Zohran Mamdani visiting Uganda during NYC mayoral campaign

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is visiting his native country of Uganda to celebrate his recent marriage, taking a short break from the campaign trail ahead of the November election.

Mamdani announced the visit in a video posted to social media on Sunday and said he would return to the city by the end of July.

The trip comes as Mamdani, a 33-year-old member of the state Assembly, is facing a crowded field of opponents in the city’s general election, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who are both running as independent candidates.

In his video, Mamdani joked that he had decided to heed the “consistent advice” of some of his critics online who have told him to return to Africa, showing a screen full of posts that called for him to leave the U.S.

“I hear you, and I agree: I’m going back to Uganda,” he said. “I’m headed there in a personal capacity to celebrate Rama and I’s marriage with our family and friends.”

“But I do want to apologize to the haters, because I will be coming back,” Mamdani added.

Mamdani announced his marriage to Rama Duwaji, an animator and illustrator, earlier this year. He was born in Kampala, Uganda to Indian parents and moved to New York when he was 7, becoming naturalized as an American citizen in 2018.

Mamdani defeated Cuomo in the city’s Democratic primary election but Cuomo later relaunched his campaign to run as an independent candidate. Adams is a Democrat but skipped this primary to instead run as an independent because of the political fallout over his now-dismissed federal corruption case.

Jim Walden, a former prosecutor, is also running as an independent. Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the anti-crime Guardian Angels patrol group, is running on the Republican line.