YORK, Pa. (WHTM) — Who was he to say “no” to God — and his wife?
That’s the short version of the decision-making process leading up to Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow’s run for mayor.
The slightly longer version: Current Mayor Michael Helfrich (D) had decided not to run again and asked Muldrow to consider running. Muldrow demurred several times over the course of a year.
“I’m good. I’m good. Thank you,” Muldrow recalled telling Helfrich. “But I’m good — like, I’m a cop.”
Muldrow had never run for anything. Not even student council.
Then Helfrich asked Muldrow in front of another Muldrow: his wife, Nakesha Muldrow.
Her take?
Current York mayor Helfrich: Police commissioner Muldrow would ‘make a fantastic mayor’
“This is not your plan, but it may be God’s plan to be able to have an opportunity to take on a bigger role that can help in a bigger way,” Michael Muldrow recalled Nakesha Muldrow telling him.
Who was he to say no to a mayor, a wife and God?
“I used to always tell kids in the school district” — whose police force he founded and ran — “‘Why not you?’” Muldrow said.
The corollary in this case: Why not him?
But if Muldrow’s decision to run for mayor was the product of a year of thought, reflection and prayer, the timing of his decision to announce his run — an announcement he originally planned for April, three months from now — was a lot more spontaneous.
But there he was, speaking to a crowd New Year’s Eve in Continental Square.
“And I just got overwhelmed with emotion, and it kind of came out like — just yeah, months early,” Muldrow said.
Muldrow will run on a record of dramatically reducing York’s violent crime rate — including homicides — in 2023, a year in which homicides in some other American cities surged and in some cases set records.
Thanks for signing up!
Watch for us in your inbox.
Subscribe Now
“To have people from the city and surrounding areas fill up our downtown square on New Year’s with thousands of people because they feel comfortable coming back into York — I got a chance to be a part of that. That’s my record,” Muldrow said.
“Those same young guys that were out in the community at one time either thinking about going the wrong direction or perpetuating violence — to have them reach back out to you and say, ‘We hear what you’re saying. We respect you. You asked us to stop shooting. We stopped shooting,’” Muldrow said. “That’s why I was here in the first place, to accomplish those kinds of goals.”
Muldrow is the first candidate to announce plans to run for an office whose primary is still more than a year away and whose general election is nearly two years away. He knows he might not be the last, and he also knows other candidates might have different campaign styles from a seemingly-always-optimistic police chief who wears a t-shirt that reads “hug dealer.”
“I’ve thought about that a lot. If anybody needs to say anything or fact check me, pick me apart, take low blows — whatever,” Muldrow said. “But it’s going to be a one-sided fight…. Because I am not running against anybody. I am running for this community.”
In any case, won’t balancing the roles of sitting police commissioner and aspiring mayoral candidate — for perhaps nearly two years — be a lot?
“So they tell me,” Muldrow said. “But I don’t sleep much anyway.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
Signup bonus from
