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New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing backlash on social media over a response to a question from a reporter about his public safety platform, which critics say offered little to no specifics.
“What would your public safety plan look like? Explain it to our viewers,” CBS New York’s Marcia Kramer asked Mamdani over the weekend.
“Absolutely, you know, prior to the West Indian parade, I visited Little Caribbean and I spoke to a number of residents in East Flatbush who were sharing their concerns around gun violence,” Mamdani responded. “And I met a number of New Yorkers who were part of the crisis management system part of a cure violence approach to dealing with gun violence and they told me how important it is to have a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence and quite frankly rooting it out of the entirety of our city.”
Mamdani went on to say that it will take “working with the police” and “working with the crisis management system” along with the “working with the cure violence approach.”
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New York City Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani, continued his anti-Trump tour across New York City with an event in the Bronx on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)
“All of these things to deliver that safety,” Mamdani continued before explaining that he also went to the Bronx to meet with a program called “Guns Down Life Up.”
“One of the young men I met, he had actually been attacked and was in Lincoln Hospital and was thinking about retaliating and that’s when he learned about this program, they recruited him to join the program and instead of another act of violence, he’s instead now a mentor to others who have just gone through that same process.”
New York City Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani, spoke to supporters at a canvass launch event in Prospect Park on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)
Mamdani, who has faced widespread criticism over his previous calls to defund the police and his resistance to commit to more police in the city, was criticized on social media over his lack of specifics when answering the question.
“CBS New York’s Marcia Kramer asks Zohran Mamdani to ‘explain’ his ‘public safety plan’ — he gives word salad and FAILS to offer *SINGLE* concrete measure,” Daily Caller reporter Jason Cohen posted on X.
NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani briefly speaks with reporters as he leaves the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 16, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“As you take in this pleasant-sounding answer (that doesn’t address how to deal with criminals), recall that the man speaking called NYPD a ‘racist, anti-queer major threat to public safety’ & repeatedly called for its defunding,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X.
“When your resume is lacking any relevant experience and you have no idea how to handle crime and gun violence, your response to a straightforward question about how to protect our children from being shot might sound something like this,” former Republican NYC Public Advocate candidate J.C. Polanco posted on X.
The interview also drew the attention of one of Mamdani’s opponents in November, current mayor Eric Adams who posted on X, “Mamdani can’t answer the question because he has NO plan to deal with Public Safety. Being a rapper does not qualify you to be Mayor of the largest city in America.”
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also running against Mamdani, posted on X about the exchange as well saying, “Imagine a world where the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City does not have a single comprehensible plan for public safety. Well, you’re in the luck, Twitterverse. You can listen to @ZohranKMamdani say nothing over and over again, with his cotton candy plan: big, fluffy and gone the second you bite in.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment.
Mamdani also explained in the roughly 20-minute interview that his opponents are attacking a “mythical version” of himself when criticizing his 2020 calls to defund the police and that his past tweets are “out of step” with his current platform.
Zohran Mamdani, New York City mayoral candidate, left, raises hands with Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, during a campaign event at the NAN House of Justice in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, US, on Saturday, June 28, 2025. Photographer: Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images ( Photographer: Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images )
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Mamdani’s plan for a “Department of Public Safety” that would send “outreach workers” into the subways and his past positions on policing have caused significant pushback, including from an expert who recently spoke to Fox News Digital.
“Even if he doesn’t necessarily follow through on the most radical positions that he has taken in the very recent past, he has expressed support for a lot of initiatives that would erode public safety in lots of different ways, including and especially in the communities that deal with the brunt of our nation’s gun violence problem,” Rafael A. Mangual, senior fellow and head of research for policing and public safety at the Manhattan Institute, explained.
A recent survey of likely voters in the Big Apple — which was conducted from Sept. 2 to 6 — found that, including leaners, on the question of who people would support if the contest “were held today,” a whopping 46% chose Mamdani, compared to just 24% for Cuomo, with other candidates faring even worse.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
