New York's socialist mayor has finally redistributed something: his facial hair. Zohran Mamdani, the first bearded mayor of New York City since William Jay Gaynor in 1913, has shaved off the beard and kept only a mustache, the New York Post, The Cut and the Daily Beast report.
He still had the beard on Friday, when he went trick-or-treating in Queens with Gov. Kathy Hochul and even ran into a trick-or-treater dressed as him, facial hair included. By Sunday it was gone. He showed off the new look at Evangelical Crusade Christian Church in Brooklyn, then handed out water at the New York City Marathon, where some runners did not seem to recognize him. The Post went with "Stache the rich!" One of the top comments on Instagram, with about 30,000 likes, said he "looks like Super Mario in disguise," the Daily Beast reports.
City Hall says it's for a good cause. Press secretary Joe Calvello told JNS the mayor is growing it for "Movember," the yearly men's health campaign, and a representative told The Cut the same. Mamdani confirmed it himself on X Monday night: "The Post is right. I'm sporting a mustache this 'Movember' to raise awareness of men's health issues, including prostate cancer. But this isn't just (upper) lip service." In the video, filmed with Council Member Rita Joseph, he says the city is putting $4 million toward a new prostate cancer center at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. It ends with him asking whether he should try a handlebar next.
The beard has a political history. During the 2025 campaign, his campaign accused a super PAC backing Andrew Cuomo of altering a photo in a mailer to make his beard look darker, longer and thicker, which he called "blatant Islamophobia," JNS recalls. Now the beard is gone, and nobody had to Photoshop anything.
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