{"id":14957,"date":"2025-07-21T16:57:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ugandaupdatenews.com\/?p=14957"},"modified":"2025-07-22T13:59:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:59:32","slug":"mamdani-travels-to-uganda-in-break-from-new-york-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/mamdani-travels-to-uganda-in-break-from-new-york-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani Travels to Uganda in Break From New York Campaign\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamadani is embarking on a trip to Uganda to celebrate his wedding, he announced Sunday \u2014 six weeks after indicating he would not take any foreign trips if elected mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and lived there until the age of five, announced the trip via social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going back to Uganda,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m headed there in a personal capacity to celebrate Rama and I\u2019s marriage with our family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamdani, who was born and raised in Kampala, is a dual citizen of Uganda and the U.S., according to The New York Times<\/u><\/a>. His father\u2019s side of the family belongs to a community of East Africans that have lived in the region for generations and are originally from the Indian state of Gujarat. After Uganda, Mamdani moved with his family to South Africa and then finally to New York at the age of seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamdani said he would be back in the city by the end of the month. He was legally married to his wife Rama Duwaji in New York City in February. The two also celebrated their marriage in Dubai<\/u><\/a> in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayoral nominee\u2019s announcement of the overseas trip comes after the candidate told voters, \u201cI would stay in New York City\u201d when he was asked in the first primary debate<\/u><\/a> what his first international trip would be as mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy plans are to address New Yorkers across the five boroughs and focus on that,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was one of the only candidates on the stage to say he would not visit Israel as mayor. He has also said<\/u><\/a> he wasn\u2019t sure if Israel would allow him entry given his history of supporting an economic boycott of the country in response to its treatment of Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamdani identifies<\/u><\/a> as Ugandan and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018. One right-leaning House Republican has called for an investigation<\/u><\/a> into his naturalization proceedings, and President Donald Trump said earlier this month that he would look into whether Mamdani is \u201chere illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the video, the Democratic mayoral nominee sarcastically described the trip as a response to xenophobic comments on social media telling him to \u201cgo back to Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing a politician means listening, not just to your supporters, but your critics, too,\u201d Mamdani says in the video. \u201cAnd some of these critics, especially on a certain website, have been giving me consistent advice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continues, cheekily, \u201cI hear you and I agree: I\u2019m going back to Uganda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also sought to preempt any negative press the trip could receive from the city\u2019s politically influential and right-leaning tabloid: \u201cSince you will undoubtedly read about this trip in the New York Post \u2014inshallah on the front page \u2014 here are a few of my humble suggestions for headlines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few of them: \u201cUganda Miss Me\u201d; \u201cHe\u2019s Kampala-etely Crazy\u201d; \u201cCarl Kampalanile Investigates Mamdani\u201d; \u201cZo-Running Away?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assembly member from Queens,\u00a0handily defeated the more moderate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in the city\u2019s Democratic mayoral primary last month. He faces Cuomo, who is now running as an independent, Republican Curtis Sliwa, independent Jim Walden and Mayor Eric Adams, also running as an independent, in the general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor:msserwanga@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamadani is embarking on a trip to Uganda to celebrate his wedding, he announced Sunday \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/download-9.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16234,"url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/ugandan-born-zohran-mamdani-takes-oath-of-office-as-new-yorks-new-mayor\/","url_meta":{"origin":14957,"position":0},"title":"Ugandan born Zohran Mamdani takes oath of office as New York’s new mayor","author":"UgandaUpdate","date":"January 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The midnight ceremony inside a landmarked former subway station precedes Mamdani's public inauguration and a massive, celebratory block party. 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