Multiple Republican members of Congress have come under fire this week for social media posts and comments targeting Zohran Mamdani, New York City's first Muslim mayor, with critics calling the language and imagery anti-Muslim and inflaming public tensions.
At least four Republican lawmakers shared content on X that Muslim Americans and Democrats called Islamophobic. Among the posts that drew sustained attention was one by Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who placed a photograph of the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center next to a March 8 image of Mamdani hosting an iftar dinner at New York City Hall. Tuberville added the captions "less than 25 years ago" and "The enemy is inside the gates." According to the reporting, Tuberville has a history of expressing anti-Muslim rhetoric both online and on the Senate floor. The senator did not respond to a request for comment, and he later reiterated the sentiments in several additional posts on X on Thursday.
The Islamic advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) responded to Tuberville's posts by placing him on its list of anti-Muslim extremists in the United States. That designation marks the first time CAIR has added a sitting U.S. senator to that list. CAIR also released a study this week finding that Islamophobic incidents in 2025 reached a record high.
Incidents of antisemitism are also on the rise, the reporting notes, citing a recent episode in which a man drove a truck into a Detroit-area synagogue hallway on Thursday. The surge in both Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents provided the immediate backdrop for the criticism of the congressional posts.
Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee drew particular condemnation earlier in the week after posting on X that "Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie." He later reinforced that message in a follow-up post, writing: "Muslims are unable to assimilate; they all have to go back," alongside a link to a news story about one of two men charged with federal terrorism-related crimes for allegedly setting off a homemade bomb at an anti-Islam protest outside Mamdani’s residence in New York. Authorities say the two individuals declared they were inspired by the militant group Islamic State.
In the current session of Congress, Democrats have introduced two censure resolutions against Ogles for his comments directed at Muslims and specifically at Mamdani. Ogles has previously used derogatory language about Mamdani, calling him "little muhammad" and saying he should be "DEPORTED" and "subject to denaturalization proceedings" after Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor.
On Thursday, Michigan Representative Shri Thanedar filed a resolution that would remove Ogles from the House Homeland Security Committee. In a statement, Thanedar said: "Congressman Ogles’ disgusting and bigoted words have no place anywhere in our country, let alone from a member of Congress. His words incite hatred against millions of Muslim Americans."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, declined earlier in the week to directly condemn Ogles’ remarks. Addressing reporters, Johnson said: "The language that people use, it’s different language than what I would use, but I think that’s a serious issue," in remarks tied to assertions that Islamists are attempting to impose Muslim sharia law on the United States.
The article explains sharia as a set of legal and moral principles interpreted differently across the Muslim faith. It also notes that installing sharia in the United States does not enjoy broad support among American Muslims and community leaders.
Responding to the rhetoric from some lawmakers, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw issued a statement criticizing the political attacks. McCaw said: "Ironically, the only people trying to impose their religion on America are those politicians who seek to ban Muslims from our nation, who try to force public school teachers to read the Bible to their students, and who demand that our nation go to war in the Middle East to fulfill their end times prophecies."
Other members of Congress used the same photograph of Mamdani that Tuberville posted. Representative Andrew Clyde of Georgia wrote on X that Democrats "whine" about the separation of church and state when public officials post Christian images, but "when it’s Islam, they welcome it." Representative Chip Roy of Texas posted an image of the west side of the U.S. Capitol with the words "Protect America. Ban Sharia."
Roy and fellow Texas Republican Representative Keith Self are founders of the Sharia Free Caucus, a group described in the reporting as consisting of nearly 50 lawmakers focused on banning sharia law. The caucus supports legislation such as the "Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act." The Senate version of that bill was authored by Tuberville and is described as seeking to deny immigration benefits and deport any immigrant who advocates for imposing sharia in a way that violates U.S. law or constitutional rights.
Representatives Clyde, Ogles, Roy, and Self did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to the reporting.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader and a Democrat, characterized Tuberville’s posts as "mindless hate." The article cites the 2020 U.S. Religion Census as estimating roughly 4.5 million Muslim Americans. Schumer wrote on X that "Muslim Americans are cops, doctors, nurses, teachers, bankers, bricklayers, mothers, fathers, neighbors, mayors, and more."
Summary of developments and context are limited to the facts and statements presented in official posts, public statements, and the cited CAIR study, which together outline the recent increase in Islamophobic incidents and the polarized reactions among lawmakers and advocacy groups.