New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has a “tremendous amount” of work to do to win over the city’s first responders.
Tucker, who is Jewish, previously said he was departing the New York City Fire Department in December after Mamdani’s win.
“Yeah, I think he has a tremendous amount of work to do, and I think it’s work well worth doing,” Tucker said in response to a CBS News question about whether Mamdani still needs to work on winning over first responders.
Tucker submitted his resignation to Mayor Eric Adams the day after the general election earlier this month. He will leave the department on Dec. 19 after serving in his position since August 2024.
He says he disagrees with Mamdani “on some very fundamental things,” and his Jewish faith played a factor in his leaving the department after Mamdani’s win.
Some Jewish New Yorkers had slammed Mamdani during the campaign for his tardiness to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which was largely viewed as violent and antisemitic. He later discouraged the use of the phrase.
“Look, it’s a complicated, emotional decision to leave, but ideologically, there’s no doubt that the mayor and I disagree on some very fundamental things to me,” Tucker said.
He expressed concern over Mamdani’s response to a protest last week outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood. Protesters held Palestinian flags and chanted “globalize the intifada” and “death to the IDF” during an event for Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that facilitates Jewish immigration to Israel.
The mayor-elect, through a spokesperson, “discouraged” the language used during the protest but also added that “these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
Jewish leaders, now including Tucker, condemned his response.
“I don’t know that the public has heard appropriately from him,” he said.
“Look, I think he could have come out very quickly and condemned the behavior and some of the rhetoric. … I’m less worried about what he didn’t do and more worried about him realizing the enormity of his job,” he added.
Mamdani and his transition team have not reached out to Tucker or the FDNY, Tucker said.
“I only hope that is not an indicator of their feelings about the FDNY,” he said. “I’d like to think they think everything is going so well here that they don’t need to transition so fast.”
While Tucker is on his way out, Mamdani is keeping New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her position.
Tisch, who is also Jewish, has been praised for her leadership of the department and for lowering crime in the city.
She said she and Mamdani “share many of the same public safety goals for New York City: lowering crime, making communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our officers the tools, support, and resources they need to carry out their noble work.”
Tucker said Tisch respects him for his decision to leave, and he respects her decision to stay.
FDNY COMMISSIONER ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION ONE DAY AFTER MAMDANI WINS ELECTION
As for the future of the fire department, when Tucker leaves on Dec. 19, Adams will appoint an interim commissioner. Mamdani will have to choose whether to keep that commissioner or appoint his own after he takes office on Jan. 1, 2026.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Mamdani transition team for comment but did not receive a response.