ByMICHAEL STARR
Updated:

A Council on American-Islamic Relations-backed (CAIR) political action committee was the largest institutional donor of a New York City PAC supporting mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Muslim-American activist Linda Sarsour said in September at the CAIR 2025 Leadership & Policy Conference.

In a YouTube video that was made public following a statement by Canary Mission on Monday, she said the Unity and Justice Fund, which is controlled by CAIR, was a significant donor to Mamdani’s campaign.

Canary Mission is a doxing website that investigates hatred on the far Right, far Left, and by anti-Israel activists.

“The PACS that have supported Zohran – or a particular PAC that has supported Zohran – is probably over 80% of Muslim-American donors in this country – high-net donors, grassroots donors,” Sarsour said at the conference during a panel discussion. “I want to say, make the point, that the Unity and Justice Fund PAC, which is the CAIR super PAC, was the largest institutional donor to the pro-Zohran PAC in New York.”

At the end of the panel discussion, CAIR Action national executive director Basim Elkarra interjected a “legal disclaimer to protect CAIR,” insisting that Unity and Justice was merely endorsed by CAIR.

Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, speaks to the media following casting a vote in the New York City mayoral election, in a park in Astoria, Queens borough of New York City, US, November 4, 2025
Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, speaks to the media following casting a vote in the New York City mayoral election, in a park in Astoria, Queens borough of New York City, US, November 4, 2025 (credit: Reuters/Kylie Cooper)

CAIR donates to the Mamdani campaign

“It’s not a CAIR super PAC,” he said, adding that Unity and Justice would be launching a second major campaign for Mamdani’s election.

Even though Elkarra was quick to disassociate the NGO from the PAC, he was listed as the PAC’s treasurer in a 2024 statement the organization filed with the Federal Election Commission. The address of the PAC was also listed as being located in Sacramento, where Elkarra is the director of CAIR’s chapter. He was replaced in the 2025 FEC filing by Eric Sunderland.

In March, CAIR Action donated $10,000 to the PAC, one of its largest donors this year, according to the FEC.

Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, one of Mamdani’s rivals for mayor, said Unity and Justice was a CAIR subordinate.

Pro-Mamdani super PAC New Yorkers for Lower Costs “took $100,000 from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Unity and Justice Fund, an organization whose leader said that he was, quote, ‘happy about October 7th,’” he said in October, according to Politico.

CAIR Action and Unity and Justice Fund did not respond to queries from The Jerusalem Post about their connection.