What New York City's Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Stands For

Mamdani's rise to become the nominee for New York City mayor has put his policy positions under scrutiny

President Donald Trump labels him a "communist." Critics claim he supports defunding the police. Yet Zohran Mamdani maintains he's simply focused on making New York City more affordable.

Mamdani's swift ascension to Democratic nominee for New York City mayor has subjected his policy stances to intense examination. If successful in November, he would make history as the city's first Muslim and Indian American mayor, as well as its most progressive leader in decades.

As he works to expand his voter base before the election, the state lawmaker has moderated certain positions while creating distance from other potentially controversial political stances.

Mamdani faces opposition from three candidates positioning themselves as centrist alternatives to the 33-year-old: two Democrats—former Governor Andrew Cuomo and current Mayor Eric Adams—and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Some prominent New York Democrats, including US Senator Chuck Schumer, have hesitated to endorse Mamdani. A few, such as the state Democratic Party chair and certain suburban congressional representatives, have explicitly declined to support him. However, notable figures like Governor Kathy Hochul and the state's top legislative leaders have recently pledged their backing.

Here's where he actually stands:While Trump and opponents label Mamdani a communist, he identifies as a democratic socialist. He believes government should help reduce economic inequality, without advocating for collective property ownership characteristic of communism.

Mamdani supports higher taxes on wealthy individuals to fund initiatives he believes would increase affordability, including free bus service, universal child care, and his signature proposal: freezing rent increases for the city's million rent-regulated apartments. Critics argue this would harm landlords already struggling with inflation.

The "communist" accusation appears most frequently regarding Mamdani's proposal for pilot city-run grocery stores. Billionaire John Catsimatidis, owner of Gristedes and D'Agostino Supermarkets, warned this would lead toward "bread lines of the old Soviet Union."

In a Bulwark interview, Mamdani described his proposal—five stores selling products at wholesale prices—as a modest experiment, adding if unsuccessful, "C'est la vie, then the idea was wrong."

He has faced scrutiny for stating on NBC's "Meet The Press" that in an economically just world, "I don't think that we should have billionaires." However, Mamdani clarified that as mayor, he would willingly collaborate with billionaires to address city challenges.

Following George Floyd's death in Minnesota in 2020, Mamdani joined New York Democrats advocating for police budget cuts and frequently criticized police brutality.

In one social media post, he described the department as "racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety." In another, sharing video of NYPD officers beating a man who had argued with an officer, Mamdani wrote, "Defund this rogue agency."

During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani has distanced himself from these earlier calls for reduced department funding, stating they don't reflect his current agenda. He now proposes maintaining NYPD staffing levels while creating a "Department of Community Safety" deploying mental health teams instead of armed officers for certain emergency calls involving psychiatric crises.

His rhetoric about law enforcement has softened considerably. In a recent New York Times interview, when asked if he owed officers an apology for calling the department racist, he answered "yes," explaining his 2020 comments came "at the height of frustration."

Mamdani's opponents question this evolution. Adams, a former police captain, suggests Mamdani changed position because voters oppose defunding the police. Cuomo accuses him of flip-flopping and failing to present voters with a clear identity.

Mamdani strongly advocates for Palestinian civil rights and has accused Israel's government of committing genocide in Gaza.

He supports an economic boycott of Israel and has stated that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited New York City, he would honor an International Criminal Court warrant and have Netanyahu arrested for war crimes. The US is not a court member, and Israel denies committing genocide or war crimes.

Mamdani has repeatedly condemned Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, calling the militant group's killing of 1,200 people "deplorable." He maintains Israel has a right to exist, though without systems favoring Jewish citizens over others.

These positions haven't satisfied critics who view such criticisms of Israeli policy as antisemitic.

Before the primary, when asked about disavowing the phrase "globalise the intifada," a slogan some interpret as advocating violence against Israeli civilians, Mamdani characterized it as reflecting "a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights."

While Mamdani hasn't used this phrase during his campaign, he now says he would discourage others from employing the slogan.

Mamdani belongs to both the New York City and national chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America, an activist group advocating for universal healthcare, immigrants' rights, tuition-free higher education, nationwide rent regulation, a 32-hour workweek, and elimination of mandatory jail sentences for certain crimes.

Cuomo, Adams and Sliwa have all criticized Mamdani's association with this organization. Mamdani emphasizes he's running on his own distinct platform—not DSA's—and that group membership doesn't imply agreement with all its objectives.

When reporters asked about his previous support for decriminalizing prostitution, Mamdani avoided a direct answer, instead stating: "What I want to do is look at the ways in which the previous administration addressed this issue," referencing former Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, which saw decreased arrests for related charges.