Multiple New York City mayoral candidates running in the 2025 election are attempting to distance themselves from their past support for “defund the police” initiatives. Democratic candidates such as New York State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, former city comptroller Scott M. Stringer, and current city comptroller Brad Lander are all running on platforms that prioritize public safety and police presence in the city.
Stringer and Myrie have both proposed hiring over 3,000 new police officers, with Stringer also calling for a dedicated officer on every subway train. Lander, on the other hand, has apologized for being slow to respond to growing concerns about crime and disorder in the city, which he believes were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a stark contrast to their current stance, all three candidates had previously expressed support for reducing police funding and “reimagining” public safety infrastructure. In June 2020, Lander stated that “it is time to defund the police and reimagine our public safety infrastructure.” Just one year later, he said, “All neighborhoods need and deserve to be safe, and we must confront rising levels of gun violence. But NYC already has more police officers per capita than nearly every large American city.”
Stringer had also called for a $1.1 billion reduction in the police budget in 2020. Myrie, meanwhile, had sued the NYPD, claiming he was assaulted and pepper-sprayed during a Black Lives Matter protest.
The shift in stance appears to mirror that of Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected in 2021 on a law-and-order platform. His primary opponent, Maya Wiley, was criticized for hiring private security while pushing to defund the police, leading Adams to call out her “hypocrisy.”
