SLO County DA shares posts linking New York’s first Muslim mayor to 9/11 attacks
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow shared two social media posts that connected the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s first Muslim mayor to the 9/11 terror attacks.
Dow shared the posts on his X account @dandow, which he lists as his personal account alongside noting he’s the San Luis Obispo County district attorney.
Both posts featured imagery of the planes hitting the World Trade Center after they were hijacked by Islamic extremists, killing 2,606 people in New York.
Mamdani, 34, ran for mayor on a democratic socialist agenda, which included free busing, lowering the cost-of-living and providing universal child care.
Mamdani has been the subject of a barrage of anti-Islamic hate throughout his campaign and election victory on Tuesday, multiple news outlets including the New York Times have reported.
Two posts feature images of planes hitting the World Trade Center
The first post shared by Dow on Tuesday evening was from right-wing and anti-Islam activist Amy Mek (@AmyMek), which included footage of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I can say with a clear conscience that I have given my entire self to warning the world about the threat of Islam after 9/11,” she wrote in the post. “And now … to see New York — my city — stand in this moment, where someone like Zohran Mamdani could even be elected. … My God, New York, what have you done?”
Mek founded the Rise Align Ignite Reclaim Foundation, known as RAIR, which has been labeled by the Council on American-Islam Relations as an anti-Islam hate organization that regularly publishes anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.
The second post shared by Dow was from End Wokeness (@EndWokeness), an anonymous account dedicated to “fighting, exposing and mocking wokeness,” according to its bio.
That post said, “New York already forgot” alongside a photo showing a fireball erupting from South tower of the World Trade Center as the second plane hit.
Dow responds to questions about posts
When asked what connection Mamdani had to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that would motivate him to share such posts, Dow replied with a screenshot of his biography featuring yellow highlight on the phrase “Retweets are not endorsements. Personal Page.”
When the Tribune asked for further clarification on why Dow reposted those two specific posts and how the public should interpret them if they are not endorsements, Dow responded, “It’s not exactly newsworthy.”
Dow further clarified that he shared the post because he is a U.S. Army veteran who served more than 33 years and four tours overseas.
“I remember like it was yesterday our nation being attacked by Islamic extremists on 9/11/2001,” he said. “I love this country and I do not in any way share the same views as the 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mandami (sic).”
He continued: “I am very sad to see the Big Apple torn apart by electing an un-American socialist who wants to trample on the values and freedoms that millions of Americans have fought and died for.”
The Tribune again asked Dow how Mamdani’s views and his election were connected to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but Dow did not respond.
Muslim doctor from SLO responds to posts
The Tribune reached out to several Muslim community members regarding Dow’s posts but only one agreed to speak publicly. Some members declined to speak for fear of retribution or not wanting to be involved in politics.
In an email to The Tribune, local physician and Muslim community member Dr. Rushdi Cader spoke highly of Dow but noted that the posts were “highly incendiary and puts Muslims at risk for harm, especially hijab wearing Muslim women like my wife Nisha, whom Dan has himself described as ‘a kind and gentle lady’ who he ‘prayed would be blessed with peace.’”
Cader said he and his wife know Dow well as a personal friend, and the couple has even hosted a fundraiser for Dow when he was first elected as district attorney.
“Some would equate this misstep as an attack not just on Mayor Mamdani, but also upon Islam and Muslims,” Cader said. “Knowing Dan, I would endeavor to have the community view his repost on ‘X’ through a different lens.”
He said Islamic tradition teaches its followers to have “Husn ul Dhan,” which means to hold a good opinion of others, “to the point of attempting to make excuses when another person does or says something perceived or actualized as harmful toward us or those we love.”
“Muslims were also taught by both Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad to respond to animosity with virtue,” Cader said.
“My suspicion is that our family friend, Dan Dow, reposted this ugly post not out of contempt for the religion of Islam, its teachings or its followers, but rather out of disagreement with Mr. Mamdani’s politics,” Cader said.
Cader said social media reposts can misrepresent how people feel about any given issue, and he knows Dow as a person who believes strongly in Christianity and strives to be a man of virtue.
“I do not believe that Dan is making Zohran Mamdani’s election as the mayor of New York equivalent to the attacks on our nation on 9/11 or, for that matter, attempting to portray criminalized religionists like the 9/11 hijackers as representing the teachings of Islam,” Cader said.
He said he suspected Dow “responded in a knee-jerk fashion by reposting a malicious post that I’m sure he now regrets.”
“In our increasingly polarized time, it is not indignation that inches our nation forward, it is forgiveness,” Cader added.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 7:05 PM.
