A record 164,000 people cast ballots in New York on the first two days of early voting in the city’s mayoral race. If elected, Zohran Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim mayor. In recent days, he has faced a string of Islamophobic attacks. “I see a dynamic that I think lots of Muslims have experienced in the United States, which is when they’re given positions of power or are in a position of public scrutiny, that their faith is often the first thing that gets scrutinized,” says Meher Ahmad, staff editor for The New York Times opinion section.
