Temperatures are rising in the race for Westchester’s 7th district where Republican candidate Kurt van Kuller is being criticized for calling his Indian American opponent Zohran Mamdani – a move one local campaign manager called “racist.”
During the Oct. 22 League of Women Voters debate at the Mamaroneck Town Center, Republican candidate Kurt Van Kuller, 70, referred to Democrat Anant Nambiar as “Mr. Mamdani” while answering a question about affordable housing.
A few minutes later, Nambiar, 55, said “My name is not Mr. Mamdani, it is Mr. Nambiar so please remember my name.” Van Kuller did not respond.
Two days later, the Westchester Asian American Democrats issued a statement calling Van Kuller’s remarks “disrespectful” in tying Nambiar to the polarizing frontrunner — a self-identifying Democratic Socialist — in the race for New York City mayor, who is also of Indian descent.
WAAD has endorsed Nambiar in the race.
“Asian Americans are not interchangeable and treating us as such is one of the issues holding our community back. Councilman Nambiar is owed a full and complete apology,” said David Imamura, majority leader of the Westchester County Legislature, in a statement issued by the political group.
Van Kuller told The Record he was guilty of “a slip of the tongue” and didn’t even realize he made the error until it was brought to his attention.
“I am not a name-caller even though that is so common in politics today,” he said, adding that he was proud to have received the endorsement of the Asian American Republican Committee of Westchester in June.
Democrats didn’t waste any time in criticizing Van Kuller.
Harry Brussel, the campaign manager for the Rye Democratic City Council and mayoral ticket, wrote a scathing Facebook post.
“From what I’ve observed from Mr. Van Kuller’s campaign and his presentation at this week’s candidates’ forum, he is a bigot and an arrogant fool,” Brussel, an intergovernmental relations aide to Democratic County Executive Ken Jenkins, wrote on Facebook.
Van Kuller shot back at Brussel for what he called a “disgusting, wholly inaccurate” post, in his own Facebook post.
Screenshots courtesy LMC Media
“How does county government have someone like this working on ‘relations’?,” he asked.
Brussel defended his comments, telling The Record, “I’m not going to ignore or stay quiet about racist comments or fearmongering by a candidate for public office.”
Democratic County Legislator Catherine Parker, the term-limited lawmaker Nambiar and Van Kuller are vying to replace, called the Republican’s debate performance “shameful.”
Parker has endorsed Nambiar and campaigned alongside him.
Meanwhile, Van Kuller recently accused Nambiar of inflating his resume by claiming in campaign literature, online, and in public remarks that he has 15 years of public service when he has only served in office for five years.
“Public service does not mean community service,” Van Kuller told The Record.
At the debate, Nambiar in his opening remarks, told the audience, “Today, you are going to hear me talk about my experience. My 15 years of public service experience and 25 years of corporate experience.”
Nambiar has spent five years in elected office, including three years on the Mamaroneck Board of Education from 2009 to 2012. He’s in his second year on the Mamaroneck Town Council.
He declined to comment when asked by The Record what other activities he was referring to when making that claim.
Van Kuller issued a press release on Oct. 26 announcing that he had filed a complaint with the Westchester Fair Campaign Practices Committee “alleging that opponent Anant Nambiar has repeatedly misrepresented his record of public service.”
The following day Van Kuller retracted that release after hearing from the committee that candidates were not allowed to publicize disputes before the group.
Susan Guma, chairwoman of the Westchester Fair Campaign Practices Committee, confirmed that Van Kuller had filed a complaint against Nambiar.
The committee expects to issue a ruling before Election Day, she said.
Ironically, there may also be questions about Van Kuller’s representation of his own record on his website.
Van Kuller posted online that after a “legendary” career on Wall Street, he was “Now A Full Time Public Servant.” The statement no longer appears on his website.
Asked about the post, Van Kuller said “That was a previous innocuous reference to what I aspire to be.”
The mostly Sound Shore district includes Rye, Mamaroneck, and Larchmont, as well as parts of Harrison, with more than 43,000 registered voters.
Early voting, which is underway, runs through Sunday. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
