New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has received nearly $13,000 of donates from foreign entities.
According to an exclusive report from the New York Post, at least 170 of the nearly 54,000 contributions to Mamdani’s campaign came from addresses located outside of the United States. The discovery may be a violation of campaign finance laws, as only U.S. citizens may contribute to political campaigns.
Mamdani’s campaign has yet to return $7,190 of foreign contributions, or 88 donations. The campaign has also brought in $4 million in private donations, $12.7 million in public matching funds, and has nearly $6.1 million on hand. His campaign said in a statement that it “will of course return any donations that are not in compliance with CFB law.”
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa told the outlet, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, so I would be very concerned.” He added, “There is probably a lot more in terms of foreign money.”
“It’s very problematic, not just for Zohran Mamdani, but anybody who has these kinds of PACs, because it’s a license to illegally funnel money,” Sliwa explained. “And foreign countries know you don’t have to go to war against America. All you gotta do is manipulate the election.”
Among other policy efforts, Mamdani vowed to increase funding for deportation defense by more than $100 million dollars.
Under his plan titled “Trump-Proofing NYC,” a Mamdani administration would “increase funding for immigration legal services to provide representation for people and communities targeted by mass deportation.”
“The Mamdani administration will take seriously the threat Trump poses and will think expansively about ways to protect undocumented New Yorkers from deportation or other federal attacks,” the proposal says.
