Political Memes

Gillibrand and Mamdani had previously spoken by phone on Wednesday when she congratulated him the day after winning the Democratic mayoral primary.

Mamdani campaign spokesperson Andrew Epstein confirmed the Monday night call, adding that the apology was accepted and the two agreed to “set a path to move forward productively.”

Gillibrand’s readout said the two “discussed the need to bring down the temperature around the issue” of the war between Israel and Hamas, and that she “regretted not separating her own views from the radio show caller’s more clearly.”

“Gillibrand said she believes Mr. Mamdani is sincere when he says he wants to protect all New Yorkers and combat antisemitism,” the readout continued. “She said the GOP attacks on him are outrageous and unacceptable.”

Gillibrand’s team said the pair agreed to meet in person in New York City in the near future to discuss other issues including affordability and public safety.

Mamdani has worked to consolidate support from Democratic Party power players in the last week as he looks ahead to the general election after a heated primary where he was repeatedly attacked for his anti-Israel positions, such as saying the country was committing “genocide” in Gaza. Ranked choice results released Tuesday showed Mamdani growing his lead over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, winning 56 percent of votes counted.