Editor’s note: El artículo fue originalmente escrito en Inglés. La traducción en Español fue hecha por Kate McHugh.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow reposted two social media posts on X following Election Day 2025. The posts attempted to connect the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s mayor to the on Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The social media posts Dow reposted were from two different accounts, which historically post extreme right-wing content. One post was from Amy Mek, founder of the RAIR Foundation, a grassroots activist organization that seeks to foster leadership “in order to combat the threats from Islamic supremacists, radical leftists and their allies,” according to their website.
The other post was from an account with the username “End Wokeness,” an account “dedicated to fighting, exposing, and mocking wokeness,” according to their bio.
The posts attempted to connect the election of Mamdani with exacerbating the “threat of Islam,” according to Mek’s post. They claimed that Mamdani’s election as mayor meant further attacks on New York City are imminent.
Dow was asked by multiple sources for clarification on the purpose of these comments, and he responded with a “screenshot of his biography featuring yellow highlights on the phrase ‘Retweets are not endorsements. Personal Page.’” according to the SLO Tribune.
Dow responded to the SLO Tribune on X, stating he was a U.S. Army veteran and in no way shares the same views as Mamdani. Dow tweeted that he was “very sad to see the Big Apple torn apart by electing an un-American socialist,” claiming that Mamdani seeks to trample on the values that Americans have “fought and died for.”
The posts shared by Dow were considered highly inflammatory by several students at Cal Poly.
One student, who has chosen to remain anonymous, called upon her experience as a Middle Eastern person, stating that she has heard comments like the ones in Dow’s reposts all her life. She said Dow is a powerful person who makes very important decisions within the county, which magnifies the effects of his actions.
She said the connection made between Mamdani’s election and 9/11, “is narrow-minded and not behavior I want to see from someone who makes important decisions in my home.”
In response to Dow’s comments about being a veteran, the student added, “You can disagree with Mamdani’s policies, but to be this hateful is not why you fought for our country.”
Another student, Ian Tsai, microbiology junior, said, although he has no direct connection to the affected communities, he acknowledges the comments are problematic.
“I believe that Dan Dow’s comments were unprofessional and speak to a wider belief that it is acceptable to be hateful and attack those we disagree with,” Tsai said. He added that connecting Mamdani’s election to the attacks on 9/11 deliberately feeds into “the wider problem of prejudice and discrimination.”
Sameeha Siraj, graphic communications junior, said she felt unsettled by the comments.
“I think if you’re representing a community, you have to acknowledge that there will be people of various backgrounds in said community. To say something so negative and stereotypical about someone just because of their faith and background gives a horrible message to the community that you represent,” Siraj said.
Siraj further expressed concern about how Dow views San Luis Obispo’s Muslim citizens like herself.
“Now you leave a little uncertainty in the back of the minds of people like me, who now wonder if I’m truly accepted in the city that I study and live in for most of the year,” Siraj said.
“Now you leave a little uncertainty in the back of the minds of people like me, who now wonder if I’m truly accepted in the city that I study and live in for most of the year.”
Sameeha Siraj, graphic communications junior
As of now, Dow still has the posts shared and reposted. At a recent Turning Point USA meeting, Dow stated that he is “not going to apologize for any repost” in regards to these posts.
Mustang News has anonymized names to protect students quoted in this article based on the nature of this content.