Actress Patricia Heaton has thrown her weight behind a fast-growing petition by families of September 11 victims to bar New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from the 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero, a campaign now nearing 45,000 signatures.
Heaton, the 68-year-old conservative actress best known for playing Debra Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond," reposted the Change.org petition to her more than 500,000 followers on X on Monday, writing simply: "Keep it going New Yorkers." Alongside the link she shared a screenshot of a comment from a petition signer who lost a brother on September 11, 2001.
The petition, organized by 55-year-old Giovanni Galante, a widower whose wife, Grace, was killed when al-Qaeda hijackers steered commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center, calls on the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to keep Mamdani away from the ceremony on September 11, 2026. It brands the mayor an "apologist for Islamic terror" whose presence would be "an insult to the memories of thousands killed" at the World Trade Center. As of Wednesday, the petition had collected nearly 45,000 signatures, including roughly 300 family members of 9/11 victims.
Mamdani dismissed the effort on Monday. He said he plans to "proudly honor" those affected by 9/11 by "standing alongside them" at this year's commemoration.
The petition does not rest on vague objections. It cites Mamdani's alleged reluctance to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada", a slogan critics say calls for worldwide armed resistance, and his decision to install Ramzi Kassem as his chief counsel. Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, described as an al-Qaeda tanker bombing pilot.
One unnamed family member who signed the petition and lost a brother on 9/11 did not mince words, as the New York Post reported:
"I am incensed that a terrorist excuser is now Mayor, and outspoken sympathizer for terrorist perpetrators. He is disqualified from attending the 9/11 remembrance ceremony and ought to be barred."
The petition describes Mamdani as an "unwelcome guest" and argues that his past statements and political associations make him unfit to participate in a ceremony that, for thousands of families, is a deeply personal day of mourning, not a political stage.
Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of New York City, has faced a mounting pattern of criticism over his associations and public conduct. During his campaign, he appeared alongside Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Leading 9/11 attorney Michael Barasch, who represents over 45,000 clients affected by the attacks, called himself "disgusted and outraged" by that decision, labeling it "an insult to every 9/11 survivor and family member."
Mamdani was also accused of fabricating a story about a hijab-wearing aunt who feared riding the subway after 9/11. His only aunt reportedly did not wear a hijab and lived in Tanzania at the time. Vice President JD Vance weighed in on that episode, saying: "According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks."
The controversy runs deeper than the mayor's own words. Fox News reported that Mamdani's father authored a book arguing moral equivalency between the United States and al-Qaeda, contending that suicide bombers should be "understood as a feature of modern political violence." That background has only sharpened the objections of families who buried loved ones after the towers fell.
The families' petition spells out their reasoning in terms that leave little room for ambiguity:
"For 9/11 families, this is not simply a public ceremony, it is a deeply personal day of mourning. The presence of individuals whose words or associations are perceived as conflicting with the solemn purpose of the event risks detracting from that focus and causing additional pain."
Mamdani has also hosted Mahmoud Khalil, characterized as backing jihadist attacks against Israel, at Gracie Mansion for an iftar meal, adding another name to a list of associations that critics say disqualifies him from standing at Ground Zero on the anniversary.
The backlash against the mayor extends well beyond the petition. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directly accused Mamdani of fomenting hate, warning that his rhetoric endangers New York's Jewish community.
Heaton's involvement in the petition campaign is not a casual celebrity endorsement. She was in New York City with the cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond" on the morning the towers were hit. In a post on X on September 11, 2024, she recalled the experience:
"I happened to be in New York City on September 11, 2001 with the cast of 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' It was a terrifying experience."
In that same post, she drew a direct line between the 9/11 attacks and the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 Israelis. "It's hard to believe now that Israel is experiencing the same horrors," she wrote. "It needs to end."
Born in Ohio, Heaton lived in New York in the 1980s before building her career in Los Angeles and later settling in Nashville. She has been open about her conservative views for years. In a two-minute video posted on the 2024 anniversary, she went further, arguing that those who call for Israel to disarm are siding with the forces behind 9/11:
"It's 9/11 again and here we are. The same terrorists are back in full force, this time going after Israel, but really they're going after all of us. Anyone who calls for Israel to lay down its arms, you are supporting the same people who took down the Twin Towers."
That framing, linking Hamas to al-Qaeda and holding public officials accountable for their associations, is the same logic driving the Galante petition. The families are not asking for a political debate. They are asking that the man who leads their city not stand at the site where 2,753 people died if his record suggests he has offered cover, however indirect, to the ideology behind the attack.
Ambassador Charles Kushner has gone so far as to announce he is leaving New York City, blaming Mamdani and the first lady for fostering antisemitism, a dramatic step that underscores how deeply the mayor's conduct has alienated prominent New Yorkers.
For all the petition's momentum, one question remains unanswered: whether any entity has the authority to bar a sitting mayor from a public ceremony at Ground Zero. The petition is directed at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, but no legal mechanism for such a ban has been identified. Mamdani has made clear he intends to show up.
The families' petition effort has already drawn national attention, and Heaton's endorsement, reaching half a million followers in a single post, ensures it will only grow louder as September approaches.
Mamdani has also reversed his own campaign pledge to arrest Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visited New York, later admitting the city lacks the authority to do so. That reversal did nothing to reassure families who already doubted his judgment.
The 25th anniversary of September 11 is less than two months away. The families who lost husbands, wives, brothers, and sisters that morning are not asking for much, just that the man standing beside them at the memorial earned the right to be there. Nearly 45,000 people and counting believe Zohran Mamdani has not.
When the families of the dead say a politician's presence would dishonor their grief, a leader with any sense of decency would stay home.
