Petition from 9/11 families asks NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend remembrance ceremony
A battle is brewing between Muslim New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the families of those killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks ahead of a memorial service to commemorate the
25th anniversary.
A group that includes relatives of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is urging organizers of this year’s 25th anniversary commemoration at Ground Zero to keep Mamdani away from the ceremony.
The effort began with an online petition organized by Giovanni Galante, whose wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was killed at the World Trade Center.
She was 29 and worked on the 105th floor of the North Tower.
Galante and other supporters argue that Mamdani’s attendance would be inappropriate because of positions he has taken and left-wing socialist political figures with whom he has associated.
“We felt that having Mamdani there would show a disrespect to our family members because of the people he supports,” Galante told CBS News New York.
The petition describes concerns about Mamdani’s “public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric” that its organizers view as hostile or inconsistent with the values represented by the annual commemoration.
The campaign has grown substantially since it was first reported in July. CBS News reported more than 23,000 total signatures by Aug. 18, while the New York Post reported Sept. 5 that the petition had surpassed 98,000 signatures.
The number of signers who are actually relatives of 9/11 victims has been disputed, however, and CBS corrected an earlier report that had inaccurately suggested thousands of victims’ family members had signed.
Galante initially estimated that hundreds of victims’ relatives had joined the effort, but organizers have not produced a verified accounting showing how many petition signatures belong to members of 9/11 families.
Some relatives have nevertheless publicly identified themselves as supporters.
Monica Iken Murphy, whose husband Michael was killed while working on the 84th floor of the South Tower, told CBS she believed the anniversary should remain focused on those who were directly affected by the attacks.
Other prominent members of the 9/11 community have taken a more measured position.
Dennis McKeon, who leads a Staten Island organization for 9/11 survivors, said he respected the families’ right to object to Mamdani’s attendance but noted that previous mayors and governors had faced criticism from 9/11 families without being excluded from the ceremony.
Mamdani has made clear that he intends to attend.
“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,” Mamdani told CBS News New York.
He said his attendance would reaffirm the city’s commitment to “never forget” the attacks and their lasting impact.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which organizes the annual Ground Zero ceremony, has also resisted attempts to turn attendance by public officials into a partisan issue.
The organization said elected officials from across the political spectrum have traditionally been permitted to attend the ceremony as witnesses but do not give speeches and are placed in a designated area.
“We have intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics,” the organization told CBS.
The anniversary ceremony itself is centered on victims and their families rather than elected officials.
On Sept. 11, relatives will gather on the Memorial plaza to read aloud the names of the 2,983 people killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Seven moments of silence are planned, marking the attacks and collapses of the Twin Towers, the attack on the Pentagon, the crash of Flight 93 and, for the first time as part of the expanded commemoration, those who later died from illnesses and injuries connected to 9/11.
The ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m., with the first moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower. Access to the Memorial plaza will initially be reserved for victims’ family members.
Mamdani has taken additional steps in the days leading up to the anniversary to emphasize his administration’s recognition of the attacks.
On Sept. 4, he signed an executive order formally designating Sept. 11 as a citywide Day of Remembrance and Service.
The order directs the city to honor victims, first responders, survivors and people who later died from illnesses connected to their exposure at Ground Zero.
TED CRUZ CALLS COMMUNISM A “POISON” SPREADING THROUGH AMERICA — AND THE BACKLASH FROM THE LEFT JUST EXPLODED…
TED CRUZ DOUBLES DOWN ON SOCIALIST 'TAKEOVER' WARNING — BUT THE VIRAL 'COMMUNISM IS POISON' QUOTE STILL NEEDS A CORRECTION
Sen. Ted Cruz is escalating his warning that an openly socialist and anti-capitalist movement is gaining power inside Democratic politics as the 2026 midterm campaign enters its final two months.
That broader warning has more factual support than critics sometimes acknowledge. Democratic Socialists of America has grown past 100,000 members, launched a national program explicitly envisioning a future beyond capitalism and, in its latest electoral guidance, says it is committed to building an independent mass socialist party that can ultimately end capitalism.
Cruz has also continued the attack in real time. At an Iowa Republican event on August 29, he argued that voters must keep what he called "Marxists and Islamists" who have "taken over" the Democratic Party out of power.
But one viral line still needs a major correction. The statement that Cruz said communism is a "poison" spreading throughout America combines two different strands of his rhetoric.
In his August 7 School of War interview, Cruz did say, "We have to defeat this poison." In that portion of the conversation, however, he was discussing antisemitism and radicalization on the political right, particularly his criticism of Tucker Carlson — not defining communism itself as the poison in that exact passage.
Cruz has repeatedly warned of a communist or Marxist takeover of Democratic politics. The specific viral quotation that communism itself is the 'poison' spreading across America is not a clean verbatim quote from the August 7 interview.
Cruz's 'Communist Takeover' Rhetoric Is Absolutely Real
The underlying anti-communist message is not fabricated.
After Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary in early August, Cruz described the result as evidence of what he called a "communist takeover" of the Democratic Party.
On television, he said, "These are actual communists," while arguing that the party's activist base, younger voters and donor energy are moving toward socialism, Marxism and communism.
On his own Verdict podcast, Cruz said he believed the Democratic Party was "at risk of dying" because of a takeover by its socialist wing.
He also acknowledged an important limitation: most Democratic senators he personally serves with would not call themselves communists and, in his words, are "not fully there." His claim is instead that they are increasingly afraid of primary challenges from the left.
Even Cruz's own fuller argument is about the growing influence of a radical faction. It is not a literal factual description of every Democratic officeholder as a communist.
The 'Poison' Quote Came During a Different Fight
The source of the viral wording is Cruz's August 7 appearance on School of War.
The episode covered several separate topics: Iran, the Democratic Party's leftward shift, antisemitism on the right and Cruz's feud with Tucker Carlson.
The podcast's own chapter markers place "Is the Democratic Party Being Taken Over?" at roughly 16 minutes, followed later by "The Rise of Antisemitism on the Right," "Why Tucker Carlson Is Dangerous" and then "We Have to Defeat This Poison."
In that later section, Cruz warned that antisemitic rhetoric could consume the Republican Party if conservatives failed to confront it.
That context matters because putting the word "poison" directly inside a communism headline gives readers the impression that Cruz used the exact phrase while talking about communism.
He did not use it that way in that interview.
A strong headline can accurately say Cruz calls communism or Marxism a threat. It should not put 'communism is poison' in quotation marks as though that exact sentence appears in the underlying interview.
Cruz Has Doubled Down Since Then
The controversy has not faded.
At Republican Sen. Ashley Hinson's August 29 event in Iowa, Cruz again framed the midterms as a battle against a Democratic Party he believes has been captured by ideological radicals.
He warned the crowd about "Marxists and Islamists" and said Iowa voters had an important role in keeping that coalition out of power.
That appearance shows that the anti-socialist message is not simply an old clip being recycled.
Cruz is actively using it as part of the Republican closing argument for November.
The Leftward Movement Cruz Is Pointing To Is Real
Democratic Socialists of America has experienced substantial organizational growth.
DSA-affiliated publications reported earlier this year that the organization had passed 100,000 members, up from roughly 6,000 a decade earlier.
Its electoral successes have also become more visible, especially in major cities and Democratic primaries.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a DSA member. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently renewed her national DSA membership. DSA-backed and DSA-aligned candidates have won or influenced a number of 2026 primary contests.
Those developments give Cruz and other Republicans a legitimate factual basis for arguing that socialism has more organizational and electoral influence in American politics than it did a decade ago.
DSA's Own Documents Are Explicitly Anti-Capitalist
The strongest evidence does not come from Republican campaign advertisements. It comes from DSA itself.
DSA's constitution says the organization rejects an economic order based on private profit and supports popular control of resources and production.
Its public explanation of democratic socialism says capitalism must be replaced with democratic socialism and calls for collective ownership of key economic sectors.
Its 2026 Workers Deserve More program imagines a classless society and describes its project as ending capitalist oligarchy and creating a democratic socialist republic.
Most notably, updated DSA electoral guidance published August 29 says the organization is committed to the goal of becoming an independent mass socialist party and describes the ultimate objective as allowing the working class to rule and "end capitalism."
Those are not labels imposed by Cruz. They are the organization's own stated goals.
It is factually accurate to describe DSA as socialist and anti-capitalist. That does not make 'democratic socialist' and 'communist' identical political categories.
DSA Also Rejects Authoritarian Socialism
Precision cuts in both directions.
DSA explicitly says its vision leaves authoritarian forms of socialism behind and presents elections, democratic organizing and civil participation as central to its strategy.
That distinguishes its stated project from Marxist-Leninist one-party states such as the Soviet Union.
The organization wants a fundamental transformation beyond capitalism, but it describes the method and desired political structure as democratic rather than authoritarian.
Critics are free to argue that the economic program is unrealistic, dangerous or could concentrate too much power in government.
Calling it simply the same thing as Soviet-style communism skips a real ideological distinction.
The New DSA Program Goes Further Than Ordinary Liberalism
At the same time, Democratic leaders who describe DSA as merely advocating a slightly larger welfare state understate the organization's own program.
Its new national materials envision structural changes to the political and economic system, not just incremental regulation.
DSA writers have openly discussed ending capitalism, drafting a new constitution, restructuring national political institutions and building a socialist party independent of the existing Democratic establishment.
That places the organization well to the left of conventional New Deal liberalism, Clinton-era centrism or ordinary European-style regulation of private markets.
Cruz's warning that Democrats are facing pressure from a genuinely anti-capitalist movement therefore cannot simply be dismissed as a fictional scare tactic.
But Democratic Socialists Are Not the Whole Democratic Party
The next step in the viral argument is where the evidence becomes weaker.
DSA remains a relatively small organization compared with the size of the national Democratic electorate.
Many Democratic governors, senators and House members reject DSA's long-term economic goals.
Even some 2026 candidates supported by Bernie Sanders or progressive activists do not identify as socialists.
Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, for example, has explicitly described himself as a capitalist who wants capitalism regulated.
Republican messaging often groups El-Sayed, Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez, mainstream Democrats and DSA activists together under a single 'communist' label despite meaningful differences among them.
A socialist faction is increasingly influential inside Democratic politics. That is different from proving that the Democratic Party as a whole has become communist.
Polling Shows Socialism Has Become More Acceptable to Democrats
Public opinion helps explain why Cruz sees an opening.
Gallup's 2025 survey found that 39 percent of U.S. adults had a positive view of socialism while 57 percent viewed it negatively.
Among Democrats, however, 66 percent viewed socialism positively, compared with only 42 percent who viewed capitalism positively.
Americans ages 18 to 34 were also substantially more favorable toward socialism than older adults.
Those numbers show a real generational and partisan shift in how the word socialism is received.
Gallup measured favorable views of socialism, not support for a communist one-party state. The two cannot be counted as the same statistic.
Newer Polling Also Shows the Limits of the Socialist Brand
The picture is not one of a country marching uniformly toward socialism.
A July Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 27 percent of Americans believed democratic socialists had at least some good ideas, while 51 percent said they had few or none.
Only a minority said they understood democratic-socialist policies well.
That suggests democratic-socialist candidates can generate intense enthusiasm in certain Democratic primaries while still facing skepticism across the broader electorate.
Reuters reporting on Republican campaign strategy has likewise found disagreement inside the GOP about how heavily to lean on socialism and communism as midterm messages.
Some Republican strategists believe the label is powerful; others say voters care more urgently about costs, wages, housing and other economic concerns.
The Backlash Exists — but 'The Left' Is Too Vague
Cruz and Trump's anti-communist campaign has drawn genuine criticism.
Democrats, progressive commentators and some political analysts accuse Republicans of reviving Cold War red-baiting and deliberately collapsing democratic socialism, socialism and communism into one emotionally charged label.
Recent commentary has argued that the terminology is designed to make ordinary progressive policies sound equivalent to authoritarian communist rule.
That backlash is real.
But 'the left' is not one unified organization, and the critics are not all making the same argument.
Some reject socialism themselves but object to inaccurate labeling. Others defend democratic socialism as a democratic economic alternative. Still others believe the entire ideological argument distracts from affordability and the economy.
Republicans Are Using 'Communism' as an Explicit Midterm Strategy
The language is not accidental.
Reuters reported in July that Trump and Republican allies were actively testing anti-communist messaging for the midterms, especially after socialist and progressive primary victories.
Trump invoked communism dozens of times over a short period and Republican strategists said the word can be more emotionally potent than 'socialism,' particularly among older voters and communities with direct family experience under communist governments.
By late August, the strategy remained visible in Republican speeches and campaign events.
The political bet is that voters who may not follow the distinctions between progressive, democratic socialist, socialist and communist politics will nevertheless respond strongly to the broad warning that the Democratic Party is moving too far left.
The Historical Case Against Authoritarian Communism Is Not Hard to Make
Cruz does not need exaggerated labels to make a powerful case against authoritarian communism.
The historical record of Soviet communism, Maoist China, Cambodia, North Korea and other one-party Marxist-Leninist regimes includes political repression, mass imprisonment, censorship, economic coercion, executions and catastrophic famines.
Americans whose families fled Cuba, Eastern Europe, Vietnam and other communist systems have strong historical reasons to react negatively to communist ideology and symbols.
A serious anti-communist argument can therefore stand on history, constitutional liberty and economic evidence.
It becomes less precise when every politician favoring Medicare for All, rent controls or higher taxes is treated as though he or she advocates a Soviet political system.
Cruz's Warning Is Strongest When Aimed at What DSA Actually Says
The most defensible version of Cruz's argument is narrower and stronger.
There is now a growing American socialist organization that explicitly says capitalism should be replaced.
It has more than 100,000 members.
It has elected allies and members to meaningful offices.
Its newest electoral strategy describes building an independent socialist party and ending capitalism.
Its influence is creating real fights inside Democratic primaries and forcing establishment politicians to answer questions they largely ignored a decade ago.
Those are facts voters can evaluate without calling every Democrat a communist.
What Can Actually Be Said With Confidence
Ted Cruz is genuinely making an aggressive anti-socialist and anti-communist argument as part of the 2026 midterm campaign.
He has described recent progressive victories as evidence of a "communist takeover" of the Democratic Party and has said some figures on the left are "actual communists."
On August 29, he again warned Iowa Republicans that "Marxists and Islamists" had taken over the Democratic Party.
There is a real and growing socialist movement in the United States. DSA says it has more than 100,000 members and its own official materials explicitly advocate replacing capitalism with democratic socialism.
DSA's updated August 29 electoral guidance says the organization wants to build an independent mass socialist party and ultimately end capitalism.
Those facts give Cruz a legitimate basis to warn voters about a more organized and influential anti-capitalist left.
DSA also explicitly rejects authoritarian socialism and describes its strategy as democratic. Democratic socialism and Marxist-Leninist communism are therefore not interchangeable terms.
The Democratic Party as a whole has not adopted DSA's program, and many Democratic elected officials do not identify as socialists or communists.
Gallup shows socialism is viewed positively by 66 percent of Democrats but only 39 percent of Americans overall. A majority of Americans still view socialism negatively.
Reuters/Ipsos polling shows democratic socialism has real appeal in parts of the electorate but broad national skepticism remains.
The specific viral 'poison' quote is still misleading. Cruz's August 7 statement that "we have to defeat this poison" came during his warning about antisemitism and radicalization on the right, not as a direct quotation defining communism itself as the poison.
So the strongest defensible headline is not that Cruz uttered the exact viral sentence and 'the left' erupted simply because he told the truth.
It is that Cruz is using a real resurgence of organized American socialism to make an increasingly aggressive midterm argument about communism — while the evidence supports his warning about growing anti-capitalist influence more strongly than it supports labeling the entire Democratic coalition communist.
