Jordan Dixon-Hamilton
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is hopeful that Rep. Lee Zeldin (R) will beat Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) on Tuesday so that he can advance his initiatives on crime and public safety, the New York Post reported.
Although Adams has publicly endorsed and campaigned for Gov. Hochul, three anonymous sources who allegedly have longtime ties to Adams and the New York City Council told the Post that Adams would see more of an opportunity to address crime within New York City if Zeldin were elected governor on Tuesday.
A longtime Democrat with ties to Adams told the Post that “Zeldin would give [Adams] more free rein in New York City from a leadership perspective and they would be able to tag team the far left together.”
Adams is not alone in embracing the fact that New York may elect a Republican as governor, as Adams’ city hall leadership team also would not be displeased if Hochul lost to Zeldin on Tuesday.
The Democrat insider told the Post:
Eric Adams and his inside City Hall leadership team . . . wouldn’t be upset with a Zeldin win because it will help the mayor in changing bail reform in the next legislative session. Hochul can’t do that right now because she has to deal with the left in the state legislature on an almost daily basis.
A longtime New York City Council insider noted that some Democrats on the council who publicly support Hochul are privately voting for Zeldin. The city council insider told the Post:
Many of [Adams’ people] are pulling for Lee Zeldin, because they agree with him on a number of issues. There’s even a few Council members who are Democrats and privately snicker that they will be voting for Zeldin — some of whom have endorsed Hochul. I would swear on a Bible on this.
The Post’s report comes just one day after CNN reported that New York Democrat officials and strategists are bracing for deep losses in the state, including in the gubernatorial election.
New York Democrats are reportedly concerned about crime and how the Republicans have positioned themselves as voters’ tough-on-crime alternative.
As Breitbart News detailed:
For example, an October poll found that 77 percent of Americans see violent crime as a significant problem in the country. In addition, a recent Pew Research Center poll found that black voters, who historically are a solid blue voting bloc, are concerned about violent crime more than other ethnic groups, with 81 percent of black Americans seeing it as a very important issue when considering who to vote for next week.
When looking at who voters blame the ongoing crime wave on, an October Harvard/Harris poll found that 64 percent of voters say, “woke politicians” are responsible, with a majority of Democrat voters feeling that way too.
New York Democrats passed a law in 2019 to eliminate cash bail; since then, auto theft, robberies, and rape have skyrocketed. Further, 211 people were arrested at least three times for burglary, and 899 people were arrested at least three times for shoplifting in the first half of 2022, according to New York Police Department numbers.
Adams has been an outspoken critic of the state’s 2019 bail reform law and urged Hochul to call a special legislative session to address the law.
Zeldin has openly acknowledged that Adams would be “an important ally in the efforts to overhaul cashless bail in New York.”
“I believe the story that will be written in 2023 is about how Governor Zeldin is working with Mayor Adams to save the city,” Zeldin told the Post in September, adding that one of his first calls after winning the election would be to Adams.
Although a spokesman from Adams’ office claimed the mayor “strongly supports” Hochul, a Zeldin insider told the Post, “Their relationship is pretty personal. It’s not on the staff level at all.”
After trailing in the polls for months, Zeldin is now leading Hochul by a narrow margin, a Trafalgar Group poll released Monday found.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
