Fox News Criticizes Mamdani’s Transition Team Appointments

Conservative commentators label choices “recipe for disaster” as mayor-elect builds administration

Conservative Media Pushback

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team appointments have drawn sharp criticism from conservative commentators, particularly regarding his decision to include individuals they characterize as “anti-police.” Fox News contributor Paul Mauro joined “Fox & Friends First” to discuss what he called Mamdani’s contradictory stance on law enforcement.

The criticism centers on Mamdani’s decision to both retain NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch–a move conservatives initially praised–while simultaneously appointing transition team members with records of criticizing police practices. Mauro called this combination a “recipe for disaster,” arguing that it sends mixed messages about Mamdani’s priorities.

The Tisch Retention Paradox

Conservatives have expressed confusion about Mamdani’s approach to policing. On one hand, he has signaled his intention to keep Tisch, a billionaire from one of New York’s most prominent families who has taken hardline stances on law enforcement. On the other hand, his transition team includes progressives who have advocated for police reform and questioned NYPD practices.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Mauro argued during his Fox News appearance. “Either you’re going to back the police commissioner and give her the tools she needs to do her job, or you’re going to undermine her at every turn with these activists who fundamentally don’t believe in traditional policing.”

The Progressive Coalition Challenge

This tension reflects a broader challenge facing Mamdani: managing a diverse coalition that ranges from democratic socialists who campaigned on police abolition to moderate Democrats who supported him as the lesser of evils compared to former Governor Andrew Cuomo or Republican Curtis Sliwa.

During his campaign, Mamdani evolved his positions on policing. In 2020, during the height of Black Lives Matter protests, he posted statements supportive of police abolition. By 2024, he was apologizing for those statements and pledging to work with law enforcement. As Politico reported in October, this evolution was necessary to broaden his appeal beyond his base.

Defining “Anti-Police”

The conservative critique raises questions about what constitutes “anti-police” positions. Mauro and other Fox News commentators have labeled transition team members as hostile to law enforcement based on their support for policies such as:

– Civilian oversight of police discipline
– Reducing police budgets to invest in social services
– Ending quality-of-life enforcement that disproportionately affects minority communities
– Restricting police use of force
– Questioning stop-and-frisk practices

Supporters of these team members argue that advocating for police reform is not the same as being “anti-police,” and that effective law enforcement requires accountability and community trust. They point to research from organizations like the Center for Policing Equity showing that reform-minded approaches can improve both public safety and police-community relations.

The Crime Statistics Context

The criticism comes as New York City experiences complex crime trends. While overall crime has decreased from pandemic-era highs, certain categories of crime–particularly transit crime and shoplifting–remain elevated compared to pre-2020 levels. According to NYPD statistics, this creates political pressure on Mamdani to demonstrate he can maintain public safety while pursuing progressive policies.

Conservative critics argue that appointing “anti-police” transition team members signals that Mamdani will prioritize ideology over results, potentially leading to increased crime. They point to San Francisco and other cities that elected progressive prosecutors and mayors, arguing those cities saw crime increases as a result of reform policies.

The Defund Debate

A particular point of contention involves team members who previously supported redirecting police funding to social services–a position associated with the “defund the police” movement. While Mamdani himself has not called for defunding, and has explicitly stated he will maintain NYPD funding, the presence of team members with these views raises questions about his administration’s direction.

“Actions speak louder than words,” said former NYPD officer and conservative commentator John Cardillo in a separate interview. “If you’re surrounding yourself with people who want to defund the police, that tells you where this administration is really headed, regardless of what Mamdani says publicly.”

Progressives counter that social investment is the most effective long-term crime prevention strategy, and that the conversation shouldn’t be framed as police versus social services but rather as a both-and proposition. They cite research from organizations like the Brennan Center for Justice showing that poverty reduction and education investment correlate with crime reduction.

The Fox News Playbook

Critics of Fox News coverage argue that the network is following a familiar playbook: portraying any progressive governance as dangerous and extreme, particularly on public safety issues. They note that similar attacks were launched against previous progressive mayors in cities across the country, often exaggerating crime problems and ignoring context.

Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog, has documented numerous instances of Fox News presenting misleading crime statistics or cherry-picking incidents to create narratives of urban chaos under Democratic leadership.

The Practical Governance Question

Beyond the partisan rhetoric, Mamdani’s transition team composition raises legitimate questions about how he will govern. Transition teams typically include individuals who will move into administration roles, meaning these appointments could shape policy for years to come.

If Mamdani appoints police reform advocates to key positions–say, as deputy mayors or agency heads–while keeping Tisch at the NYPD, he may create internal conflicts that paralyze decision-making. Alternatively, he could be attempting to build an administration that brings together different perspectives to forge consensus solutions.

The Bill Bratton Model

Some political observers draw comparisons to Bill Bratton’s return as NYPD commissioner under Mayor Bill de Blasio. Bratton was a traditionalist who implemented broken-windows policing, yet de Blasio was elected on a reform platform. That tension never fully resolved, contributing to de Blasio’s troubled relationship with the NYPD and ultimately limiting his ability to implement meaningful reform.

Whether Mamdani can avoid this trap–either by successfully managing internal tensions or by choosing a clear direction–remains to be seen.

The Republican Strategy

The Fox News criticism should also be understood as part of broader Republican strategy to define Mamdani as extreme and dangerous before he takes office. By framing his appointments as “anti-police,” conservatives hope to undermine his credibility on public safety and potentially set him up for blame if crime increases for any reason during his tenure.

New York Republicans, who saw Curtis Sliwa win only 23% of the mayoral vote, are looking for angles to weaken Mamdani and potentially recapture City Hall in 2029. Portraying him as soft on crime is a time-tested strategy that has worked for Republicans in previous elections.

The Coming Battles

As Mamdani builds out his administration in the coming weeks, these appointments will continue to face scrutiny from all sides. Conservatives will attack any choice that suggests reform leanings, while progressives will criticize any choice that suggests accommodation with law enforcement traditionalists.

The mayor-elect’s challenge is to build a team that can actually govern effectively–implementing his progressive agenda while maintaining public safety and managing the massive, often resistant bureaucracy of the NYPD. Whether that requires ideological purity or pragmatic coalition-building remains one of the most important questions of his transition.