Zoran Mamdani’s Campaign Debates Police Reform Amid Midtown Shooting

While Zoran Mamdani was abroad, his top aides argued about how the statement should read about an off-duty police officer who had just been shot in Midtown Manhattan along with three other people.

Drafts kept coming one after another as the news rolled in. People familiar with the conversations that night tell CNN about a previously unknown moment: formulations were proposed, rejected, and revised.

It was a tragic moment, with many eyes fixed on a measured response, but not at any cost beyond the campaign’s values. The team sought to strike a balance between emotion and accountability to voters.

Tension was rising: in narrow-circle discussions some aides admitted that they were not taking the situation sufficiently seriously, while others even proposed bringing in former mayor Bill de Blasio to have him call Mamdani.

If Mamdani’s trip to Uganda amid July events in New York was part of the context, it added additional pressure to a campaign that had just reached a possible victory in the mayoral race.

The death of Officer Didarul Islam highlighted the challenge Mamdani may face after the November elections and when he would lead the largest city police force in the United States after years of sharp criticism of policing.

The campaign notes that his criticism over the last five years was tied to a different political moment, but discussions within his close circle show that an anti-police stance still lives in his thinking.

Internal discussions within the campaign team

“Trying to understand where Mamdani stands is like Kremlinology: watching the podium and seeing where people are.”

According to Glazer, as Mamdani closes in on victory, he will need to acknowledge the reality of what is happening on the ground in order to successfully run the city.

“When he nears actual victory in this race, he will have to be able to reconcile the reality on the ground with governing.”

Jeff Dinowitz, a Bronx assemblyman and chair of the Codes Committee, said that his position could change, and he is prepared to consider new arguments about why the candidate’s views now look different.

“Impossible to know.”

In response, Mamdani’s campaign says they are not answering CNN’s questions about changes in attitudes toward the policing system; instead they issued an official statement from the candidate himself.

“I will govern by a clear campaign plan – One New York, for which a historically large number of people voted. Leading a city of 8.5 million people means listening to their safety concerns and working with police on effective solutions.”

Experts note that Mamdani previously supported ideas to reduce the role of the police and reform, but his stance is increasingly aligning with practical steps in security governance. He acknowledged that he previously called the police “racist” only in moments of exhaustion, and expressed an intention to apologize for those words.

All of Mamdani’s campaign assurances and posts indicate a meaningful shift in course as he prepares to lead the city, but questions remain about how radical such policy will be in real-world governance.