US man charged for threatening Ugandan-born mayoral candidate Mamdani

A Texas man has been indicted for a string of violent, anti-Muslim threats against New York Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner in the city’s 2025 mayoral race, the Queens District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

According to ABC News' report, Jeremy Fistel, 44, was arrested earlier this month in Plano, Texas, and pleaded not guilty to a 22-count indictment that includes "terroristic threat" as a hate crime.

Prosecutors say Fistel left a series of voicemails and online messages in June and July, telling Mamdani to “go back to Uganda before someone shoots you in the head,” to “watch your back every second,” and that he and his family “deserve to die.”

‘No bigotry’

“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,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement on Monday.