Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday said Zohran Mamdani should apologize to New York City police officers for calling the New York Police Department "racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety" in a 2020 social-media post, marking the governor's strongest personal rebuke of the Democratic mayoral front-runner.
Mamdani, a progressive Queens assemblyman who won the Democratic primary in June, told The New York Times this week that he would apologize after initially pausing when asked whether he owed officers an apology. Hochul said Mamdani has not yet delivered the promised apology and that one is "in order." She made the remarks standing in front of a SWAT vehicle while touting state funding for local law enforcement agencies.
Hochul also offered measured praise, saying she respected Mamdani for acknowledging he would seek to earn the police force's respect. "I have a lot of respect for him for saying that and that he is going to do what he can to earn the respect of the men or women of the NYPD," she said. The governor, who is seeking re-election next year, has not endorsed Mamdani.
Mamdani's 2020 posts came amid national protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In June 2020 he wrote on social media, "We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety." Other posts from that summer included calls to "defund the police" and to "tax the rich" to build a "socialist New York." Mamdani has said his statements were made in the context of frustration many New Yorkers felt at that time and has sought to distance his current campaign from some of his past rhetoric.
The comments come as several high-profile New York Democrats, including U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, have withheld endorsements in the mayoral race. Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, criticized Mamdani's pledge of an apology as insufficient, saying an apology must be accompanied by concrete public-safety plans.
NYPD officers were reported to have stood outside Mamdani's Queens home during a small protest on Friday.
Hochul's rebuke also highlights policy differences between the governor and Mamdani. Earlier this week, Hochul reiterated she would not raise income taxes on high-net-worth New Yorkers, a stance at odds with one of Mamdani's key platform planks. Political operatives said Hochul's public demand for an apology was politically calculated: Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said the governor cannot afford to alienate law enforcement heading into next year's campaign, and Ryan Adams, co-founder of a political consulting firm, said Hochul appears to be positioning herself between criticism from the right and challenges from the left.
Mamdani has shifted position on several issues since winning the primary. In the aftermath of the fatal shooting of an NYPD officer, Didarul Islam, in July, he explicitly backed away from his prior "defund" rhetoric and sought to emphasize public-safety proposals aligned with the concerns of voters and the police.
The exchange underscores tensions within the Democratic Party in New York as the city prepares for a high-profile mayoral contest. Law enforcement leaders and elected officials have increasingly scrutinized candidates' positions on policing and public safety, and calls for apologies or policy clarifications have become a focal point in campaign debates.
As of Friday, Mamdani had told reporters and outlets he would apologize but had not publicly delivered a formal apology to officers for his 2020 posts.
