Mamdani guru comes under fire for alleged threats in Graham Platner sex scandal is mostly active in private campaigns
Mayoral campaign expert Zohran Mamdani – now under fire for allegedly threatening former US House staffer Graham Platner – has her hands full in a series of congressional bids by left-leaning candidates.
Wunderkind Morris Katz was slammed for his alleged dirty tricks following a report in the Bangor Daily News Sunday that he tried to beat up Plattner campaign worker Genevieve McDonald to deny that the married oyster farmer was sending women for sex.
The sex scandal is the latest controversy surrounding Democrat Platner’s bid to unseat GOP Sen. Susan Collins and has tarnished the glowing profile of Katz — who has joined a handful of candidates this election cycle.
She is an important part of the crowdfunding campaign of Democratic Socialists of America member Claire Valdez, a Queens assemblywoman who is running for an open seat in New York’s Seventh House District.
Valdez was endorsed by his DSA friend Mamdani, 27-year-old Katz who is widely credited with helping beat City Hall.
Valdez’s campaign declined to comment Monday when asked about Katz’s threat to Platner’s race. Mamdani also did not comment.
Katz is said to be advising former Mamdani-backed City Manager, Brad Lander, who is challenging Rep. Dan Goldman from the left in the Democratic primary for the 10th House District.
He has also been hired by the campaign of state Rep. Micah Lasher, who is running in a crowded Democratic primary in the open 12th House District.
Neither campaign returned requests for comment.
Katz’s firm, the Fight Agency, which he also manages other liberal political organizations, has done campaign work for Nebraska independent candidate Dan Osborn, a mechanic running for the US Senate.
Katz is described on the Fight Agency website as a political strategist who “hates mainstream politics and likes the long shot.”
“As comfortable in the union halls of Philadelphia as he is in auto dealerships in Nebraska, Morris is always on the lookout for unusual people willing to fight hard battles,” his report said.
The young politician allegedly pressured McDonald, Platner’s former political director, to help stop the Wall Street Journal from reporting that the woman had sexted other women after marrying his wife in 2023.
“If the story continues on its current course, we will go straight on the record, and word for word, that Genevieve violated Amy and Graham’s personal trust and shared blatant lies to sabotage the campaign,” Katz told McDonald through a spokesperson, according to the Bangor Daily News.
When the story broke over the weekend, Katz complained online that “nobody’s business” had taken place between Platner and his wife, Amy, before he began running for office.
Katz also resented “incompetent, opportunistic employees” who “prioritized revenge over ethics.”
One political party said the alleged threat was “ill-advised.”
“If you try to kill the story, everything is bet. But if it happens, don’t make the story worse,” said the source. “Katz made it worse.”
The campaign’s hit single comes from a privileged family: she grew up in Tribeca with a father who is a successful playwright and producer and a mother who is a children’s book author.
Her godfather was the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, The New York Times reported in a glossy profile earlier this year — one of the few Katz’s mentions since Mamdani’s stunning victory.
“Morris was born on third base, reached home plate by mistake and now, you think you’re Babe Ruth who can coach every baseball team to win the World Series?” another Dem operative snapped.
The Fight Agency declined to comment on Monday.
