A Florida Republican is being ridiculed online for suggesting that New York residents would be scared "living with a Muslim mayor" following the results of the Democratic New York City mayoral primary.

Angie Wong, a political commentator and Republican committee member from Miami, suggested that people were "concerned about their safety" if Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, were to win the mayoral race later this year.

"I'm hearing from various people here in New York and they're concerned about their safety living here with a Muslim mayor," Wong said during a discussion on CNN Thursday night.

Wong's declaration was quickly met with pushback from several of the other panelists.

"The idea that because he is Muslim, he is a threat to Jewish New Yorkers — is that really what you're saying?" CNN anchor Abby Phillip asked.

"No, it's because of his anti-Israel rhetoric he's been putting out," Wong insisted.

"But what does that have to do with him being Muslim?" Phillip pushed. "You can go after his policies but what does that have to do with his faith?"

"It's not about his faith, it's because he is perpetuating this anti-Israeli rhetoric and New Yorkers are hearing it and they're scared. That's what I'm hearing back from friends," Wong said.

Despite Wong's insistence that the assertion was based on what she had heard from locals, her declaration was met with backlash online, with several users accusing her of being "Islamophobic."

"If it doesn't matter he's Muslim why'd you bring up his religion you bigots??" one user questioned. Another wrote, "This is Islamophobic. She said the quiet part out loud."

"Not all people who are Muslim engage in criminal behavior. Good grief," one user lamented. One added, "People are just flat out disgusting."

Mamdani, who is Muslim and Indian, beat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was favored to win, in the primary Tuesday. The Democratic socialist's success was met with heavy backlash from Republicans and MAGA supporters.

The 33-year-old will go on to face off against Cuomo again in November, who reportedly plans to continue running as an independent, as well as current Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and independent candidate Jim Walden.

Originally published on Latin Times

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