Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign on Tuesday said that he doesn’t believe in getting rid of all misdemeanor crimes — as the candidate tried to distance himself from the radical national Democratic Socialists of America platform.
A spokesperson for Mamdani, a DSA member and the keynote speaker at the left-wing group’s 2023 convention, insisted that the national organization endorses different policies than the local New York City chapter, which has endorsed the Democratic nominee for mayor.
The upstart socialist pol drew outrage over the weekend when it emerged that his party’s national umbrella had adopted a platform in 2021 to wipe out criminal repercussions for all misdemeanor crimes.
Mamdani’s camp did not respond for comment on The Post’s story Saturday.
A spokesperson said Tuesday that, if elected, whoever Mamdani taps to run the NYPD would continue to enforce misdemeanor crimes — but refused to go on the record.
The spokesperson stopped short of fully disavowing the DSA’s far-left call to decriminalize all misdemeanors, arguing the national sect doesn’t represent the ideals backed by the local chapters of socialists.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old Queens assemblyman, stunned the political world in June when he bested political giant Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary.
Cuomo, who was mounting a comeback after resigning in disgrace in 2021 from the governor’s office, will still be running in the November general election, as an independent.
Mamdani has maintained his frontrunner status in the race — which also includes Mayor Eric Adams running for re-election as an independent, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and attorney Jim Walden.
But he has been dogged by his party’s radical agenda and anti-police views he espoused on social media years before running for mayor.
A recent poll found a large swath of voters disagreed with some of Mamdani’s previous stances, with nearly half finding his policies too extreme.
For instance, 58.4% said his prior support to defund the police and scrap an NYPD strategic response group made them less likely to vote for him, according to the survey by American Pulse Research & Polling.
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