Bill Maher warns Democrats of Zohran Mamdani’s dual citizenship, says 'whole party is on the ballot'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: 'Real Time' got really heated Friday night, October 24, when host Bill Maher clashed with CNN political commentator Kate Bedingfield over New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist with dual US-Ugandan citizenship. 

Maher warned that Mamdani’s campaign could have consequences far beyond the Big Apple.

“I think the whole Democratic Party in the country is on the ballot, and the whole country will be looking at this race to see which way are the Democrats going to go,” Maher said.

Maher wasn’t exactly singing the praises of the Democratic establishment either. He brought up former New York Gov Andrew Cuomo as an example of someone who was, at least, “kind of normal.” Bedingfield didn’t love that comparison, shooting back that there were things in Cuomo’s past she didn’t exactly want to “embrace as normal.”

Still, Maher doubled down. “They’re going to have to decide on this mayor’s race. Now, they say it’s getting closer. If it is Mamdani in New York, again, I think this has very important national implications," he insisted.

Bedingfield argued that a Mamdani win might not be the disaster Maher was predicting. “I think that if Mamdani wins with a coalition of voters who have been not all that excited about the Democratic Party over the last few years, I think that’s a good thing for the Democrats,” she said. “And I think if you’re in a purple district, say you disagree with some of the things that he does and use that to establish your independent cred.” 

Bill Maher’s gripes about Zohran Mamdani

Maher wasn’t buying the optimism. He pointed to Cuomo’s latest line of attack on Mamdani’s Ugandan citizenship and the troubling human rights record of that nation.

“You make it sound like he’s a little more mainstream than I think he is,” Maher said. “I mean, the issue now that Andrew Cuomo is bringing up in New York is that he is a Ugandan citizen. Uganda is a country where they kill homosexuals. I would renounce, if I was the dual citizen with a country whose policy was we kill homosexuals. I would renounce that citizenship.”

Maher’s comments echoed what Cuomo himself said during the October 22 mayoral debate. Cuomo asked Mamdani directly, “How do you not renounce your citizenship or demand BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] against Uganda for imprisoning people who are gay just by their sexual orientation? Isn’t that a basic violation of human rights?” 

Kate Bedingfield accuses Andrew Cuomo of 'race-baiting'

Bedingfield, however, accused both Maher and Cuomo of amplifying what she called a “fear framework.”

She said the entire narrative wasn’t “good for the country” and even charged Cuomo with “race baiting,” adding that the former governor had suggested Mamdani couldn’t be a leader in a “terror situation.”

Maher fired back with yet another reason he thinks Mamdani’s campaign is a political powder keg waiting to blow up in the Democrats’ faces.

“He campaigned this week with a guy who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and served as a character witness for Omar Abdel Rahman, the terrorist who organized it,” Maher said. “So Sarah Palin used to say Obama palled around with terrorists, which was bulls**t, but I just don’t know if this is a great look for the party.”

Maher was referring to a photo that surfaced showing Mamdani alongside Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been a controversial figure for decades.

Zohran Mamdani's explanation and fate of New York

When CBS New York caught up with Mamdani, he brushed off the photo controversy and accused critics of singling him out because of his religion and his rising clout.

“The same imam met with Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg, met with Mayor [Bill] de Blasio, campaigned alongside Eric Adams, and the only time it became an issue of national attention was when I met with him,” Mamdani said. “And that’s because of the fact of my faith and because I’m on the precipice of winning this election.”

Rounding out the “Real Time” panel, MSNBC host Michael Steele reminded everyone that it’s voters who call the shots ultimately.

“My take is, I think what’s being left out in this conversation is probably the most important ingredient — and that is the people of New York,” Steele said. “They will decide whether or not everything you’ve just leveled up, and every concern that people have put out there about Mr Mamdani, is relevant to them when they go to the polls.”