As New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani tries to distance himself from the Chinese Communist Party, reports have come to light that PACs formed to support his candidacy accepted campaign contributions from media sources to which he gave interviews as well as individuals with ties to the CCP.

The PACs have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations with less than a month until the election, but where has the money been coming from?

Editor of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel gave $25,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs through her LLC, Mayberry, just a month after The Nation published an exclusive interview with Mamdani. That's not fishy at all.

“When I make contributions, it is in a personal capacity,” she said in a statement. Is that supposed to negate the potential quid pro quo?

Looking suspicious

Shanti Singham, the sister of China-based tech millionaire Neville Roy Singham gave the same PAC $1,000. She's under investigation for ties to the CCP and has given a lot of money to a number of radical leftist groups.

Her husband Daniel Goodwin donated $3,500 to the same group.

The group has already given $1.3 million to Mamdani and has reportedly raised another $1 million for him to use between now and Election Day.

It's not illegal to make these contributions, but people should know what kinds of people and groups are backing candidates as part of the voting process.

When PACs get involved, it can often hide the true leanings of candidates by artificially separating the messaging of the group from that of the candidate.

Anti-Israel donors

Not surprisingly, other Mamdani donors have had links to Hamas sympathizers and others with anti-Israel sentiments.

Israel critic and professor Sara Rahnama donated $75,000 to the PAC and her husband, tech investor Idris Mokhtarzada, donated $90,000.

Still, Mamdani has tried to court liberal Jews for their votes. Alicia Singham Goodwin, the daughter of Singham and Goodwin, has a campaign called "Jews for Zohran," which aims to counter the anti-Israel rhetoric that has surrounded the Muslim candidate.

Her group is trying to get prominent New York Jewish Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Dan Goldman to support Mamdani, which they have so far not done.

Still, the Democratic socialist is likely going to win the election in the extremely liberal city. Let's see what happens to it after four years of actual socialism.