Can New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani Run for President? One Requirement Stands in His Way

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ruffled more than a few feathers with his progressive politics, and he’s quickly become one of the Democratic Party’s most talked-about figures which has led to speculation about whether he could someday run for president.

The short answer is no.

While Mamdani, 34, is a U.S. citizen, the Constitution requires presidents to be “natural born” citizens, meaning someone who was born in the United States or or who, at the time of their birth, had at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen. Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018. That makes him ineligible to serve as president.

The Constitution sets three basic requirements for anyone who wants to run for president. A candidate must be a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old and they have to have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

Although Mamadani will meet the age requirement when he turns 35 later this year, and he’s lived in the U.S. for decades, he doesn’t qualify under the natural-born citizen requirement.

The topic recently came up during Mamdani’s June appearance on ABC’s This Week when host Jonathan Karl asked the mayor if he believed the Constitution should be changed to allow naturalized citizens to run for president.

Mamdani dismissed the idea and replied, “I think the Constitution looks good the way it is.”