NY mayoral candidate Mamdani ripped by opponents over previous pledges to 'defund' NYPD

(The Center Square) — New York City mayoral nominee and Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani has tried to walk back his previous calls for defunding the NYPD as he campaigns for a job that would put him in charge of the nation's largest police department.

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. On his campaign website, Mamdani said he wants to "empower police officers to respond to serious crime and hire mental health professionals to respond to mental health calls."

"I will not defund the police," he said during a recent Democratic mayoral debate. "I will work with the police because I believe the police have a critical role to play in public service, public safety."

Mamdani, a state Assemblyman from Queens, also visited the relatives of NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was gunned down during a mass shooting inside a Park Avenue office building, to pay his respects for the fallen cop.

But his opponents in the race are pointing to his long record of criticizing the NYPD and amplifying calls from Black Lives Matter and other groups for cutting off funding for the department.

"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.

Incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat and former NYPD captain who is running for reelection as an independent, criticized Mamdani.

“Not one time has he said something in response to a police officer who’s been shot or killed,” Adams said in remarks Monday at City Hall. “We lost officers before he was running for mayor. Where was he? Did he feel those officers deserve to be lifted up as he lifted up now Officer Islam during the election? We need to ask, where was he?”

Mamdani’s primary win has sent shockwaves through New York's political establishment and drawn national attention from Republicans who have criticized the city's dramatic leftward shift. The latest polls show Mamdani is the frontrunner in the mayoral race, ahead of Cuomo, Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. The general election is Nov. 4.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who was defeated by Mamdani in June's mayoral primary, has also questioned the recent statement disavowing earlier social media posts about de-funding the police.

"I am skeptical of politicians who change their positions weeks before an election," Cuomo said, whose independent campaign has rolled out a plan to increase pay and benefits for NYPD officers while hiring more cops.