Zohran Mamdani Denies Pushing for Police Defunding
Stepping outside the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in New York City on August 7, 2025, Zohran Mamdani presented himself to the world. To dispel the circulating rumors of late July, he firmly reiterated his stance, ‘I am not a candidate pushing for the defunding of the police.’ This declaration came after a heartfelt meeting with the family of the tragically killed officer Didarul Islam, further fortifying his consistent position manifested in the city’s mayoral race.
Mamdani’s campaign has primarily zeroed in on one crucial issue—the perpetuating crisis of the city’s affordability. In his journey through the Democratic primary, and now forging ahead in the general election, Mamdani has deliberately distanced himself from the arguably controversial and dividing theme of ‘defunding the police’. These efforts, however, haven’t dissuaded his major political opponents from exploiting his past stance on the issue.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams have taken it upon themselves to leverage Mamdani’s previous backing of the defund movement for their campaigning tactics. Circa 2020, during the height of the national outcry following the tragicomedy demise of George Floyd, Mamdani aired his ire on social media. His posts branded the NYPD as ‘racist, anti-queer’ and he dubbed them a ‘significant threat to public safety’, concurrently promoting the hashtag ‘#DefundtheNYPD’.
Back then, Mamdani was in the fray for his current position in the New York State Assembly. His current stance, distancing himself from defunding the police, doesn’t come as a surprise. Granted it caused a stir, but it was seldom a favoured idea even during the agitated climate of 2020. Public opinion research indicated that only a mere twenty-five percent supported the reduction in police funding at the protests’ peak, which further dwindled to fifteen percent by the next year.
Running a mayoral campaign on such a divided and arguably unpopular notion wouldn’t be a smart political move by any stretch. This doesn’t escape his opponents who astutely realize that the term ‘defund’ is toxic in the current political climate. Playing on this, they seek to tether Mamdani, the leading mayoral contender, to his erstwhile stance, striving to steer public sentiment against him.
The Cuomo and Adams campaigns face an uphill battle to garner momentum in this race. All while Mamdani’s campaign successfully keeps drawing maximum campaign contributions. They recognize the necessity to portray Mamdani as an excessively radical choice to the general populace. Cuomo went so far as to deem Mamdani’s past views on policing as ‘dangerous, literally dangerous’.
Contrarily, Mamdani chooses to describe himself as ‘a candidate who is not fixed in time’, continuing to move away from those radical opinions. This constant shifting of stance can be seen skeptically and perhaps derisively, as another politician’s attempt to suppress dissent in favor of climbing the political ladder. And there is some truth to this sentiment. Pursuing amenable positions to appear electable often forces political figures to compromise on previously held, justified ideologies.
Mamdani’s backpedaling seems less like a betrayal and more like a necessary political maneuver considering the consistent upward trajectory of police budgets. These budgets bear considerable weight in local finances, leaving lesser resources for other equally significant civic functions. This puts citizens, especially those belonging to non-white, impoverished, and queer communities, in a precarious position
The original goal of the ‘defund the police’ movement was merely to reallocate the substantial police budgets into other critical areas. It is a slight alteration rather than a complete overhaul. Mamdani should have the liberty to voice this opinion without fear of being deemed unelectable. However, the overall lack of support for defunding the police forces him to keep these opinions subdued, especially if he wants a realistic shot at the mayor’s office.
Despite the absence of explicit ‘defunding’, a closer look at Mamdani’s proposed agenda reveals that his vision for public safety subtly aligns with the goals initially pursued by the ‘defund the police’ movement. His efforts to underplay the role of the police may not be explicitly stated but are implicitly noticeable in the policy proposals that lend more weight to mental health programs, gun violence prevention, victims’ services, and hate violence interventions.
His campaign has put forth solutions like violence interrupters, introducing restorative justice models in schools, creating crisis residences, and other interventions that completely avoid relying on the police. These alternatives have been advocated by the ‘defund the police’ movement from the very beginning, as a way to reallocate resources and tackle social issues, which the police have continuously been ill-equipped to handle.
Evidence of the effectiveness of these alternative solutions can be found in the historical decline in violent crime in cities like Baltimore and Chicago, which have put similar measures in place over the past year. While the reductive, dismissive ‘defund’ rhetoric may be missing, the spirit of the initial defund movement could arguably be considered alive and integral to Mamdani’s campaign.
Even amidst this seeming denial of his previous stance, I remain hopeful and refuse to surrender myself to unabashed cynicism. Consider another of Mamdani’s contentious positions—his bold and unwavering advocacy for Palestinians and his call for an end to the atrocities which Israel has subjected them to for almost eighty years.
Only five years ago, publicly acknowledging such a position could have jeopardized any election bid. Presently, it serves as a major basis of his appeal. Past and present activists have paved the way for this shift in acceptability. This means that while in the present, Mamdani might not be able to openly propagate defunding the police, the future may yet hold the possibility of a candidate unafraid to promote such ideas.
