Mamdani-Backed Socialist Candidate Rejects Key American Holidays
28th December 2025
A state Assembly campaign in Queens is attracting controversy after public statements from a candidate supported by Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani raised questions about her views on American national holidays and broader U.S. traditions.
Aber Kawas, a longtime activist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is running for the Assembly seat representing New York’s 34th District. She has drawn support from Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America’s Electoral Working Group in a contest to succeed Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, who is not seeking reelection.
Writings attributed to Kawas from 2015, first widely circulated this month, say she does not celebrate major federal holidays such as July 4th, Labor Day, or Veterans Day because she believes they “represent the silencing & destruction of our movements.”
In a journal entry from September 2015, Kawas wrote, “Today I do not celebrate a day off, I only recommit myself to a global movement that fights against the death, displacement, and exploitation of people for capital,” according to the New York Post.
Kawas added, “For this movement, a day off is not a victory. A day off means nothing, because liberation means everything.”
I think we can safely assume that this person is not registered as a Republican.