NYC's socialist mayoral candidate urges a million Muslims to 'step into the light' just days before crunch election

On November 4, the Big Apple will go to the polls to pick its next mayor - with Mr Mamdani the overwhelming favourite.

In a last-ditch campaign video, he told Muslim followers: "Time and again it is the lesson that safety could only be found in the shadows of our city, that it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace the fullness of our own identities, and that if we are to emerge from them, then it is in those shadows where we must leave our faith."

"These are lessons that so many Muslim New Yorkers have been taught again and again... No more."

Just days ago, incumbent mayor Eric Adams warned: "We can't let our city become Europe" in a chilling message.

He also said that Islam sought to "burn churches" following a spate of Isis massacres in Africa.

But Mr Mamdani accused him of lying - and launched an attack at his detractors as he did so.

WATCH: Zohran Mamdani's campaign video ahead of the November 4 New York City mayoral election

"[Republican candidate] Curtis Sliwa slandered me from a debate stage when he claimed that I supported global jihad," he said.

"Every day, Super PAC ads imply that I am a terrorist or mock the way I eat, push polls that ask New Yorkers questions like whether they support invented proposals to make halal mandatory, or political cartoons that represent my candidacy as an aeroplane hurtling towards the World Trade Center.

"But I do not want to use this moment to speak to them any further. I want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of the city."

Bringing his campaign message to a close, he added: "We stand on the precipice of an election. But that is not what today is about.

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"The bigger question is whether we are willing to say goodbye to something much larger. It is whether we are willing to say goodbye to anti-Muslim sentiment that has grown so endemic in our city.

"There are 11 days remaining until Election Day. I will be a Muslim man in New York City each of those 11 days.

"Will we remain in the shadows. Or will we together step into the light?"

After his remarks about his aunt, Mr Mamdani had drawn the scorn of Vice President JD Vance.

The VP declared: "According to Zohran, the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks."

He also sparked outrage after sharing photos of himself smiling alongside Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the deadly 1993 World Trade Centre bombing who once called for an unarmed "army" of 10,000 men to wage a "gun-free jihad" in NYC.

Speaking to GB News' US correspondent Steven Edginton in "Zohran Mamdani: The Man Who Would be King of New York", one NYC imam revealed that the city's Muslims "100 per cent" supported Mr Mamdani for his faith alone.

And following his nomination for the Democratic ticket, Mr Mamdani shared a "warm and collegial" phone call with Sir Sadiq Khan, who had "words of advice".