Andrew Cuomo calls Zohran Mamdani a hypocrite over Ugandan mansion and NYC rent-stabilized home

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo targeted socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Friday, October 3, calling him a “mansion boy” and a “hypocrite” for owning valuable property abroad while campaigning to abolish private property rights.

Cuomo made the remarks in an interview with the New York Post, accusing the Queens assemblyman of “posing as a working-class champion while living off family wealth.”

Andrew Cuomo calls Zohran Mamdani a wealthy landowner with foreign property

According to state and city financial disclosure filings, Zohran Mamdani owns vacant land in Jinja, Uganda, valued between $100,000 and $250,000.

The 33-year-old assemblyman has reportedly held the property since 2012, despite building his political brand on opposing private ownership.

“Being a wealthy landowner with foreign investments, while holding a rent-stabilized apartment in the tightest housing market in the nation, is the height of hypocrisy,” Cuomo told the outlet.

Cuomo, who is running as an independent and currently trails Mamdani in recent polls, said the assemblyman’s image as a grassroots socialist doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

Andrew Cuomo calls Zohran Mamdani a mansion boy living off family wealth

Cuomo criticized Mamdani’s privileged background, highlighting his family’s lifestyle and overseas holdings.

“Zohran Mamdani can call himself a working-class champion all he wants, but it’s just an act from an award-winning director’s son,” Cuomo said.

“Working men and women don’t live in mansions with armed guards and have family homes around the world — oligarchs’ sons do.”

He continued, “Zohran Mamdani is a mansion boy living off family wealth.”

Andrew Cuomo criticizes Zohran Mamdani family villa and Airbnb rentals

Mamdani’s parents, Mahmood Mamdani, a professor at Columbia University, and acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, known for directing Monsoon Wedding, own a five-bedroom villa overlooking Lake Victoria in Uganda.

The luxury property, complete with armed security and lakefront views, has reportedly been rented on Airbnb for eight years, despite Mamdani’s outspoken opposition to the platform.

Critics have accused the politician of double standards, pointing to his family’s income from short-term rentals while he pushes for tenant protections and corporate regulation at home.

Andrew Cuomo questions whether Zohran Mamdani’s Queens apartment reflects his image

While Mamdani often posts videos of himself eating burritos on the subway and presenting himself as an everyman, Cuomo questioned the authenticity of that image.

Mamdani currently lives in a rent-stabilized apartment in Queens, which he has described as part of his “commitment to working-class living.”

But Cuomo’s remarks have reignited questions about whether the assemblyman’s political brand matches his personal lifestyle.

“Working-class New Yorkers deserve honesty,” Cuomo said. “They don’t need another politician preaching socialism from a luxury villa.”