No, Zohran Mamdani could not run for or be elected president as the U.S. Constitution currently stands. The requirement to be president outlined in Article II of the Constitution says that a person must be a “natural born citizen,” at least 35 years of age, and have lived in the United States for at least 14 years. Mamdani was born in Uganda and became a naturalized citizen in 2018.
While some presidential candidates, including the late Sen. John McCain, were not born in the United States, their parents were U.S. citizens, making their children citizens as well. (In McCain’s case, he was born in the Panama Canal region while his father was serving there in the Navy.) For his part, Mamdani has said that he doesn’t think the Constitution should be changed to allow him to run. When asked in 2026, he responded: “I think the Constitution looks good the way it is.”