Just weeks before he was elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani surprised both supporters and critics when he announced he would keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her post. His supporters were disappointed, his opponents were pleased, and for Mamdani it was proof that he could be pragmatic — an old-school politician.
At 44, Tisch is Mamdani’s complete opposite: a pro-Israel Jew from a billionaire family that donated large sums to his chief rival, Andrew Cuomo. She is a tough commander of a massive police force that is both admired and reviled. Mamdani, 34, an anti-Israel Muslim socialist, has previously described the NYPD as “racist, homophobic and a central threat to public safety.”
Somehow, the two must now work together, knowing that their cooperation will shape their political futures — especially Mamdani’s. Polls show that public safety tops the list of priorities for New Yorkers, and Mamdani knows he will not be able to implement any part of his ambitious socioeconomic agenda if the streets are unsafe.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch
(Photo: Spencer Platt/ Getty Images North America / AFP)
Mamdani felt he was not compromising too much by choosing Tisch after New York Attorney General Letitia James, a close ally, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, a leader in the Black community and a fierce police critic, urged him to do so. Gov. Kathy Hochul told Mamdani she would publicly support him if he pledged to keep Tisch in the job. In announcing the decision, Mamdani highlighted Tisch’s record in combating police corruption and crime and in “standing with New Yorkers in the face of autocratic attempts,” an apparent reference to the policies of the Trump administration.
The move also helped calm at least some of New York’s Jewish community, which had been uneasy about Mamdani taking office. “There is no single step he could have taken that would have done more to signal to Jewish leaders that he is committed to keeping everyone safe,” City Comptroller Mark Levine told The New York Times.
Despite their deep differences, Mamdani and Tisch appear, for now, to be working well together. The two even hold a weekly face-to-face meeting. The start, however, was not entirely smooth. In December, the New York Post reported that Tisch’s brother had referred to Mamdani as “an enemy of the Jewish people” in a speech at a charity event. Tisch quickly contacted Mamdani’s team to apologize. A week after Mamdani’s swearing-in as mayor, two armed civilians were fatally shot by police. Mamdani issued a cautious statement on social media that angered those who felt it showed insufficient support for officers, before later releasing a more supportive message.
Jessica Tisch is the daughter of Merrill and James Tisch, the CEO of Loews Corp., which owns, among other assets, a major hotel chain and a 50 percent stake in the New York Giants. According to Forbes, the Tisch family is now worth more than $10 billion. Tisch studied at Harvard and was long drawn to the field of security.
In 2008, she began working as a civilian in the NYPD’s counterterrorism unit. Sixteen years later, former Mayor Eric Adams appointed her police commissioner. Although she never served as a uniformed officer, she now heads the largest police force in the United States, with about 50,000 employees.