Pakistani American Journalist Claims Mamdani’s Rise Was ‘Engineered’ by Soros-Funded Network of Socialist and Islamic Groups

A controversial investigation published by Fox News alleges that New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s rapid political ascent was not organic grassroots momentum but rather “a carefully constructed political project” engineered by a well-funded network of socialist organizations, Islamic advocacy groups, and influential clerics—all lubricated by millions of dollars from George Soros’s philanthropic foundations.

The 12-minute investigative piece, authored by Asra Q. Nomani and published October 27, traces what Nomani characterizes as a deliberate eight-year effort to position the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist assemblyman as a mayoral contender, beginning with a 2017 photograph that captured Mamdani as a campaign volunteer alongside controversial activist Linda Sarsour.

The Central Claims

According to Fox News, Nomani’s investigation compiled a database of 110 groups backing Mamdani, exposing what she describes as “a tight inner circle of organizations that identify as Muslim or socialist, working hand-in-glove with 76 Democratic Party affiliates, allied groups and unions.”

“A Fox Digital investigation reveals that Mamdani’s rise was no accident. It was engineered,” Nomani writes in the piece titled “Inside the Mamdani Machine: Soros cash, socialists and radical imams engineered Zohran Mamdani’s path to power.”

The investigation focuses particularly on two organizational networks: Linda Sarsour’s MPower organizations and another constellation of groups called Emgage, “with which she works closely.”

According to the Fox News report, “In total, billionaire George Soros’ Open Society philanthropies have given MPower and Emgage nearly $2.5 million in recent years, according to tax filings.”

The Organizational Architecture

Nomani’s database identifies what she characterizes as a sophisticated infrastructure supporting Mamdani’s campaign. The report states that “MPower and Emgage have been part of a tight inner circle of 30 ethnic and religious groups, that also includes CAIR Action, the 501(c)(4) political wing of the 501(c)(3) Council on American-Islamic Relations nonprofit, the Islamic Circle of North America, Muslim Action Coalition, Yemeni American Merchants Associations Inc., the Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group and Desis Rising Up and Moving.”

According to the Fox News investigation, “Altogether, they have annual revenues of about $24 million, and they have worked to promote Mamdani’s campaign with endorsements, fund-raising, social media campaigns and canvassing.”

The report describes this as a confluence where “big philanthropy, partisan operatives and clerical authority has helped drive Mamdani’s ascent. Its architecture combines nonprofit activism with faith-based politics and the precision of a professional campaign operation.”

The 2017 Starting Point

Nomani traces the beginning of what she calls “the Mamdani machine” to a September 2017 photograph. The Fox News piece describes how “In late September 2017, Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, once the darling of the Women’s March and the self-declared face of the ‘resistance’ against Donald Trump, was facing mounting criticism for antisemitic remarks and her embrace of extremist views. But, beaming in a photograph taken on a city sidewalk, Sarsour appeared unfazed, her iconic fist pumped in the air as she knelt shoulder-to-shoulder with campaign volunteers for City Council candidate Khader El-Yateem.”

Among those volunteers was Zohran Mamdani, then a young organizer.

“That photo would mark the start of a carefully constructed political project that, in less than a decade, would propel a now-34-year-old socialist newcomer to the precipice of running America’s largest city—even while campaigning with radical imams, some of whom have supported terrorists and terrorist financiers,” Nomani writes.

The Clerical Connections

A significant portion of Nomani’s investigation focuses on what she characterizes as Mamdani’s cultivation of relationships with Islamic religious leaders holding controversial views.

According to the Fox News report, “In January, Mamdani courted Imam Muhammad Al-Barr of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, visiting his mosque just months after Al-Barr had publicly prayed to ‘annihilate’ Israel.”

The investigation suggests these relationships were not incidental but central to building political support within Muslim communities across New York City.

From Volunteer to Candidate

Nomani traces Mamdani’s political evolution through specific milestones:

“By 2020, Mamdani was being featured in Sarsour’s #MyMuslimVote summit, promoted by MPower Change as the face of a new generation of unapologetic Muslim progressives. By this year, his campaign for mayor became the culmination of that project—backed by PAC money, boosted by clerical endorsements and legitimized by an activist ecosystem that had spent a decade grooming him for this very moment.”

Do these data points reveal a coordinated conspiracy to engineer Mamdani’s rise, as Nomani contends? Or do they simply document the normal functioning of political coalition-building, where candidates cultivate support from advocacy organizations, faith communities, and political activists who share their values?

Nomani’s investigation includes analysis from Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American Muslim running against Representative Ilhan Omar in Minnesota.

“To the casual observer, Zohran Mamdani’s rise might appear meteoric—a story of grassroots energy and demographic change in America’s largest city,” Al-Aqidi told Fox News. “The data, the money trail and the affiliations, from the Democratic Socialists of America to the Islamists, tells a different story.”

Al-Aqidi continued: “Mamdani’s ascent is the product of deliberate design: a sophisticated collaboration between socialist activism and Islamist organizing, lubricated by millions in foundation grants and political donations and normalized through a revolving door of political operatives.”

She concluded by saying: “I hope New Yorkers will shut the Mamdani machine down.”

The “Red-Green-Blue Alliance” Theory

The Fox News investigation is part of a broader thesis Nomani has developed about what she calls the “red-green-blue alliance”—a term she uses to describe the alleged collaboration between socialists (red), Islamist activists (green), and Democratic Party operatives (blue).

In a related June 2025 Fox News opinion piece, Nomani expanded on this theory, asking: “Many people are wondering how Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist Muslim who wants to defund the police, globalize the intifada, and destroy capitalism, has emerged as the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor, with leaders like former President Bill Clinton fawning over him.”

Nomani writes that “To understand Mamdani’s political ascent, you have to trace the red-green-blue spider’s web that brought him here.”

Central to Nomani’s investigation is the role of philanthropic funding from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

An Open Society spokesperson responded to Fox News, stating that the grants were “nonpartisan” and “occurred years before the mayoral race,” emphasizing they support civic engagement efforts to counter discrimination against Muslim Americans, according to coverage of the investigation.

However, Nomani’s investigation suggests that the timing of the grants—while predating Mamdani’s mayoral campaign—positioned the organizational infrastructure that would later support his candidacy.

Nomani’s Background and Perspective

Asra Q. Nomani is identified in the Fox News piece as the author of “Woke Army: The Left-Green Alliance That Is Undermining America’s Freedom” and founder of the Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative. She is described as co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, “opposing Islamic extremism and advocating for Muslim reform.”

Nomani has been a controversial figure within Muslim American communities, with critics arguing her work promotes Islamophobic narratives while supporters praise her willingness to critique what she sees as problematic elements within Muslim activism.

Her investigation of Mamdani reflects her broader thesis about what she characterizes as a coordinated effort by socialist and Islamist activists to influence American politics through strategic alliances with progressive Democratic factions.

The investigation has been widely shared in conservative media circles, with outlets like Hannity.com running headlines such as “THE CASH BEHIND THE CRAZY: Soros, Socialists, and Radical Imams Plot Mamdani’s Path to Power.”

The Mamdani campaign has not issued a direct response to Nomani’s specific allegations, though the candidate has previously addressed criticism of his associations by arguing that attacks on his political views often blur into religious bigotry against Muslims.

For Nomani, the investigation represents what she sees as essential accountability journalism about the networks and funding sources behind progressive political movements. For Mamdani’s supporters, the piece likely appears as a conspiracy theory designed to delegitimize a progressive candidate by casting his political success as the product of sinister foreign and extremist influences rather than democratic organizing.

Questions of Evidence and Interpretation

Nomani’s investigation relies heavily on publicly available information: tax filings showing foundation grants, social media posts documenting political endorsements and campaign events, and photographic evidence of Mamdani’s presence at various political gatherings over the years.

The central question is one of interpretation: Do these data points reveal a coordinated conspiracy to engineer Mamdani’s rise, as Nomani contends? Or do they simply document the normal functioning of political coalition-building, where candidates cultivate support from advocacy organizations, faith communities, and political activists who share their values?

Critics of the investigation might argue that similar analyses could be conducted of virtually any successful politician, revealing networks of donors, endorsers, and organizational supporters—and that singling out Mamdani for such scrutiny reflects bias against his Muslim identity and socialist politics rather than legitimate investigative journalism.

Nomani would likely counter that the specific organizations involved have concerning ideological positions and connections, and that the scale of coordinated support warrants public scrutiny.

The Election Ahead

With the November 4 election approaching, Nomani’s investigation adds another dimension to an already contentious mayoral race. Whether it influences voters’ perceptions of Mamdani—or whether it’s dismissed as partisan opposition research—remains to be seen.

What’s clear is that the investigation has succeeded in placing questions about Mamdani’s political networks, funding sources, and organizational support at the center of public discussion about his candidacy.

For New York voters, the question becomes: Does the organizational support Nomani documents represent problematic outside influence, or does it simply reflect how modern political campaigns are built—through coalitions of advocacy groups, community organizations, and engaged activists working toward shared goals?

The answer to that question may well determine whether “the Mamdani machine,” as Nomani calls it, succeeds in putting its candidate in Gracie Mansion.

This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.