A growing coalition of 9/11 families, first responders, and local leaders is urging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to stay away from this years September 11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero, warning that his presence would politicize what they insist must remain a solemn, apolitical day of mourning.
The group assembled at City Hall in lower Manhattan, where speakers argued that Mamdanis attendance at Fridays commemoration would inject partisan tension into a sacred observance meant to honor the nearly 3,000 Americans murdered in the 2001 terrorist attacks. According to One America News, the families and their supporters contend that the Democrat mayors appearance would shift attention away from the victims and toward his own controversial record and recent actions, turning a unifying remembrance into a political spectacle.
Charles Wolf, who lost his wife on 9/11, accused Mamdani of putting his own interests ahead of the families wishes and the citys need for unity on a painful anniversary. By ignoring the objections of many New Yorkers, Wolf said, the mayor would be serving himself rather than the people he was elected to represent.
This mayor is not serving us, Wolf said at City Hall on Tuesday. Hes serving himself. We are asking respectfully that he not show up. Even though there is going to be other politicians there, these are the politicians that helped us push beneficial laws through and literally held our hand during that time, Wolf continued. Mayor Mamdani has not shown any of that, none of it. He just wants to be there because he wants to be there.
Wolf stressed that the ceremony is not a campaign stop or a public rally, but an intimate and deeply emotional gathering for those whose lives were shattered 25 years ago. So we are asking him to respect the fact that that trauma is revived during the ceremony. It is a private ceremony. It is not a public ceremony. Mayor Mamdani, please do not come, he continued.
Monica Iken, whose husband Michael was killed in the attacks, echoed that plea, emphasizing that the memorial and museum are hallowed ground for the families who return each year to grieve. She argued that anyone asked to stay away from such a sacred space should honor that request rather than force their presence on a mourning community.
If we feel that we dont want someone at our world-class memorial museum thats sacred and hallowed, we feel that that person should respect our wishes, said Iken. He didnt go to the 20th so I dont know why hes so adamant about going to this one when we just ask that he just respect us from 7 to 11 and let us have our mourning.
The families public appeal follows pointed criticism from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city through the aftermath of the attacks and remains a powerful symbol of that era for many conservatives. Over the weekend, Giuliani used a Newsmax interview to call on Mamdani to stay away from the ceremony altogether.
When asked whether Mamdani should skip the memorial, Giuliani, 82, replied, Well, theres no question he should. Having lost friends there and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that hes coming, Giuliani added.
Relatives who spoke at City Hall insisted that their opposition is not solely about Mamdanis past controversial remarks and associations related to 9/11, though those concerns remain very much in the background. Their central fear, they said, is that his appearance would transform a day of quiet remembrance into a stage for political posturing, undermining the unity that the ceremony is meant to embody.
They argued that the memorial must remain focused exclusively on the victims and the heroism of first responders, not on the mayors image or agenda. In their view, the presence of a polarizing figure who has alienated many in the 9/11 community would inevitably draw media attention away from the names being read and toward the political drama surrounding his attendance.
Despite the mounting backlash, Mamdani announced on Monday that he intends not only to attend but also to speak at Fridays ceremony and at all other events marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks. His decision signals a willingness to defy the wishes of many of the very families the event is designed to honor, raising questions about whose priorities are being served.
Im proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country, Mamdani said on Monday. What I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of Sept.11, and a focus also on the first responders who did everything they could.
Several family members, however, have already indicated that if Mamdani is permitted to speak, they will respond by refusing to acknowledge him at all. Their plan, they said, is to ignore the mayor, a quiet but pointed form of protest against what they see as an unwelcome intrusion into their grief.
The organized pushback has been bolstered by a rapidly growing online petition launched by Giovanni Galante, who also lost his wife in the attacks. That Change.org petition, demanding that Mamdani be barred from the commemorations, had surpassed 100,000 signatures by Tuesday, underscoring the depth of anger and distrust among many in the 9/11 community.
Calls to exclude the Democrat mayor intensified after Mamdani recently presented a symbolic 9/11 pen to a former Al-Qaeda defense lawyer during a ceremonial signing. For many conservatives and victims families, that gesture crossed a moral line, reinforcing their belief that he lacks the judgment and respect necessary to stand at Ground Zero on such a solemn day.
Fridays ceremony is expected to draw a high-profile bipartisan roster of national leaders, including former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as several former New York mayors. Their presence underscores the national significance of the anniversary, even as local tensions over Mamdanis role threaten to overshadow the event.
President Donald Trump will attend the commemoration at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while Vice President JD Vance will represent the Trump administration at Ground Zero in Manhattan. For many of the families now speaking out, the contrast between honoring the dead and courting controversy could not be clearer, and they are asking that, for four hours on Friday morning, politics step aside so that the focus can remain where they believe it belongs: on the lives lost, the sacrifices made, and the enduring pain of those left behind.
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