THE ‘FAR LEFT’ HE FLED: Rep. Ritchie Torres is preparing a run for governor as a populist Democrat eager to trash the far-left flank of his party. But as the specter of a Torres bid grows, he will increasingly have to contend with the political positions of his past — including his early support for the now unpopular Defund the Police movement. “I’m not in favor of more police; I’m actually in favor of defunding the police,” Torres said in a resurfaced interview with radio station Hot97 in June 2020 — the height of the movement to rein in abusive police tactics following the murder of George Floyd. “There needs to be a radical redistribution of resources from policing into social services and community based alternatives to overcriminalization,” he also said during the interview, in which he touted his work as a then-City Council member to successfully cut the NYPD’s budget. “‘Do you support Defund the Police as a movement?" a radio host asked, to which Torres responded, "I do, and the City Council supports; we put forward a proposal by defunding the NYPD by $1 billion.” These days the congressman blames the far-left flank of his party for sinking Democrats’ White House bid and ushering in Donald Trump’s reelection. "There was never a mass constituency for a movement like ‘Defund the Police,’ so we should be taking positions that are in line with the majority of Americans,” Torres said during a Nov. 7 interview on CNN with Jim Acosta. “I want to be crystal clear, the majority of Democrats never endorsed a movement like ‘Defund the Police.’” Since declaring he is considering running for governor last month, the 36-year-old Democrat has leaned into his style of unrestrained criticism. That includes continuing to blast Gov. Kathy Hochul and LGBTQ activist Allen Roskoff. But he is also contending with his own vulnerabilities. The influential, far-right New York Post — which appears intrigued by Torres’ potential bid — nevertheless published a 2022 questionnaire in which he said he would refuse political contributions from police unions and grant citizenship to all undocumented immigrants. Both positions are anathema to the Post’s editorial stances. Torres told the Post a staff member filled out the form on his behalf. Presented with the latest evidence of his political shift, Torres said in a statement to Playbook: “Unlike Kathy Hochul, whose incompetence is such a national embarrassment that it has even drawn the ire of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, I have been at the forefront of reorienting the Democratic Party to a rational center on public safety.” “In 2020, when I ran for Congress, the [Democratic Socialists of America], the [Working Families Party], and the Defund The Police movement did everything it could to derail my candidacy,” he added. Torres also pointed to TV interviews from June 2021 and February 2022 where he celebrated the decline of Defund the Police. “The defund police movement is dead in New York City — and good riddance,” Torres said in an interview with MSNBC. “Anyone who is advocating for the abolition or even the defunding of the police is out of touch with reality and should not be taken seriously.” Hochul sees political upside in Torres’ shift. “It’s time for Ritchie Torres to take his own advice and engage in some serious self-reflection. As he once said, ‘any elected official who advocates for defunding the police should not be taken seriously,’” Hochul campaign spokesperson Jen Goodman said in a statement. Hochul, who initially vowed not to respond to Torres’ attacks, has had a political evolution of her own. In 2012, Hochul earned an A-rating from the National Rifle Association during her unsuccessful bid to be reelected to congress in upstate New York, Torres has pointed out. He has also railed against Hochul's reversal, and subsequent re-reversal, on Manhattan’s congestion pricing plan. “A deer in headlights like Kathy Hochul, who stands for nothing and inspires no one, has never spoken with moral clarity on any issue, let alone public safety,” Torres said. — Jason Beeferman
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