By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-27 17:36:40 | Updated at 2026-09-27 20:24:56
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch could win the next mayor’s race given her service record and “dynamic’’ speaking ability, according to former head of the state Democratic Party and ex-Gov. David Paterson.
Paterson raved about Tisch after hearing her speak at a Police Athletic League event last week — while rapping her boss, current Mayor Zohran Mamdani, over his divisive anti-Israel rhetoric.
“I am so glad I got to introduce her because she was fabulous,” Paterson said Sunday of Tisch while appearing on 77 WABC radio’s the “Cats Roundtable” program.
“The statistics that rolled off the top of her head. Her sensitivity to different communities. Her desire to make New York safe – to get people to walk their dogs at night again, which they had stopped doing,” the former gov said.
“It’s amazing how much she’s done. I wouldn’t be surprised if she became the next mayor of the city. … She has that kind of dynamic way of talking to an audience. I was … spellbound by her performance.”
Radio-show host John Catsimatidis, a Mamdani critic and chairman of the Police Athletic League’s board of trustees, said Tisch would be a top contender in 2029, should she run.
Paterson added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was right to call out Mamdani at the United Nations last week.
“[Netanyahu] really laid it on the line to a number of people, including Mayor Mamdani, who he called the Antisemitic Mayor,” Paterson said.
“Well, [Mamdani] earned that by trying to imply that he has the right to arrest Netanyahu because … the court in Brussels that nobody listens to … condemned him with war crimes,” Paterson said, referring to the mayor’s threats to cuff the PM when he came to the Big Apple amid the Hague’s International Criminal Court issuing a warrant for him.
A red-faced Mamdani was later forced to admit he had no power to arrest Netanyahu.
In July, Paterson also co-wrote a letter with Dov Hikind, former Brooklyn assemblyman and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, asking the US Justice Department to investigate whether Mamdani is violating federal laws by allegedly encouraging anti-Israel and Jewish hate.
That letter came days after crazed defendant Raul Morales screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” while allegedly stabbing an Asian and Jewish man in separate harrowing hate attacks on the Upper West Side.
Mamdani said he “has no tolerance” for hatred and will fight antisemitism.
Paterson’s siding with Netanyahu clashes with current Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who last week defended Mamdani and accused the Israeli prime minister of smearing the mayor.
Hochul, during a WNYC interview last week, was asked about Netanyahu’s earlier video message accusing Mamdani of “supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people” Oct. 7, 2023 and of “inciting riots against New York Jews.”
Netanyahu is “not telling the truth,” Hochul said during the interview, released the day ahead of the Israeli leader’s fiery address to the UN General Assembly.
“I have enormous disagreements with Prime Minister Netanyahu — and this is added to the list,” Hochul said.
“The mayor has never said he supports Hamas. He called them a terrorist organization, exactly at odds with what Netanyahu just said. “[Netanyahu] has hurt his own credibility.”
Hochul continued, “The mayor has not called for riots against Jewish people in this city, either. … Not telling the truth is something that needs to be called out.”
