Zoran Mamdani Issues Apology to NYPD Officers

Zoran Mamdani, a leading candidate in the mayoral race, finally delivered his long-anticipated public apology to NYPD officers on Wednesday. However, he didn’t quite express remorse for calling them “racists” or labeling them as a “serious threat to public safety” in the past.

During an interview with Fox News, host Martha McCollum asked him to clarify his stance. Mamdani responded, “I’m here to apologize to the police, because this is an apology that I’ve shared with many rank-and-file police officers.” He added, “And I apologize for the fact that I want to work with these police officers.”

This somewhat vague apology emerges more than a month after he acknowledged he owed the city’s police force—approximately 34,000 officers—an apology for his prior remarks. Back in 2020, during heightened tensions following George Floyd’s killing, Mamdani had referred to the department as “racist, anti-gay, and a grave threat to public safety” in a tweet.

These comments have posed a challenge for Mamdani during the mayoral campaign, particularly as other Democratic candidates shift toward more centrist views, trying to distance themselves from anti-police rhetoric. Over the past few weeks, Mamdani has been somewhat evasive about how he would convey his apology.

He suggested that he was taking great care in personally reaching out to each officer in his unit to express his regret. Yet, when pressed by McCollum, he did apologize but refrained from addressing the specific criticisms he made earlier.

In his defense, he stated, “I know that the police officers and men and women who work for the NYPD put their lives on the line every day.”