FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker tendered his resignation Wednesday, the morning after Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral election victory, and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry is expected to follow suit soon, the Daily News has learned.
In an emailed letter to Mayor Adams sent less than 12 hours after Mamdani’s win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa, Tucker announced his last day will be Dec. 19.
“Between now and then, I will continue to lead the greatest fire department in the world and will ensure an orderly transition,” Tucker wrote in his letter, which was obtained by The News.
Tucker, who is Jewish and a Zionist, felt he wouldn’t mesh well with the democratic socialist Mamdani and his team, an FDNY source said. Mamdani came under fire during the election for statements and positions that were seen by some as anti-Semitic.
An Adams administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several other politically-allied top aides to the mayor are expected to submit resignations in coming days, too, including Daughtry.
A source said Daughtry is heading for the door as his close ties to Adams likely wouldn’t make him a potential pick for Mamdani’s administration. An ex-NYPD deputy commissioner, Daughtry has been Adams’ top public safety deputy at City Hall, a role in which he’s served as a key liaison between the mayor’s team and President Trump’s administration.
The FDNY source said there have been no talks between Tucker and Mamdani’s camp about the private businessman and philanthropist staying on as fire commissioner.
Tucker, who has been commissioner since last summer, was on his way to Israel Wednesday to visit and learn from the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority. He’s expected to speak on his resignation when he returns, FDNY officials said.
Mamdani, who centered his campaign on tackling the city’s spiraling cost of living crisis, defeated Cuomo in the general election by garnering 50% of the vote, becoming the first Muslim mayor as well as the youngest New York City mayor in over a century. He’ll be sworn in Jan. 1.
Asked Wednesday if he’s concerned Tucker’s resignation could be the start of an exodus of city officials unwilling to work with him, Mamdani said he’s “willing to consider anyone to work in my City Hall, so long as they are committed to working for my administration and to delivering on an agenda to lower costs for New Yorkers.
Tucker is the CEO of a private security company and a longstanding member of the board of directors of the FDNY Foundation, the department’s official not-for-profit organization.
In August 2024, he was picked to replace outgoing FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh — who was appointed in 2022 by Adams as the first woman to serve in the top spot since the department’s 1865 creation.
When he was tapped as commissioner, Tucker faced some controversy for his political ties to the mayor.
Six weeks before the appointment, eight employees of Tucker’s private security firm contributed $200 each to the mayor’s reelection campaign on the same day, as reported by Gothamist.
The donations, which could have become worth far more with matching funds factored in, raised concern from the Campaign Finance Board, which alerted Adams’ team that it suspected the contributions were solicited without the proper disclosures.
That suspicion could have resulted in Adams’ campaign not being able to get matching cash on the donations, but the CFB ultimately withheld all matching funds from Adams due to his federal corruption indictment.
