The Great Awakening of NYC Mayor Eric Adams

New York City Mayor Eric Adams just became the latest and perhaps most high-profile Democrat politician to date to utter an increasingly common phrase: “I didn’t leave the Democrat Party, the Democrat Party left me.”

“People often say, you know, you don’t sound like a Democrat, you have left the party – No, the party left me, and it left working-class people,” Adams said during an appearance on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s new show last week. That was just one of several newsworthy remarks from Adams’s 50-minute conversation with Carlson on topics ranging from the supposedly political nature of the September 2024 indictment against the mayor of America’s largest city to how the Big Apple is dealing with the migrant crisis brought on by four years of open borders policies.

Adams, a career cop and former Brooklyn Borough President, became the 110th Mayor of New York City after running as a moderate Democrat (relative to the rest of the primary field) in 2021. While he has largely toed the Democrat Party line, Adams broke with former President Joe Biden over the border crisis and publicly criticized certain far-left policies like cutting funding for police – actions that Adams claims are what’s really behind his indictment last year on multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, solicitation of contributions from foreign nationals, and bribery.

That indictment alleges that beginning in 2014, while he was Brooklyn Borough President, Adams accepted over $100,000 in bribes from Turkish officials and businessmen. These bribes purportedly consisted of free and discounted luxury travel accommodations (upgraded flights) and other benefits.

In return, Adams is accused of using his official capacity to pressure the New York City Fire Department to approve the opening of the Turkish consulate building without the requisite fire inspection. Additionally, the indictment claims that Adams and his associates engaged in a scheme to conceal the true source of campaign contributions through straw donors, thereby defrauding the New York City Campaign Finance Board’s matching funds program.

However, as Adams alleges to Carlson, he only asked the fire department to inspect the Turkish consulate – not to pass the building if it was not up to code. As Carlson also points out, “pretty much every member of Congress takes… flights to other countries, hosted by foreign governments, and are given in effect tens of thousands of dollars of goods and services by those foreign governments – no one has ever been indicted for that. That’s less than what you did.”

“I think anyone who reads the indictment will come away confused,” Carlson continues. “What was this? You’re a Democrat, lifelong; you were mayor of the biggest city of the United States. It’s overwhelmingly a Democrat city. You’re one of the most important Democratic officials in the country. You were indicted by Joe Biden’s Justice Department. What was that?”

“I think that there were those who were in that orbit that felt that I was not a good Democrat,” Adams responded. “Because I watch my city, a city that I love, go through an onslaught of the migrant and immigration policy of failed a border policy… And I think that there were those who were just angry about it and thought I wasn’t a good Democrat because I complained about allowing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of illegals from, you know, foreign nationals who have no right to be here, to come to your city, and you have to pay for it.”

Adams also notes that he took ten trips to Washington where he told Biden officials that the city could not handle the influx of migrants, costing taxpayers $6.5 billion a year and straining city resources past their breaking point.

But what did Biden and his team tell Adams when he raised all these concerns? According to the mayor, the message was, “Be a good Democrat, Eric.”

But Adams did not do as he was told, alleging he received a federal indictment for that. For conservatives, that threat undoubtedly sounds familiar: break with the liberal establishment, and they will come for your job, for your livelihood, for your reputation, and ultimately for your freedom. That’s the same threat that Donald Trump (along with so many other conservatives) has faced since he first burst onto the political scene in 2016.

Also, unlike most Democrats, Adams does not view Trump as a mortal enemy and a “threat to democracy” but rather as a partner in restoring a city that both men call home. “As I told everyone, I’m not here to be warring with the president,” Adams said. “I’m here to work with the president… you can’t spend the next four years fighting; we need to spend the next four years listening to the American people.”

That’s a remarkably different sentiment than the “resistance” mindset that characterized the vast majority of the Democrat Party from 2016 to 2020 – and one that is sure to earn Adams even more animosity from the left. But as he’s already shown time and again, he has no problem breaking with left-wing partisans to better serve his constituents.

To be sure, Adams is far from a full-fledged Republican. In a more contentious portion of his interview with Carlson, he defends New York’s status as a sanctuary city. He claims that America needs more immigrants to fill jobs – an assertion that Carlson was quick to challenge. Adams has also marched in pride parades and supported marijuana legalization, among other overtures to the left.

But Adams’s interview with Carlson also makes clear that he’s far from a run-of-the-mill progressive – and for his perceived disloyalty, the Democrat establishment is driving him further and further away from the party.

Eric Adams’s story underscores a broader political awakening across America – one where party loyalty is taking a backseat to the real needs of voters. Whether Eric Adams entirely breaks with the Democratic Party or continues to chart his own path within it, one thing is clear: his experience is emblematic of a growing frustration with the party’s priorities. As more politicians and voters question the status quo, the Democrat establishment may soon find itself grappling with a reckoning of its own making.

Frank DeVito is an attorney currently serving as counsel at the Napa Legal Institute. His work has previously been published in many publications, including The American Conservative, the Federalist, Public Discourse, City Journal, the Claremont Review of Books, and First Things. He lives in eastern Pennsylvania with his wife and children. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily his employer.