ALBANY – Zohran Mamdani needs to apologize for calling the NYPD “racist,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday, in her strongest personal rebuke yet of the Democratic mayoral candidate.
“I believe an apology is in order,” Hochul told reporters when asked about Mamdani’s half-baked promise to The New York Times on Thursday that he’d apologize to cops for the controversial statements.
He said in an interview with the Times that the comments were made “at the height of frustration” against law enforcement in summer 2020, when anti-police protests raged nationwide in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis.
“We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety,” Mamdani wrote in a June 28, 2020, social media post.
The socialist Queens assemblyman first paused when asked if he should say sorry to city cops, then “went on to explain how his views had changed,” the Times story states.
“After he was asked again if he owed officers an apology, he said, ‘Yes.’”
While he has yet to extend the promised apology for the offending post — or any of his other number of statements deploring cops — Hochul still delivered praise for the mayoral race frontrunner.
“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,” Hochul said as she stood in front of a SWAT vehicle while touting state funding for local law enforcement agencies.
“I respect them immensely. I’ve seen them in action. So I think it’s an appropriate response.”
Mamdani, since his stunning victory in the June Democratic primary — and in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam the following month — explicitly backed off his unpopular prior “defund the police” stance.
“Together, we can tax the rich, heal the sick, house the poor, defund the police & build a socialist New York,” Mamdani posted on then-Twitter in June 2020.
“We need a socialist city council to defund the police,” he posted a few days later.
Mamdani has also tried to distance his current campaign from his slew of past posts bashing New York’s Finest.
“My statements in 2020 were made amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd,” he said on July 30.
Hochul is one of several high profile New York Dems – including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie – who have yet to endorse their party’s mayoral nominee.
And while the Democratic gov — who is seeking re-election next year — has previously staked out some clear differences with Mamdani on more policy issues, her comments Friday appear to be the first time she’s expressed ire at his radical lefty politics.
Earlier this week in an interview with Bloomberg TV, Hochul reiterated her pledge not to raise income taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, a key plank of Mamdani’s platform.
“I’ve said I don’t want to raise income taxes on high-net-worth people. I want them to know that New York is a place where we want to foster innovation — be open to your success,” Hochul said.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, bashed Mamdani’s yet-to-be-seen apology as insufficient.
“Apologizing to police is more than verbal,” Adams said.
“Apologize for the failure of coming up with a real public safety practice. You can’t just verbalize this,” he said.
Political operatives opined that Hochul made a smart political move by calling on Mamdani to apologize to the NYPD.
“She can’t afford to have cops coming at her next year,” Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant, told The Post.
“Every time Mamdani opens his mouth he creates a Republican on Long Island,” Sheinkopf said. “If she goes with Mamdani, the GOP will get 30% of New York City vote.”
Ryan Adams, co–founder of political consulting firm HQZ Consulting, said that even though Hochul likely won’t be getting endorsed by law enforcement, “she doesn’t want to seem anti-police in this moment.”
“Kathy Hochul has been very smart lately. She’s seen what’s coming from the right but now sees what’s coming on the left,” he said.
— Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick and Craig McCarthy
