(The Center Square) — Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has apologized to the New York City Police Department for his previous criticism of the nation’s largest law enforcement agency as “racist” and worthy of defunding.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News, the Queens assemblyman, Democratic socialist, and front-runner in the race to succeed outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, sought to distance himself from prior statements about the NYPD, saying he wants to work with the agency to improve policing in the Big Apple if he wins City Hall in the November elections.
“Absolutely, I’ll apologize to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank-and-file officers,” Mamdani told Fox News’s Martha MacCallum Wednesday. “And I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers. And I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day.”
His comments come just one day before a highly anticipated debate with his chief opponents in the race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican and Guardian Angels’ founder Curtis Sliwa. Both men have sought to highlight Mamdani’s record of criticizing the NYPD and amplifying calls from Black Lives Matter and other groups for cutting off funding for the department. They’ve also criticized his shifting stance on support for law enforcement.]
“We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti‑queer & a major threat to public safety,” Mamdani posted on social media in 2020 in response to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio efforts to probe the department. “What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.”
In another 2020 social media post, the Queens Democrat said he believes New York City needs a “socialist city council to defund the police” calling the NYPD a “wicked & corrupt” police agency.
But since he jumped into the race for mayor, Mamdani has taken a conciliatory tone towards the agency and said his plans include creating a new Department of Community Safety to handle calls from people suffering from a mental health crisis. During a recent mayoral forum, he stated that he would not seek to defund the NYPD if elected.
Mamdani told Fox News on Wednesday that he wants to “empower police officers” to respond to serious crime and hire medical professionals to respond to mental health calls to help reduce fatal civilian encounters with police officers.
“We used to ask officers to focus on serious crimes,” he said. “Now we’re asking them to focus also on the mental health crisis, to focus also on homelessness.”
Mamdani was also questioned by MacCallum over his previous criticisms of Israel’s military action in Gaza
He also took aim at President Donald Trump, who has called the mayoral frontrunner a “commie” and vowed to deploy troops to New York City if he’s elected, suggesting that he might be watching the news show.
“I just want to speak directly to the president: I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams who will call you to figure out how to stay out of jail. I won’t be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo who will call you to ask how to win this election,” Mamdani said. “I can do those things on my own.”
