NYCs Adams Rebuts Criticism of His Crime Focus as a Boon to GOP

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(Bloomberg) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he wont stop talking about crime, pushing back on criticism that he helped fuel the momentum of Republican candidates across the state in the midterm elections.

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Im trying to say the system is broken, and no one wanted to hear that, Adams said at a Thursday briefing to announce a sanitation initiative. I will continue to talk about that until we get it right.

Republican candidates in the US seized upon crime as a central issue in Tuesdays election, especially US Represenative Lee Zeldin, who ran closer than expected in his failed bid to unseat New Yorks Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul.

New York Republicans nevertheless flipped several Democratic House seats. US Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, who led the Democratic Partys efforts to retain control of Congress, was among those ousted, losing his own race to represent portions of the Hudson Valley.

Adams, a moderate Democrat and ex-cop who has made crime a focus of his first year in office, now finds himself in the political crossfire. But he said he would not take responsibility for state Democrats losing House seats.

Im just waiting for Rod Serling to come out, because thats just simply The Twilight Zone, he said.

Adams has also faced complaints that he has exaggerated how bad crime really is. While there have been high-profile deaths in New Yorks subway system, and several categories of crime are up year-to-date in the city, murders are down 14%.

Community Concern

Asked about the criticism on Thursday, Adams said that he began focusing on crime because community members were concerned about it.

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I didnt create the climate; I responded to the climate and everyone else should have done that also, he said.

Adams has also been critical of progressive criminal-justice priorities like recent state bail reform measures, which Zeldin leveraged to attack Hochul on the campaign trail. Hes turned to increased police patrols to address crime, something thats at odds with a leftist movement to defund the police.

New Yorkers were saying crime is important, Adams said, noting that Democrats are losing Asian and Hispanic voters to the Republican Party. And if we dont start understanding that, youre gonna see the hemorrhaging of other communities.

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