NYC Mayor Candidate Mamdani Says He's 'Not Defunding the Police'

[lostincalifornia]

"Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist leading the race for New York mayor, tried to distance himself from past criticism of the NYPD, two days after a mass shooting at a midtown office building left five people dead, including a police officer.

Mamdani, speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday after returning from a 10-day trip to Uganda, described some past social media posts criticizing the New York Police Department as “out of step” with his current thinking.

“I’m not defunding the police,” Mamdani said. “I’m not running to defund the police.”

The attack, the deadliest mass shooting in the city in more than 25 years, horrified New Yorkers and reframed attention on Mamdani’s past statements about the police force, less than four months before he competes in the general election as the Democratic nominee."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-30/nyc-mayor-candidate-mamdani-says-he-s-not-defunding-the-police

[Celerity]

2. And now, over 5 years after your 2020 Xeet, he has changed his stance.

[Celerity]

5. That is not his stance now. I have seen multiple interviews with him since he won the Democratic primary. His

stances on the issues are logical and solid.

Mamdani is now the Democratic NYC mayoral candidate for the general.

As the saying goes, vote blue no matter who.

[TnDem]

7. Trump was a Democrat

and donated to Democratic campaigns for decades....How'd that work out for us?

[Celerity]

8. So you are comparing Mamdani to Trump?? WTF

[TnDem]

10. No, you missed the point

Mamdani said "Defund the police" on multiple occasions, and now he supposedly changed his mind...Like a literal Damascus road change of mind....Trump voted for and supported Democrats for decades and now look at him.

Pay attention to what they did, not what they say later to obfuscate the truth...Trump gave many hints as to his authoritarian nature, but nobody listened.

[Celerity]

11. Oh, I did not miss 'the point'.

[sheshe2]

51. That is not what they said at all, but you know that.

And you went ahead anyway.

[Celerity]

52. That is exactly what they did. nt

[Celerity]

55. I have no need to 'dig'. I support the Democratic nominee in the general election.

[Dave says]

12. "Vote blue, no matter who"

It would have worked wonderfully if more people followed that in 2016 and again in 2024.

But, no, her emails; and, no, Biden’s support of Israel while Gaza was being bombed out of existence. So, in part due to those not heeding those words, and despite Biden not even running, we have a tsunami of destructive fascists in office for who knows how long.

Do these same anti-Blue voters in 2024 cast equal or greater blame on Trump? Betcha they’re not as active as their activism last year.

(TnDem, this is not aimed at you, but at all the “Democrats” who pulled the red lever or stayed home.)

[TnDem]

13. Well, that gets into more issues

That would go down 10 rabbit trails and pull the thread in various directions... I can just give you my anecdotal perspective as a rural Democrat.

Simply put, people vote for candidates who they like and trust to do what they want accomplished. For whatever reason, more people liked and trusted trump than they did Kamala...Obviously, I disagree with their reasoning, but Kamala didn't appeal to the black voters because she was part and parcel to incarcerating them while in CA...They didn't trust her because of her past actions.

Getting back to the point of the thread, you can't adamantly say "Defund the Police" multiple times on a digital format and then claim later the exact opposite stance with no explanation....Voters don't trust that.

Also, why run from the statement if you believe it?...That reeks of wet finger-in-the-air politics... Just say it and stand by it.

[Dave says]

14. Agreed

[JustAnotherGen]

46. Black men can be sexist too

The Black men in my family of age to vote (27 to 88) liked her because of her background. She went to Howard. She was in my Cousin Michelle's class.She was flawless.

That said - if Doug was not Jewish . . . .Well we know anti semitism is not a left/right issue - it cuts across all demographics and all over the world.

[iemanja]

54. Trump is not a Democrat

Mamdani is THE Democratic candidate.

[Polybius]

26. So why hasn't he deleted it?

He still posts there, it's not like he lost his password.

[Celerity]

27. Why should he delete it? People change their stances all the time.

All this 'concern' all over this thread is duly noted.

[Polybius]

33. It would look better

If he really changed his stance, why not delete it? I would delete something that I changed my opinion on, otherwise people will still think those are still my views.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

37. I disagree

I think deleting it can give the impression that you're trying to hide something. Best to own up to it and say that your views have changed on the subject. I think that shows intellectual growth and is not a negative. The person could also retweet it and say their views have changed.

[TnDem]

3. Thanks

Saved me from posting it.

I have never figured out why people do shit like this and are then surprised when someone digs it out and shoves it in their face.

If you don't mean something, don't say it.

[Greg_In_SF]

9. Yep, he

voted for it and campaigned on it.

[Greg_In_SF]

17. He has spoken

about defunding the police as recently as December.

[Greg_In_SF]

20. He posted about it

on his Bluesky account on December 19.

[iemanja]

56. Does that mean you plan on supporting someone other than THE Democratic candidate?

Who? The Republican, the sexual predator, of the criminal?

[Polybius]

25. I can't believe he still has that up

That and the middle finger to the statue of Columbus.

[Nanjeanne]

15. He has an extremely detailed plan on his website about augmenting the police and anyone wanting to know what he

wants to do can easily read his 2025 detailed plan which is nothing like defund the police. It's a much better way of understanding what his policy is --- even better than a tweet! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7ejjSZWWIAcxfcWnkYaqvnjihTb0LAOQkj8g10-npg/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0#heading=h.2gazcsgmxkub]

I'm amazed how frightened people are of this amazing candidate for Mayor that they dig up old five year old tweets as if that's a "policy" rather than -- I don't know -- read the policy from 2025 that he is running on.

[TnDem]

19. A lot of typing for one simple word

It's called pandering.

[Politicub]

21. Did you even read the policy proposal?

What are your thoughts about that?

[TnDem]

23. No, I didn't

It's kind of a simple concept in life really....Say what you mean and stick with it.

When I have to have a paragraphs long "policy proposal" to counteract truthful mouth diarrhea that I myself made , then maybe I should stick with the statement I originally made and believe in?

[Celerity]

29. Simple question: What candidate for NYC Mayor do you want to win in this coming general election?

If it's Mamdani, the Democratic candidate, then why are you slagging him off up and down this thread? It is very sus.

[TnDem]

31. I'd vote for him...However

Someone like that could never win a national election.

[Celerity]

32. Non sequitur. I never said anything about him in terms of being a national candidate.

My point is that the negative stances you are trying to flame up Mamdani with are definitely not the actions, IMHO, of a person who supports the Democratic candidate in the general.

[TnDem]

34. You have no idea who I support

Because you live in this bubble...Every Democrat in this country isn't exactly like you...A rural Democrat like myself, has a broader view of the party in general and how to win national elections, and Mamdani ain't it beyond the boroughs of NYC.

I don't know your age, but i could almost guarantee you that I and my friends and neighbors have been voting Democratic as long or longer than you have,

[Celerity]

36. I am not the one in a bubble. I never said, nor do I believe

that 'every Democrat is like me'. You are pushing an entirely false framing with that one.

You also keep trying to push this trope of Mamdani as a national candidate and falsely attribute it to being a belief I am advocating for. I never said that, I do not think he can win nationally.

What I do advocate for is supporting the Democratic candidate (Mamdani) in the general election for NEW YORK CITY mayor.

Your multiple postings here taking swipes at him are not something, IMHO, that a supporter of the Democratic primary winner and now the Democratic candidate in the general (Mamdani) would do. You are attempting to introduce FUD, which is absolutely NOT advantageous to us (the Democratic Party) winning the upcoming general election. Like I already said before, it is sus.

Furthermore, you even admitted that you did not read his actual policy proposals, yet you still have a go over it using a problematic framing of his stances, one that contains little to no knowledge (again, you self-admitted that) of his actual platform and proposals.

Finally, I truly take issue with this:

A rural Democrat like myself, has a broader view of the party in general and how to win national elections

Just because you live in a rural area in no way automatically gives you a broader view on anything, let alone our Party or how to win national elections (which again is something you keep trying to inject into the conversation when that is not germane to any of my statements).

The entire construct of rural America having a superior view and superior knowledge of things simply because it is rural is problematic at so many levels. From what I see, rural America is now utterly, on balance, dominated by Maga and the Rethugs.

I think changing THAT is far more important for rural Democrats than taking swipes at the Democratic general election candidate in a decidedly non-rural (arguably the most non-rural in the nation) environment (ie NYC).

[TnDem]

40. What in the hell is "sus"

Does that mean "suspect"?... Suspect of what? Because we don't agree on his national viability because of obvious flip-flops on Mamdani's part?

I worked on a Democratic State Senator's campaign 35 years ago, so I have been around a minute. I also grew up as a kid in Suburban DC/ PG County, so I am not from the hills either. I just know how certain portions of the party think that everybody locksteps with them and they don't.

Go back and read the thread too...I am not the only person bringing up his flip-flops on defunding the police. There were other posters saying the same thing multiple times...Are they "sus" too?

Glad to see that you agree that he can't win a national election. I also don't think he will have any problem winning NYC mayor's position either...Two different worlds.

[lapucelle]

47. Apparently "attempting to introduce FUD" is sus.

I think the first term is used in the expression "what the FUD", sometimes abbreviated "WTF" and followed by a question mark.

[TnDem]

48. I had to google that

FUD, that is.

[JustAnotherGen]

49. Me too

[lapucelle]

50. You may want to google "pettifog", just in case.

[Nanjeanne]

30. WTF?

[AZProgressive]

24. He doesn't want to take a dollar from the police budget

He probably still supports reallocating funds part but mainly reorganizing in away from mental health calls or failures of the capitalist system such as homeless and using the police to deal with the issue. He wants police to focus on serious crimes rather than like a "broken windows" kind of policing which I also support. He wants to increase funding to deal with hate crimes by 800% IIRC.

Those against it have to own the current problems such as the discrimination, unconstitutional policing, and doing things like police killing someone on a welfare check. I think there are better ways to deal with problems instead of sending the cops at every problem.

[brush]

28. That running as a democratic socialist thing has finally come back to bite him.

Should've just said he was a Democrat...oops, wait, there is a thing as oppo reseach so he's stuck with his past statments. Politics can be tricky.

[brush]

41. Hmmmm? Running as a socialist a positive in the US? We shall see.

[iemanja]

58. He won the primary

There is no debate. On DU, we support the Democratic candidate.

Then the fact the only alternatives are a criminal, a Republican, or a sexual predator.

[brush]

62. Why didn't he just run as a DEMOCRAT and not a socialist?

[Celerity]

63. Chalk and cheese. The Democratic Party is simply an electoral construct. Democratic socialism is a political philosophy.

The Democratic Party as a whole has a very wide range of political philosophies and stances within its big tent. We have conservatives, centrists/moderates, 'leftish' neoliberals (ie Clintonian/Blairite/3rd Wayers), progressives, social democrats, etc etc, all the way to democratic socialists and even a tiny sliver of marxists and other types of communists (who still vote Dem and not some micro niche party).

[brush]

67. You must know that in the US the words socialism and communism have negative connotations due to not just the...

Last edited Fri Aug 1, 2025, 11:16 AM - Edit history (1)

threat of the USSR/Stalin, big Russian bear nukes, Russian Premier Khrushchev threatening to bury us, the Cuban missile crisis, the Joe McCarthy red scare/HUAC hearings and many prominent people having their careers ruined and others despised for 'naming names' an on and on.

Which is why the tinge of being associated with socialism and communism/reds is still shied away from by many...just call yourself a Democrat already and avoid all the controversy.

Even if Mamdani wins, having the mayor of the most important US city being a socialist is going to be a negative cudgel rethugs will constantly hold against Dems as they use it as a talking point on FOX and other winger media and in the midterm campaign.

And oppo research has recently revealed he once got caught up in one of the stupidest political slogans of all time...defund the police. Naivete.

[iemanja]

65. He did run as a Democrat

He ran for the Democratic party nomination

[Nanjeanne]

35. Im always impressed with Mamdani's media savvy

Mamdani: I would say that for the former governor to have spent an entire day speaking almost exclusively about me and barely about the New Yorkers who have been killed is indicative of the very politics New Yorkers want to leave in the past.

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T18:47:17.246Z

[vanessa_ca]

38. Lol! lol Billionaire Ackman is probably crying somewhere.

I hope he pisses away a ton of money financing an absolute clown car of candidates trying to stop Mamdani. Zohran will skillfully wipe the floor with all of them. The people have his back. He beat out all NYC mayoral candidates combined. It’s almost like most New Yorkers are Democrats who will support the candidate that Democratic Party voters selected to run for mayor. Funny how that works.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

45. "He beat out all NYC mayoral candidates combined. "

Well yeah, after they eliminated all but one of the other candidates and reallocated their votes; and that's fine, as that's how NYC does their primaries.

But in the first round, he got 43.82% of the vote, which means that everyone else combined got 56.18% of the vote.

[iemanja]

61. If you oppose ranked choice voting

take it up with the NY city government. Otherwise, quit the FUD.
On DU, we support the Democratic candidate. Period. We don't support the criminal, the Republican, or the sexual predator.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

64. Who said I oppose ranked choice voting?

I was just pointing out that the statement "he got more votes than all other combined" is only half-right.

BTW, I support the Democrat in the race too, that doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything he wants to do. And since I don't live there, it doesn't really matter what I think anyway.

[iemanja]

66. There were eleven candidates in the race

His total was so strong that they knew he was the winner on the first round. Your claim that he didn't receive a majority of votes in a multi-way primary is ridiculous. No one would. In races with only two-candidates, it's not uncommon for a candidate to receive less than 50% of the vote. It's remarkable for someone to get 44% in an eleven-way race.

If your post was not a criticism of ranked-choice voting, it displayed an unawareness of how it functions as a democratic system.

Whether you agree with him is irrelevant. The time for criticism has passed. He is the nominee.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

68. If you want to be angry...

…because you either didn’t understand or didn’t like what I said, have at it, but I stand by it.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

42. He's going to be elected...

…I don’t think there is any question about that. The question is how many of the super rich and big businesses will leave NYC for what they view as friendlier places.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

44. And a 58% increase in the corporate tax rate...

...from 7.25% to 11.5 %.

Should be interesting to see if he can get the city council to pass any/all of his proposals.

[iemanja]

57. The right-wingers are consistent in their right-wing views and smears.

[Jack Valentino]

60. The police will be necessary--- when the time comes

to arrest all the Republican "MAGA" criminals....


MAGA Republicans and Trump officials have been "moving the window"---
without thinking about the possible consequences----

And as opposed to 'free speech criminals',
many of them are guilty of ACTUAL CRIMES....