![\"Zohran](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DSC_0357.jpg\" "\\"NYC")
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Democratic nominee and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani says he will apologize for his past social media posts calling the NYPD racist.<\/p>\n
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n
Democratic mayoral nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani<\/a> will apologize for a 2020 social media post<\/a> in which he called the NYPD \u201cracist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety,\u201d his campaign confirmed to amNewYork.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s apparent shift on his past comments \u2014 he first revealed this\u00a0in a Thursday interview<\/a> with The New York Times \u2014 comes after he previously said those comments were \u201cout of step\u201d<\/a> with his mayoral bid but stopped short of formally apologizing\u00a0for them.<\/p>\n It demonstrates an apparent effort by Mamdani \u2014 a democratic socialist Queens Assembly member \u2014 to moderate his once much further-left views on policing as he vies against a crowded field of challengers in the Nov. 4 general election. Those opponents \u2014 particularly independents former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams \u2014 have made much hay out of Mamdani\u2019s past criticisms of the NYPD to paint him as ill equipped to lead the department.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s campaign confirmed his comments to The Times.\n<\/p>\n The lawmaker told the outlet that he made the social media post \u201cat the height of frustration\u201d in the weeks following George Floyd\u2019s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. When asked twice by a reporter if he would apologize for those comments, he said \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n However, it is unclear if Mamdani would make such an apology during his campaign or after, if he were to win the election.\n<\/p>\n Throughout his campaign, Mamdani has also repeatedly said he no longer supports the \u201cdefund the police\u201d movement he once embraced.\n<\/p>\n \u201cTo be very clear, as I have been over the course of this campaign, I\u2019m not defunding the police, I\u2019m not running to defund the police,\u201d he said in July.\n<\/p>\n Tepid approval from police union<\/p>\n The Assembly member\u2019s public safety plan calls for sustaining the NYPD\u2019s current budget for a headcount of 35,000 \u2014 though the department was about 1,261 officers short<\/a> of that\u00a0number as of August. He also intends to\u00a0create a separate Department of Community Safety<\/a> that would have non-police personnel respond to a variety of mental health-related\u00a0matters instead of cops.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s remarks did receive some tepid approval from Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, the NYPD\u2019s largest rank-and-file union. But the union boss also signaled that Mamdani must do more to demonstrate his commitment to improving NYPD officers\u2019 working conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cWords of support are important, but they need to be backed up with action,\u201d Hendry said. \u201cWe need elected leaders who not only support cops on the campaign trail, but who will work with us every single day to improve our safety, quality of life, and compensation as we protect New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo, however, charged in a Friday statement that Mamdani\u2019s moderation on policing is part of a flip-flopping pattern on past controversial positions.\n<\/p>\n \u201cFor weeks, Zohran Mamdani has been ducking, dodging, and rewriting his own record,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cNew Yorkers deserve straight answers. These are not \u2018gotcha\u2019 questions, nor are they \u2014 as Mamdani now says \u2014 \u2018a mythical version\u2019 of him \u2014 they are his own words, his own positions, and his own record. Until he gives clear, honest responses, voters are left with just one question of their own: Who is Zohran Mamdani, and what does he stand for?\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo is\u00a0second to Mamdani in the polls, though he is\u00a0trailing the Democratic nominee by double digits<\/a>. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and Adams are polling behind Cuomo.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to public safety, Cuomo dinged Mamdani for distancing himself from the platform that the national Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) released last month. The platform includes proposals many see as radical, such as eliminating all misdemeanor offenses and closing all local jails.<\/p>\n