamo detainee who pleaded guilty before a U.S. military commission to war-crime charges tied to al-Qaeda maritime plots, including the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg.
Al-Darbi's sister was married to Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which struck the Pentagon on September 11.
Kassem was present when Mamdani signed the city's September 11 executive orders. After signing, the ceremonial pen was passed to him, prompting sharp criticism from some 9/11 relatives and Republican officials.
City Hall said Kassem attended because his legal team drafted the orders as part of his official duties.
The optics were predictably explosive. A mayor marking September 11 handing a ceremonial pen to a lawyer known for representing a convicted al-Qaeda member was always likely to anger some families.
Kassem's representation of an accused or convicted terrorism defendant does not establish that Kassem supported al-Qaeda or his client's crimes. Defense representation is a legal role, not evidence of ideological allegiance.
The Family Connection to a 9/11 Hijacker Should Not Be Misstated
Critics frequently describe al-Darbi as 'linked to a 9/11 hijacker.' That is true in a specific family sense: his sister was married to Khalid al-Mihdhar.
But al-Darbi's guilty plea concerned later al-Qaeda maritime plots, not participation in the September 11 attacks themselves.
Likewise, Kassem's connection is one step further removed: he was al-Darbi's attorney.
Those distinctions matter because the political impact of the association is obvious without implying a direct operational connection to 9/11 that the facts do not support.
Mamdani's Muslim Faith Has Become Part of the Political Fight
Mamdani is New York City's first Muslim mayor, and that fact has inevitably shaped public reaction to his role in the 25th anniversary.
For critics who believe he has been insufficiently forceful about Islamist extremism, his attendance carries symbolic tension. For Muslim New Yorkers, attempts to exclude the city's elected mayor because of his faith can revive the collective suspicion many Muslims experienced after September 11.
Both history and present-day policy can be discussed without conflating a religion practiced by millions of Americans with the extremist ideology of al-Qaeda.
The 9/11 attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda terrorists who claimed a radical Islamist justification. That fact is part of the historical record.
It does not follow that a Muslim elected official shares their beliefs or bears responsibility for their crimes.
Giuliani's Standing Makes the Clash More Symbolic — Not More Legally Decisive
Few Americans are more closely identified with New York's public response to September 11 than Rudy Giuliani.
His voice therefore carries exceptional historical symbolism when he says a current mayor does not belong at the commemoration.
But Giuliani does not control the memorial ceremony or possess a veto over another elected official's attendance.
The online petition likewise represents a request and a political statement, not a court order or statutory disqualification.
The actual ceremony is administered around the victim families and the Memorial's commemorative program, while elected officials attend as invited public figures.
The Strongest Criticism of Mamdani Does Not Require Excluding Him Because He Is Muslim
There is a serious, evidence-based case for scrutinizing Mamdani's choices around the anniversary.
Critics can question the judgment of the Kassem pen handoff.
They can challenge Mamdani's past rhetoric about policing, his relationships with controversial activists and his political positions on Israel and the Middle East.
They can ask whether City Hall has handled the sensitivities of 9/11 families with enough care.
And relatives of victims have every right to say they do not want to interact with him at a ceremony devoted to their dead.
Those arguments are stronger when they focus on conduct and judgment rather than asserting that a Muslim mayor is inherently comparable to the terrorists who attacked the city.
The Strongest Defense of Mamdani Does Not Require Dismissing the Families
Mamdani's supporters also weaken their case if they treat every objection as prejudice.
Some of the people asking him to stay away lost spouses, relatives and close friends. Their anger is real and cannot fairly be reduced to partisan hatred.
The Ramzi Kassem controversy presents legitimate questions of symbolism even if legal representation should never be confused with endorsement of a client's crimes.
The mayor can insist on attending while still recognizing that his presence will be painful or infuriating to some people whose losses give them a uniquely personal stake in the anniversary.
That is the difficult balance a mayor inherits when representing a city whose most solemn civic ritual remains inseparable from individual grief.
Friday Will Test Whether Politics Can Stay in the Background
The 25th anniversary was always going to attract extraordinary national attention.
The Memorial says the families will again read the names, observe the moments of silence and gather on the plaza where the Twin Towers once stood.
Mamdani, Giuliani and other major political figures are expected to be present in the same space.
The danger is that a ceremony designed around the dead becomes another proxy battle over Trump, socialism, Islam, Israel and New York politics.
Mamdani says he wants the focus to remain on the families and first responders. His critics say his very presence makes that harder.
The measure of Friday will ultimately be whether all of the political figures attending can allow the names being read to matter more than themselves.
What Can Actually Be Said With Confidence
Zohran Mamdani has confirmed that he will attend the September 11, 2026 commemoration at Ground Zero on Friday.
He attended the same annual ceremony in 2025 before becoming mayor.
Rudy Giuliani has publicly urged Mamdani to stay away and said the mayor's attendance would offend him.
George Pataki, other Republican figures and some relatives of 9/11 victims have also opposed Mamdani's presence.
An online petition organized by relatives of victims has attracted roughly 100,000 signatures, but those signatories should not be described as 100,000 9/11 family members.
Other relatives of victims support Mamdani's attendance. September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has expressly defended the presence of people who come to Ground Zero to pay respects and honor the dead.
Mamdani did not respond to Giuliani with a personal attack. He said he would attend and redirected attention to victims, families and first responders.
His administration has taken multiple official commemorative steps in 2026, including establishing September 11 as an annual Citywide Day of Remembrance and Service and updating city emergency-preparedness procedures.
Chief counsel Ramzi Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaeda member who pleaded guilty in a military commission case involving maritime terrorism. Kassem's legal representation does not itself prove sympathy for al-Qaeda.
Al-Darbi's sister was married to one of the 9/11 hijackers, but al-Darbi was not convicted of participating in the September 11 attacks.
Giuliani's broader comments comparing Mamdani to the hijackers and suggesting that his Muslim faith shows a desire to dominate the United States are political assertions unsupported by evidence about Mamdani's own conduct.
The most accurate version of the story is therefore straightforward: Mamdani is going to the 25th-anniversary ceremony despite a genuine and emotionally charged campaign asking him to stay away, but the 9/11 family community itself is divided, and the strongest factual debate concerns his record and associations rather than his religion.
