Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist and current front-runner in the New York City mayor’s race, sought to distance himself on Thursday from the national Democratic Socialists of America platform, which includes proposals to eliminate all misdemeanor offenses and to close local jails.
“My platform is not the same as national D.S.A.,” he told reporters after an unrelated event.
When asked whether he wanted to eliminate misdemeanor offenses, he said “no.”
“You can’t find that on my platform, because it’s not there,” he said.
Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, has taken steps over the course of his campaign to moderate his image, including by making clear that while he previously expressed support for defunding the police, he has long since abandoned that stance.
But Mr. Mamdani’s D.S.A. affiliation has been a popular attack line for President Trump and national Republicans, who have used Mr. Mamdani’s political roots to depict him as the “communist” new face of the Democratic Party. Closer to home, Mr. Mamdani’s opponents in the mayor’s race, especially former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, have also sought to exploit Mr. Mamdani’s political origins to their advantage.
Standing under an oak tree in East Harlem on Thursday, near the spot where a 69-year-old woman was killed by a stray bullet a day before, Mr. Cuomo described Mr. Mamdani’s policies as “dangerous, literally dangerous,” and suggested a list of questions to distinguish between Mr. Mamdani’s platform and the D.S.A.’s.
“Do you believe what the D.S.A. charter says when they say, close prisons?” Mr. Cuomo asked rhetorically. “Do you believe what the D.S.A. charter says when it says, close jails? Do you believe what the D.S.A. charter says when it says, gradually reduce the police budget to zero? Yes or no?”
Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Mamdani declined to address Mr. Cuomo’s list of questions; his campaign has said that Mr. Mamdani’s agenda is viewable on his website and is distinct from that of the D.S.A.
“If Zohran has not publicly endorsed or spoken on a position during the campaign, it is not a part of his mayoral platform,” Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani, said on Thursday.
Mr. Mamdani defeated Mr. Cuomo by 12 points in the June Democratic primary, a decisive win that catapulted him to immediate front-runner status in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans six to one.
Recent polling suggests Mr. Mamdani’s hold on the electorate remains strong, with Mr. Cuomo, who is running on an independent ballot line, trailing him by double digits, followed by the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, and Mayor Eric Adams, a registered Democrat who is running for re-election as an independent. But two months remain before the general election, and Mr. Mamdani’s opponents are still holding out hope for an upset.
Mr. Mamdani has often spoken about his involvement with the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, and he was part of the group’s eight-member “Socialists in Office” in the State Legislature.
Mr. Cuomo is not the only candidate seeking to use Mr. Mamdani’s political affiliations against him. Earlier this week, Mayor Adams’s campaign shared a video on social media that depicts New York City as a postapocalyptic wasteland while criticizing Mr. Mamdani’s policy proposals, like free buses and city-owned grocery stores.
In the video, the free public transportation is filled with graffiti and the supermarket is dirty with empty shelves. “He’s not a Democrat,” Mr. Adams said on Wednesday when asked why some Democratic leaders had yet to endorse Mr. Mamdani. “You know, he’s a communist.”
Both statements are false.
Grace Mausser, the co-chairwoman of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, said that the priorities of the national organization are not the same as those of the local chapter, which has autonomy to decide its agenda.
“New York City D.S.A. and Zohran share a commitment to making our city more affordable for working people, but that doesn’t mean that Zohran adopts every single position that New York City D.S.A. or D.S.A. national has taken,” Ms. Mausser said in an interview. “Zohran’s been really clear that his platform and D.S.A.’s platform are distinct.”
While the local chapter endorsed Mr. Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy, the national umbrella organization did not. But it did celebrate his primary win over Mr. Cuomo, and even claimed some ownership of it.
“Zohran never ran as an individual, but as a representative of a working-class socialist movement,” the national D.S.A. said in a statement in June. “This movement is bigger than one person, election, city or organization.”
The national D.S.A.’s media relations team did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Efforts to make voters fear socialism have a long history, said Susan Kang, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a D.S.A. member. The tactic proved unsuccessful during the Democratic primary because many voters no longer have strong negative associations with socialism, she argued.
“Maybe they were more effective with certain generations of voters,” Ms. Kang said of the attacks on Mr. Mamdani, “but I think a lot of voters don’t care.”
Jeffery C. Mays is a Times reporter covering politics with a focus on New York City Hall.
Dana Rubinstein covers New York City politics and government for The Times.
Eliza Shapiro reports on New York City for The Times.
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