Authorities have arrested a Texas man for allegedly making phone and written threats to New York City mayoral candidate and state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, warning the self-described democratic socialist to “go back to Uganda” before someone shoots him in the head, the Queens district attorney said Thursday.
Jeremy Fistel was arraigned on a 22-count grand jury indictment charging him with making a terroristic threat as a hate crime, aggravated harassment and related charges in the case. Prosecutors allege he started sending the messages to Mamdani’s office in June and continued to do so through July.
According to the charges, Fistel allegedly left an anti-Muslim message in June saying the Uganda-born Mamdani wasn’t welcome in New York and warning him to watch his back and his family’s backs. He called him a terrorist.
A few weeks later, in July, Fistel allegedly sent a message through Mamdani’s website wishing him terminal cancer and an imminent “painful death.”
“I’d love to see an IDF bullet go through your skull,” the message read, according to court documents. “Would be even better if you had to watch your wife and kids murdered in front you before they end your pathetic miserable life…I hope you all die painful sudden deaths. Do us all a favor and kill yourself.”
The next voicemail came a few weeks after that and included similar sentiments. According to prosecutors, Mamdani’s staff first reported the message to police in June, on the day Fistel allegedly left that first voicemail.
The Texas man allegedly blocked his caller ID and investigators eventually tracked the calls to his cellphone, the complaint says. It also alleges the website-submitted message was traced to Fistel’s email account.
Fistel was arrested last week in Texas and extradited to Queens on Wednesday. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge. His attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Prosecutors pointed to the litany of threats.
“The defendant told the assemblyman to go back to Uganda before someone shoots him in the head, to keep an eye on his house and family, to watch his back every second until he leaves America, and that he and his relatives deserve to die,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement Thursday.
“Let me be very clear — we take threats of violence against any office holder extremely seriously — and there is no room for hate or bigotry in our political discourse,” Katz continued.
The Mamdani campaign thanked the Queens DA's office and assured the community that the candidate and his team are safe.
"Unfortunately, threats of this nature are all too common — and they reflect a broader climate of hate that has no place in our city," the campaign said Thursday in a statement.
"We cannot and will not be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia, and hate. Zohran remains steadfast in his conviction that New York must be a city where every single person — regardless of faith, background, or identity — is safe, protected, and at home.”
Mamdani's policy pledges have roiled Washington in recent weeks. President Donald Trump has criticized him outright.
Thursday’s development comes as the NYPD steps up security for political officials and high-profile business and other dignitaries in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. In a bulletin obtained earlier this week, the NYPD warns of amplified risk for lone actor violence and says prominent figures remain vulnerable.
News of the arrest also comes days after a new poll showed Mamdani leading big in a four-way contest, but the race tightens if it comes down to just him and Andrew Cuomo.
The Marist poll out Tuesday shows Mamdani with a commanding 21-point lead among likely voters when put up against Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa and Mayor Eric Adams. But if the field were to narrow to a hypothetical two-person race between Mamdani and Cuomo, that gap would narrow by 10 percentage points, with 49% of those polled saying they would vote for Mamdani and 39% saying they would vote for Cuomo.
A triplet of polls last week also showed Cuomo trailing Mamdani, even if Adams and Sliwa, the Republican nominee, were to drop out.
Adams for weeks has battled speculation he might drop out of the race to improve the chances of a non-Mamdani victory. Last week, NBC New York reported he’d be conducting his “own unbiased poll” to make that decision, though it wasn’t immediately clear when he planned to conduct it or make his final call.
Mamdani is also the only candidate to be viewed favorably by a majority of New Yorkers, according to the Marist poll. The democratic socialist was viewed very favorably or somewhat favorably by 52% of respondents.
Cuomo was viewed favorably by 40%, but nearly just as many (39%) had a very unfavorable view of the former governor.
The Marist Poll surveyed 1,470 adults from Sept. 8-11 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
