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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took a bizarre plunge into an East Harlem public pool fully dressed in a business suit to kick off summer Saturday, but the spectacle was quickly overshadowed by a fiery clash with a top New York Republican.
Video captured the mayor jumping into the Thomas Jefferson Pool fully clothed and swimming with children to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the city’s Works Progress Administration-era outdoor pools.
The event was intended to highlight expanded free swim programs and the historical legacy of the Olympic-sized facilities.
However, the celebratory splash quickly turned political as Mamdani targeted New York GOP gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, demanding an apology for recent comments Blakeman made about Democratic Socialists of America-backed congressional candidate Brad Lander.
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FILE – New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was seen on video jumping into the Thomas Jefferson Pool fully clothed. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Following Lander’s NY-10 congressional primary victory over Dan Goldman, Blakeman said in a Newsmax interview that Lander “would be a camp guard in a concentration camp if he could.”
Mamdani defended Lander, calling him a “proud Jewish New Yorker” and describing Blakeman’s comments as “unacceptable and unconscionable.”
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FILE – New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks in support of Brad Lander, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 10th Congressional District, in Carroll Park in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn on June 14. (Shuran Huang/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Mamdani added he thought the comparison likening Lander to a “Nazi prison guard” was “disgusting”, and argued it was indicative of a Republican Party fighting to “dehumanize anyone they disagree with.”
Blakeman fired back at the mayor’s demands Saturday afternoon, saying the mayor lacks credibility.
FILE – Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County executive and Republican candidate for New York governor, is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and has secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
“This is coming from the same guy who wouldn’t march in the Israel Day Parade, called AIPAC members ‘monsters,’ and canceled the Puerto Rican Day Breakfast,” Blakeman told Digital. “Zohran Mamdani has no credibility. He is a bigot, an antisemite, and anti-American.”
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Mamdani did not immediately respond to Digital’s request for comment.
Digital editor Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
