Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist and current front-runner in the New York City mayor’s race, sought to distance himself on Thursday from the national Democratic Socialists of America platform, which includes proposals to eliminate all misdemeanor offenses and to close local jails.

“My platform is not the same as national D.S.A.,” he told reporters after an unrelated event.

When asked whether he wanted to eliminate misdemeanor offenses, he said “no.”

“You can’t find that on my platform, because it’s not there,” he said.

Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, has taken steps over the course of his campaign to moderate his image, including by making clear that while he previously expressed support for defunding the police, he has long since abandoned that stance.

But Mr. Mamdani’s D.S.A. affiliation has been a popular attack line for President Trump and national Republicans, who have used Mr. Mamdani’s political roots to depict him as the “communist” new face of the Democratic Party. Closer to home, Mr. Mamdani’s opponents in the mayor’s race, especially former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, have also sought to exploit Mr. Mamdani’s political origins to their advantage.

Standing under an oak tree in East Harlem on Thursday, near the spot where a 69-year-old woman was killed by a stray bullet a day before, Mr. Cuomo described Mr. Mamdani’s policies as “dangerous, literally dangerous,” and suggested a list of questions to distinguish between Mr. Mamdani’s platform and the D.S.A.’s.

“Do you believe what the D.S.A. charter says when they say, close prisons?” Mr. Cuomo asked rhetorically. “Do you believe what the D.S.A. charter says when it says, close jails? Do you believe what the D.S.A. charter says when it says, gradually reduce the police budget to zero? Yes or no?”