A growing wave of opposition is confronting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani just weeks before he’s set to appear at one of the city’s most sacred annual events.
At the center of the storm is an online petition, now backed by tens of thousands of signatures, calling on ceremony organizers to keep the mayor away from the 25th anniversary observance of the September 11 attacks.
Two people who each lost a spouse in the 2001 terrorist attacks are behind the campaign.
One of them, Giovanni Galante, watched his wife’s life cut short when the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. Grace Catherine Galante was only 29, working on the 105th floor, when the building was hit.
Galante didn’t mince words when explaining his motivation for starting the petition.
“We felt that having Mamdani there would show a disrespect to our family members because of the people he supports,” he said.
By Tuesday morning, the number of signatures had climbed past 23,000, a figure organizers point to as evidence that frustration with the mayor’s planned appearance extends well beyond a small circle of families.
One of those signatures belongs to Monica Iken Murphy. Her husband, Michael Murphy, died at age 37 while working on the South Tower’s 84th floor.
Murphy explained that this particular anniversary carries extra weight for families like hers, and that a mayor with no history tied to the tragedy shouldn’t be part of it.
“I feel anyone who attends this 25th pivotal anniversary for us, we just want a little time for ourselves, and we don’t want someone just coming in, who just came into office, who really wasn’t there,” she said.
John Feal, a longtime advocate for the 9/11 survivor community, joined the chorus of criticism.
His argument centers on Mamdani’s track record — or lack of one — when it comes to supporting survivors before showing up at a ceremony meant to honor them.
“Until he does something proactive for the 9/11 community, he should just sit there in City Hall,” Feal said.
Beyond personal objections from grieving spouses, the petition itself lays out broader concerns about the mayor’s public conduct.
It cites his “public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile” as reasons organizers should reconsider his role in the event.
The document goes further, raising questions about people connected to Mamdani whom it labels anti-American, including mentions of his father.
According to the petition, the annual ceremony exists specifically to honor the dead while standing firmly against the extremist ideology that fueled the attacks in the first place.
Opposition to Mamdani’s attendance isn’t universal within the community most affected by the tragedy, however.
Staten Island survivor-group organizer Dennis McKeon offered a starkly different take, pointing to a quarter-century of city leaders who showed up to the ceremony regardless of how families felt about their performance in office.
“There’s been mayors and governors for the past 25 years that really did nothing to help the 9/11 family members. They were never banned,” McKeon said.
McKeon traced his own involvement in the community back to a devastating personal loss, noting that his parish alone lost 29 members that day. He framed the current dispute as a matter of differing opinions rather than a clear-cut issue.
“We lost 29 people in our parish in St. Clare’s; that’s how I first got involved. I think everyone’s entitled to their own opinion,” he said.
For his part, Mamdani has made clear he isn’t backing down from the controversy. Asked directly about the petition, he confirmed his intention to show up on the anniversary and stand with those the attacks impacted most.
“I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration, reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home and, frankly, by all of us who called this country home,” Mamdani said to CBS.
The mayor’s response has done little to quiet critics, and the petition’s signature count shows no signs of slowing down as the anniversary date approaches.
City Hall has not indicated whether Mamdani’s ceremony plans will change in response to mounting public pressure. Organizers of the official 9/11 memorial event have likewise stayed silent on whether they will act on the petition’s demands.
What remains clear is that the debate has exposed a rift among 9/11 families themselves, split between those who see Mamdani’s presence as an intrusion and those who view exclusion as an overreach.
As September approaches, all sides appear entrenched, leaving city officials to navigate a controversy rooted in grief, politics, and competing visions of what the anniversary should represent.
