#Combat vet makes City Hall bid official, attacks de Blasio’s competency

Zach Iscol, a combat veteran who helped lead the city’s COVID-19 response from an emergency field hospital at the Javits Center, officially entered the crowded Democratic primary field for the 2021 mayoral race Monday promising to banish “special interests” from City Hall.

“It’s time for change,” Iscol says in a video announcing his campaign.

“That starts with bringing competency, leadership and a mayor who actually cares more about outcomes than special interests and campaign donors to City Hall,” Iscol says in a jab at the building’s current occupant Bill de Blasio.

The 42-year-old ex-Marine filmed his launch video in front of 1180 President St., a Crown Heights, Brooklyn building purchased by the city for a premium last year for affordable housing despite a heap of serious housing code violations.

In an email about his mayoral bid, Iscol linked to a Post article about the controversial transaction with slumlords Jay and Stuart Podolsky who were represented in the deal by lawyer Frank Carone, a Brooklyn Democratic power broker and contributor to a political campaign that funded de Blasio’s short-lived presidential run.

“As a combat veteran, mental health advocate, and social entrepreneur, Iscol’s outsider status and record of achievement contrasts sharply with the city’s current leadership, a fact underlined by the backdrop of his video,” the email reads.

Iscol, who fought in the Second Battle of Fallujah, is the son a wealthy, politically-connected Manhattan couple who put their $17 million Fifth Avenue apartment up for sale at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mom Jill Iscol has advised Hillary Clinton since 1999 and dad Ken Iscol made big bucks as a cellphone pioneer — though in the video their son highlights his grandfather’s blue collar background as a Dept. of Sanitation worker.

When he returned from Iraq, Iscol founded Headstrong, a free mental health program for fellow veterans and then served as deputy director of the Javits Medical Center during the coronavirus pandemic.

A source told The Post Iscol would be a strong supporter of the NYPD at a time when activists are calling to defund the police, but would also enforce accountability measures for misconduct.

A press release about Iscol’s mayoral bid says he’s committed to making “opportunities accessible to all New Yorkers regardless of their race, their gender, or the neighborhood they grew up in” and even provides a cell number for text messages that he says go directly to his phone.

The father of four young children is married former Vogue editor Meredith Melling. Their 2016 ceremony was covered by Town & Country magazine. A year later Elle Decor featured their 4,000-square-foot Martha’s Vineyard summer home.

He’s one of nearly 10 candidates running in the June 2021 Democratic primary. He joins frontrunners city Comptroller Scott Stringer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and other contenders including many former de Blasio administration officials.