NYC Mayor Mamdani jumps into pool in suit, sparks clash with Bruce Blakeman
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took an awkward dip in a public pool in East Harlem wearing full business attire to kick off the summer on Saturday, but the spectacle was overshadowed by a heated confrontation with one of New York’s leading Republicans.
The video shows 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 purpose of the event was to highlight the expanded freestyle swimming programs and the historical legacy of the Olympic facilities.
But the celebratory splash quickly turned political, with Mamdani targeting New York GOP gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and 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)
Blakeman said following Lander’s primary victory over Dan Goldman in the NY-10 convention: Newsmax interview He said Lander “would have been a camp guard in a concentration camp if he could.”
Mamdani defended Lander, calling him a “proud New York Jew” and calling Blakeman’s comments “unacceptable and unreasonable.”
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FILE – New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks in support of Brad Lander, the Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 10th Congressional District, in Carroll Park in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens neighborhood on June 14. (Shuran Huang/via Getty Images for the Washington Post)
Mamdani added that he thought the comparison, which likened Lander to a “Nazi prison guard,” was “disgusting” and argued that it was indicative of the Republican Party struggling to “dehumanize anyone they disagree with.”
Blakeman responded to the mayor’s demands Saturday afternoon, saying the mayor was not trustworthy.
FILE – Nassau County executive and Republican nominee for New York governor Bruce Blakeman is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
“This is coming from the same guy who skipped the Israel Day Parade, called AIPAC members ‘monsters,’ and canceled the Puerto Rican Day Brunch,” Blakeman told Fox News Digital. he said. “Zohran Mamdani has no credibility. He is a bigot, anti-Semite and anti-American.”
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Mamdani did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital editor Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
