A democratic socialist podcast host is urging the Democratic Socialists of America to make a constitutional amendment one of its priorities, with the goal of allowing naturalized citizens such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to run for president.
“DSA should push for a constitutional amendment so naturalized citizens can run for President,” Deep Singh Badhesha wrote on social media Saturday. He then proposed a future presidential ticket featuring Mamdani and Melat Kiros.
Kiros is a DSA-backed candidate who defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District last month. Her victory followed a series of wins by Mamdani-endorsed candidates in New York, where two Democratic incumbents, including Rep. Dan Goldman, lost their primaries. Another Mamdani-backed candidate won an open-seat primary after the incumbent chose not to seek reelection.
Changing the Constitution, however, is intentionally difficult. An amendment must first receive support from two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states.
The Constitution’s presidential eligibility requirements are found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5. The provision states that only a natural-born citizen, or someone who was a citizen when the Constitution was adopted, may serve as president. It also requires the president to be at least 35 years old and to have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
Mamdani was born in Uganda, while Kiros was born in Ethiopia. Because both are naturalized citizens, neither is currently eligible to serve as president. Mamdani became a U.S. citizen in 2018. Kiros would also be younger than the required age for the presidency or vice presidency in the 2028 election.
According to the Constitution Annotated published by Congress, the natural-born-citizen requirement was intended to reduce the possibility of foreign influence over the presidency. Justice Joseph Story later argued that the restriction was designed to guard against ambitious foreign-born figures seeking the office and against interference by foreign governments.
Mamdani’s critics have pointed to remarks he made ahead of the Fourth of July weekend as evidence that his view of the United States differs sharply from the traditional understanding of the country’s founding principles.
Speaking from George Washington’s presidential desk while surrounded by recently naturalized citizens, Mamdani told the group that they held the power to help determine what America means.
“The powerful have always known their answer,” he said. “America, in their view, is an arena of supremacy where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal.”
He continued by arguing that some people believe America belongs only to those with the “right accent” or the “right shade of skin,” while immigrants and others are expected to feel grateful simply for being permitted to live in the country.
Mamdani’s family, which is of Indian descent, moved to the United States from Uganda during the late 1990s. He attended prestigious schools and eventually became mayor of the nation’s largest city. His political message, however, remains heavily focused on inequality, wealth, and class divisions.
In his Fourth of July remarks, Mamdani said the country’s wealth had been created by laborers with “calloused, dirt-streaked hands,” including factory workers and those who perform demanding physical labor. He contrasted those workers with what he described as a wealthy minority holding much of the nation’s resources in its “soft hands.”
Critics characterized the speech as Marxist in tone and argued that it presented a deeply negative view of the country during its 250th anniversary celebration.
Kiros has also faced controversy. She was reportedly dismissed from a legal position following online comments about Israel and Hamas that she posted after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
Supporters of Mamdani and Kiros may see them as representatives of a growing socialist movement within the Democratic Party. Their opponents view their politics as far outside the American mainstream and believe neither should ever hold national executive office.
For now, the Constitution prevents either of them from becoming president. Changing that restriction would require an extraordinary level of national agreement, including broad bipartisan support in Congress and approval from at least 38 states. Given the difficulty of that process, a Mamdani-Kiros presidential ticket remains a highly unlikely prospect under the current constitutional system.