Zohran Mamdani’s rise from Queens assemblyman to the top of the Democratic ticket should alarm every New Yorker who cares about safety, common sense, and the city’s future. He speaks like a populist while promoting policies that would fundamentally remake the city’s institutions and shift power away from the practical checks that keep chaos at bay. Hardworking families deserve leaders who secure streets and livelihoods, not ideological experimenters offering utopia at the price of order.
Mamdani’s platform reads like a wish list for every big-government progressive: fare-free buses, an immediate rent freeze on stabilized apartments, a new Social Housing Development Agency to build hundreds of thousands of public units, and municipal grocery stores run “for the people.” These aren’t modest reforms — they are sweeping promises paid for by printing policy lines that target businesses and the top 1 percent, with taxation and mandates that will crush growth and push employers and sensible taxpayers out of the city.
On public safety he wants to shrink the NYPD’s responsibilities and funnel money and authority into a new Department of Community Safety staffed largely by social workers and crisis teams. That sounds compassionate until you remember that policing is deterrence; removing tools from law enforcement while promising to “prevent” crime with caseworkers will leave ordinary New Yorkers exposed. This is the classic left-wing dodge: promise security without the means to deliver it, then blame “structural problems” when crime climbs.
Worse, Mamdani has repeatedly refused to plainly repudiate dangerous rhetoric tied to violent anti-Israel slogans, insisting he won’t “police language” even as Jewish leaders and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum warned about the real-world consequences of such phrases. When a mayor declines to call out calls for violence in clear terms, he signals weakness to radicals and gives cover to antisemitism and extremism in our streets. New York’s mayor must be a bulwark against hate, not an apologist for ambiguous sloganeering.
And let’s be clear about his record: Mamdani once tweeted that the NYPD was “racist” and “a major threat to public safety,” later offering what critics call tepid apologies while trying to recast himself as a friend of rank-and-file cops. Meanwhile, opponents — including Andrew Cuomo in recent debates — have repeatedly accused him of supporting decriminalization measures and policies that would let misdemeanor behavior fester in neighborhoods. Voters should not reward a politician who swings between radical rhetoric and half-hearted walkbacks when the stakes are public safety and daily life.
Conservatives should call out the truth: this is not humble reform, it’s an experiment in governmental overreach dressed as salvation for the poor and the angry. Big promises mean big costs, and big costs mean either higher taxes, runaway deficits, or a collapse of services New Yorkers rely on. If Mamdani’s vision takes hold, hardworking families will be left paying the bill while neighborhoods pay the price in disorder and decline.
We need leaders who put safety and prosperity first, who respect the police that keep us safe, and who encourage businesses to stay and invest in our city. New Yorkers should reject ideological theater and elect someone who will protect families, preserve liberties, and restore common-sense governance — not someone chasing an academic fantasy at the expense of everyday lives.
