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Robert Kraft joked at a Blue Square Alliance Against Hate rally Thursday that the New York Jets aren’t among his favorites because he owns the rival New England Patriots. But he wants the best for New York, anyway, and the election of Zohran Mamdani is not something Kraft is happy about.
“It’s sad to me that a man could be elected in New York City, the No. 1 city in America, with a lot of convictions, and when I heard him come out and speak after he won, I thought he was going to be more of a unifier. I think he spoke in a way that showed division,” Kraft said in an exclusive interview with FOX News and Outkick.
“And it really hurt me.”
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(Left) New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on the field before a game at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, October 5, 2025. (Right) New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during an election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York, November 4, 2025. (Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images; Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Kraft problem with Mamdani’s speech
Mamdani’s victory speech sounded somewhat like a Marxist dictator’s teleprompter, trumpeting a new day when one class of people defeated another.
And evidenced by the first line of Mamdani’s speech: “The sun may have set on our city tonight, but as Eugene Debs once said: ‘I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.’ »
Eugene Debs was an avowed Marxist, founding member and five-time presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America from 1900 to 1920.
“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and, starting tonight, led by an immigrant,” Mamdani bellowed during his speech.
What is not said here? New York was built by immigrants such as Italians, Irish, and, more recently, Hispanics, many of whom assimilated into the urban fabric and eventually integrated into the culture. It was not a bunch of foreigners who took power and established their socialist empire.
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New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference in the Queens borough of New York, Wednesday, November 5, 2025. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)
Mamdani’s rhetoric is not in US interests
Mamdani presented his victory as a generational shift in which a younger group seizes power from another, now less prominent, older group. And, reading between the lines, he has declared a cultural and financial war on those who do not share his vision.
“We won,” he said, “because we insisted that politics would no longer be something imposed on us. Now it’s something we do.”
Much of that concerns Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots.
“I mean, he tapped and touched something that’s about people under 30 or 35 who haven’t really learned about the world, but who feel that America doesn’t live up to certain values,” Kraft said. “We should be careful about this.
“But not to divisions, to hatred and, in fact, to things that are not in America’s best interest.
“And it’s kind of sad for me to see this happening in 2025,” Kraft continued. “We need to find a way to better understand and educate people who think they are solving a problem, but are creating a bigger problem.”
Kraft was obviously referring to Mamdani voters.
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Robert Kraft introduces Mike Vrabel as head coach of the New England Patriots during a press conference at Gillette Stadium on January 13, 2025 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Billie Weiss/Getty Images)
Mamdani: No support for Jewish state
Mamdani refused to explicitly affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. During several debates he was asked: “Do you believe in a Jewish State of Israel?”
His response: “I believe that Israel has the right to exist as a state with equal rights.”
This is the kind of anti-Semitism that Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate wants to expose.
On the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, Mamdani wrote a sentence on social media denouncing the Hamas attack. And three paragraphs accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry as well as several conservative politicians and media outlets condemned Mamdani’s anniversary statement. Israelis said the statement normalized anti-Semitism.
Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani celebrates as he takes the stage during his election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount on November 4, 2025, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Mamdani defeated independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in New York’s closely watched mayoral election. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty)
October 7 derailed the Abraham Accords
Kraft, like many Americans, is an unapologetic supporter of Israel. And he believes Hamas’ October 7 attack was a mission to sow discord in the Middle East, which would prevent Israel from normalizing peace with its Arab neighbors.
“The State of Israel represents the values of America and the Western world and does difficult things to try to protect America…We have aligned interests there,” Kraft said.
“We know that all moderate Arab regimes want to be part of the Abraham Accords. That’s why October 7 happened. They wanted to derail the efforts. Saudi Arabia was close to reaching a deal with [Israel].
“I don’t understand why people have so much hatred and evil in them when we talk about different ways to respect the Lord, honor God and pray. Everyone should be free to do it as they want.”
