NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Eric Adams appears open to switching parties to become a Republican as he declined to rule out a future change in political allegiance during a pair of interviews Friday that took place when he felt more and more comfortable as president. elect Donald Trump.
The comments from Adams, the top Democrat in one of the country’s most liberal cities, have angered critics who have grown concerned about the mayor’s increasing willingness to throw his support behind Trump and his hardline immigration policies.
Adams, who faces federal corruption charges, was a registered Republican in the 1990s and early 2000s but has spent his political career as a Democrat.
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In a Friday morning interview with local cable news station NY1, Adams was asked if he would consider a return to the Republican Party. The Democrat seemed to leave open the possibility of a switch.
“The party that matters most to me is the American party,” he said. “I am part of the American party. I love this country. This is the home of the free, the land of the brave.”
In another interview about a half hour later on PIX11, Adams said he would run for re-election as a Democrat, but still seemed to leave some wiggle room on his future.
“So no matter what party I’m in or what party I vote for, I’m going to push for American values,” he said. “And I think America has told us: stop the bickering, leaders, and start leading us out of politics. the crisis we face.”
Adams won office on a centrist platform and, as mayor, has feuded extensively with the progressive wing of his party. But his rhetoric has taken a noticeable turn to the right in the weeks since Trump’s election victory, especially on immigration, with Adams boosting the president-elect’s platform and appearing enthusiastic about the incoming administration.
Rather than limiting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as he once promised, Adams recently expressed a willingness to roll back the city’s so-called sanctuary policy. “rising illegal alien crime in New York City.”
He has also praised those in Trump’s inner circle, including Elon Musk, who has falsely claimed that Democrats are illegally “importing” migrants to gain votes.
“This is a racehorse that wanted to run the right pace and we held that racehorse back for fear of being canceled,” Adams said of the country on Tuesday. “And now you have a bunch of people who aren’t afraid of being canceled.”
The change comes as Adams tries to fight a federal corruption charge as he governs the city and prepares for a second term. Adams has pleaded not guilty in his criminal case, in which he is accused of accepting free or discounted foreign trips and illegal campaign contributions from people seeking to gain his influence, including people with ties to Turkey or the Turkish government.
Adams’ critics have seized on his recent comments about the Trump administration as a step toward self-preservation, accusing the mayor of sweet-talking the next president in an effort to win a pardon in his corruption case.
“Eric Adams still sounds more like he’s auditioning for a job in right-wing media than running for re-election in a Democratic primary,” said Zohran Mamdani, a state Assembly member who is challenging Adams in the mayoral primary. “Eric Adams is at City Hall because Democratic voters sent him there. To serve his own narrow self-interests, he is clearly willing to betray them.”
Zellnor Myrie, a senator who is also challenging Adams in the primary, said: “At a time when the Republican Party has never been more out of step with New York values, we need a mayor who is not afraid to make himself a Called a Democrat. .”
“Instead of standing firm with the next president, we need a mayor who has the courage to stand up for our city,” Myrie wrote on X.
Adams on Friday distanced himself from the Trump administration’s possible plans to carry out mass deportations, saying, “You know, I’m not for mass deportation, but I’m not for mass saturation either.”
Yet the mayor’s recent comments are a stark departure from his position before he took office.
In June 2021, a few weeks before he won the Democratic mayoral primary, Adams spoke to a room full of immigrant New Yorkers about the challenges facing city residents who are in the country illegally. “Too many of our neighbors live in the shadows,” he said at the time, “scarred by the abusive rhetoric and tactics of the Trump era and in fear of denial of their rights.”
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Izaguirre reported from Albany.
