New York City Mayor Eric Adams came forward as a moderate law-and-order candidate, but thus far his leading achievement has been drawing the rebuke of progressive Democrats and Republicans alike.
"I don't think it's a secret that the left has been in disarray," Zara Nasir of "The People's Plan," told Politico. "I'm not trying to hide it. This is an attempt to do something a little bit more coordinated and aligned than things have been.
"The strategy is to focus on policies and issues."
Adams has moved to fund the police again, while cutting the bloated budget of former progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio – much to progressives' chagrin.
"Our communities have been devastated in ways that are measurable and unfathomable,” Jawanza James Williams of the activist group VOCAL-NY said told a Saturday rally. "And Eric Adams' proposed preliminary budget does not account for our realities, does not account for our nuances."
While Adams won the Democrat primary by 7,197 votes, he is proving bold enough to enact his own agenda, Politico reported.
"We can't fail, and there are too many people who believe we must be safe and we can't be distracted by the loud noise of the numerical minority that believes we can't move this agenda forward," Adams told ABC.
"We have to be compassionate, but we have to be clear that laws must be followed."
That messaging has given Adams rare support from Republicans, including Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
"I'm very happy that our neighbor to the west — New York City — with the new leadership of Mayor Eric Adams, has taken a tough stance on law and order," Blakeman told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. "I commend him. He is one of the few Democrat elected officials that have common sense and understand how important law and order and safety [are] to our communities."
Adams has to stem the tide of rising crime and a mass exodus of business and people from the city, Blakeman added to host John Catsimatidis.
"If you don't feel safe in your community, if you don’t feel safe in your home, you're going to move," Blakeman concluded.