Zohran Mamdani’s team ‘pissed’ as endorsed candidate demands NYPD commissioner’s ouster
NEW YORK CITY, NY: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who backed Darializa Avila Chevalier for Congress earlier this year, now finds himself at odds with her after she called for NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to step down. Chevalier’s demand came in the wake of an ICE shooting in the Bronx. According to the New York Post, Mamdani’s team was frustrated by her move, seeing it as a direct swipe at the mayor’s decision to keep Tisch in charge of the NYPD.
This disagreement has thrown a spotlight on the friction between Mamdani’s governing style and the more urgent demands coming from some democratic socialists in his base.
Zohran Mamdani’s team reportedly angered by Chevalier’s criticism
Chevalier and a few other progressives want Tisch out as commissioner, and they don’t want the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group around anymore either.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for NY-13, revealed that the NYPD officer who shoved her during protests over an ICE shooting in northern Manhattan was a community affairs officer, whose job is to de-escalate tensions. “There are too many police officers who are engaging in this kind of behavior,” she said. Avila Chevalier has called for NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to resign. She said Oscar Belgal, who was shot by ICE agents, remains detained in Brooklyn, with a bullet still in his body. @hasanthehun | @DarializaforNY
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) October 10, 2026
Mamdani, though, has taken the opposite stance; he sticks up for Tisch, pointing to her track record dealing with corruption and crime.
Now the mayor’s caught in the middle. He promised one thing during his campaign, but actually running the city forces him to juggle those commitments with the reality of leadership.
It heated up after federal immigration agents shot a suspected gang member in the Bronx. Chevalier went public, criticizing Tisch and the NYPD, accusing them of breaking New York City’s sanctuary rules.
She said their actions flew in the face of those policies, which are supposed to keep local police from helping federal immigration enforcement.
“They were pissed about what she did on social media and her public rhetoric on NYPD,” one source with knowledge said.
Another source said that folks in the admin griped that, “this was a direct undermining of Mamdani.”
The DSA dysfunction unfolded publicly last Friday when Chevalier rage-tweeted about immigration officials shooting a suspected gang members he fled arrest in a car.
The supposed Mamdani ally accused Tisch and the NYPD of violating the Big Apple’s sanctuary city laws that bar cops from assisting ICE.
“Last night, the NYPD and Commissioner Tisch violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our sanctuary city policies and fueled the Trump Administration’s attempt to demonize our communities,” she wrote in her nearly 400-word tirade.
Progressive allies turn up pressure on Tisch
DSA member and state Senate candidate Illapa Sairitupac, who was also endorsed by the mayor, joined the call after Chevalier.
“Abolish ICE, disband the SRG, fire Tisch,” he wrote.
Neither of the other two House candidates that Mamdani endorsed, Brad Lander and Claire Valdez, issued similar calls. But insiders told The Post that Chevalier doesn’t plan on letting up.
This disagreement isn’t just personal; it carries political weight for both Mamdani and Chevalier. The mayor threw his support behind Chevalier during the bruising Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District.
She pulled off an upset, beating incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat in June. With the district leaning heavily blue, Chevalier’s set up for a strong run in the general election.
Meanwhile, The Post reported something telling: Chevalier’s campaign volunteers were told to avoid mentioning Mamdani when talking to voters. That says plenty about where things stand between their teams. Clearly, tensions are running high behind the scenes.
