Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner to be the next mayor of New York, and Jessica Tisch, the city’s police commissioner, might not seem like natural allies.

He is a democratic socialist who has questioned whether billionaires should exist. She is a billionaire heiress who has called for stricter criminal justice laws.

But if Mr. Mamdani wins November’s general election, both appear open to working together — a potential partnership being pushed by influential business leaders and some of Mr. Mamdani’s more powerful Democratic allies.

Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman who decisively won the Democratic primary last month, has said he would consider keeping Commissioner Tisch, and has praised her on the campaign trail and in private for improving public safety and running the Police Department more responsibly after the tumult of Mayor Eric Adams’s first term.

Ms. Tisch, in turn, believes that she has made progress in making the city safer since taking command of the department seven months ago, and would want to stay in the job regardless of the outcome of the November election, according to two people familiar with her thinking.

The leaders who have encouraged Mr. Mamdani to keep the commissioner include Letitia James, the state attorney general, according to a person familiar with the matter. Ms. James has enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Mamdani.