Op-Ed: Maud Maron: Public safety isn't the social experiment that Democrats want it to be
For years, far-left politicians have used New York City’s one-party rule to push dangerous ideas and elect extremists like Alvin Bragg and now Zohran Mamdani. They’re not focused on safety or sanity. They’re using their offices to run ideological experiments that put everyday New Yorkers at risk.
The result? Our city is less safe. Law-abiding New Yorkers are fleeing to places like Florida, where former New Yorkers are driving up real estate prices and enjoying safer streets, better schools, and cities where crime victims are prioritized and police are respected.
It’s no secret: Alvin Bragg has turned the Manhattan DA’s Office into a revolving door. He refuses to prosecute entire categories of crime, downgrades violent offenses, and gives repeat offenders a free pass. Now Mamdani wants to go even further. He’s running for mayor on a reckless plan to gut the NYPD and hand law enforcement responsibilities to a made-up “Department of Community Safety.” It’s Bragg’s failed philosophy, just on a bigger scale.
Even more disturbing: Mamdani refuses to denounce violent anti-Israel rhetoric and has a long history of supporting groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). He co-founded his college chapter of SJP and still won’t reject calls to “Globalize the Intifada,” even as Jewish Americans are attacked and killed in the U.S.
Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, Israeli consulate staffers killed in D.C., and Karen White, an 82-year-old attacked with Molotov cocktails while peacefully marching for Israeli hostages, are victims of the climate Mamdani embraces. His foreign policy extremism and Bragg’s domestic recklessness go hand in hand and both would make our city less safe and more divided.
Let’s be clear: public safety isn’t a social experiment. When law and order collapse, it’s not the ideologues who suffer. It’s working families, kids riding the subway, seniors walking to the pharmacy — people who can’t afford to flee or hire private security.
I’m running for Manhattan District Attorney to restore the basics: prosecute crime, support the police, and protect the public. I’ve spent over two decades in our courts as a public defender. I know what real justice looks like, and I’ve seen how Bragg and his allies have dismantled it.
On day one, I’ll rescind Bragg’s reckless “Day One Memo,” the document that signaled to criminals that consequences no longer applied. In its place, I’ll issue The People’s Plan for Public Safety — a new, commonsense directive grounded in fairness, accountability, and real justice. It will make clear that crimes from fare evasion and shoplifting to assault, gun possession, and armed robbery will be fully prosecuted. In my office, if you break the law, you’ll be held accountable.
We’ve already seen the damage Bragg has done. A Mayor Mamdani would be an even bigger disaster. These ideas aren’t bold and they’re not new. They’ve been tried before, failed before, and if we let them, they will destroy this city.
This election isn’t about politics. It’s about survival. It’s about whether Manhattan chooses accountability or doubles down on chaos.
I’m Maud Maron. I’m running to clean up the mess, restore justice, and make Manhattan safe again.
Maud Maron is running for Manhattan District Attorney against Alvin Bragg.
