Progressive Politics

Zohran Mamdani says he’s keeping New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. It is his first major concession not just to the political establishment but more significantly to the national security system.

This week, I credited Mamdani with having run a campaign that literally met voters where they were at — in bodegas, subway stations and busy sidewalks, where he asked ordinary people to share their concerns. It was a rare moment where people rather than the politician were the main character. His decision to keep Tisch, however, is a whiplash-inducing swing back to the usual protagonists of American life.

The Harvard-educated Tisch, 44, is daughter of billionaire James Tisch, the Chairman of the Board of Loews Corporation. (Members of the Tisch family contributed over $1.2 million to the Cuomo-aligned Super PAC Fix the City.) Though she’s only been Police Commissioner for a year, Tisch has taken national security doctrine to heart.

At a press briefing last month, Tisch called a proposed $80 million federal cut to the NYPD’s counterterrorism budget a “betrayal” and demanded that the matter be placed above politics.

“Counterterrorism funding cannot be a political issue,” Tisch said. “If these cuts go through as planned, it will represent a devastating blow to our counter-terrorism and intelligence programs in New York City.”