New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani held a closed-door meeting at Gracie Mansion on Friday with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), as the Silicon Valley congressman looks to build support among Israel critics ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run.

The meeting — which Mamdani’s team announced to the public only minutes before it began — marks Khanna’s latest effort to network with high-profile opponents of the Jewish state, a campaign that has seen Khanna team up with a range of Israel critics, from former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to scandal-plagued former Senate candidate Graham Platner in Maine, who withdrew from the race this summer amid allegations of sexual assault. 

Khanna, a deep-pocketed attorney with ties to the tech sector, has made attacks on Israel and “the Epstein class” a part of his populist turn as he prepares for a possible White House bid. 

However, because the meeting with the mayor was private, the subjects discussed remain unknown. Khanna endorsed Mamdani shortly after the democratic socialist triumphed in the 2025 primary and repeatedly praised and defended him in interviews, and even endorsed the New York politician’s call for federal authorities to arrest Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu during the UN General Assembly this summer.