Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo lashed out at New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani over his views on law enforcement.
Cuomo, who is currently trailing Mamdani in the polls, blasted his opponent for being “anti-police.” He said Mamdani “doesn’t understand the need for public safety.”
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Cuomo brought up Mamdani’s past criticisms of law enforcement. "He has said the NYPD are racists, the police are a threat to public safety," Cuomo said, according to Fox News. "I think he’s dangerous because he doesn’t understand the need for public safety in this city."
Mamdani responded by accusing Cuomo of politicizing the recent mass shooting in Manhattan, which claimed the life of an NYPD officer. "I know that Gov. Cuomo is far more comfortable in the past, whether it be his own or whether it be in attacking me for tweets made before I was even an Assembly member," he said.
The candidate continued, “Cuomo wishes he was running against me in the past. He wants to find every tweet he can. He doesn’t want to look at the present but the past.”
Cuomo’s stances on policing seem to have changed based on political expediency. When he was governor, he expressed support for the “Defund the Police” movement while the George Floyd riots were in full swing across the country.
The former governor said the idea of slashing police budgets was a “legitimate school of thought” during a press conference in 2021. However, he later claimed his remarks were “taken out of context.”
However, he signed an executive order in 2020 stripping funding from any New York police departments that “refuse to commit to a wide-ranging plan for reform.”
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Later, during an interview with Stephen A. Smith, he had reversed course.
“You’ve had this move starting in about 2020, an anti police movement right? Cut the funding for the police. Police are bad,” he said. “Well, that has consequences. You cut the police, don’t be surprised when crime goes up. You cut the police, don’t be surprised when people are afraid to go into the subways because of the rate of crime.”
Mamdani has come under fire for a 2020 podcast appearance when he suggested that police officers should not respond to domestic violence calls. Instead, he argued in favor of having mental health professionals handle these cases.
"If somebody is jaywalking, if somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence—there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun," Mamdani said.
In a 2020 tweet, Mamdani slammed law enforcement for its bigotry. “We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety,” he wrote. “What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD. NO to fake cuts — defund the police.” Later that year, he went further, saying, “Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence.”
We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) June 29, 2020
What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.
But your deal with @NYCMayor uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat.
NO to fake cuts - defund the police. https://t.co/2RCXU8heg2
Yet, Mamdani changed his tune when he began his campaign for mayor. “I am not defunding the police; I am not running to defund the police,” Mamdani said on Wednesday. “Over the course of this race, I’ve been very clear about my view of public safety and the critical role that the police have in creating that public safety.”
However, the candidate has suggested slashing the police department’s overime spending.
Mamdani continues to dominate in the polls. A recent survey revealed that he has 50 percent of the vote. Cuomo came in second place at 22 percent with Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in third place at 13 percent. Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams is struggling at seven percent.
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