Mayor Adams Seeks to Portray Democratic Nominee as Soft on Crime

Strategic Insights -

Mayor Eric Adams has been highlighting the city's receding crime numbers as a rallying point to bolster his bid for a second term, arguing that Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani's progressive policies will hurt businesses and make the city less safe. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, supports a plan to reduce the number of people held in the Rikers Island jail complex and replace it with borough-based jails. Adams has also criticized Mamdani's suggestion that police officers should not respond to domestic violence calls.

Key Takeaways:

  • Thirteen law enforcement unions endorsed Mayor Adams's third-party bid for re-election, showing support for his law-and-order campaign message.
  • Crime in the city has been dropping steadily since the pandemic, with major crime falling by 6 percent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
  • Murders dropped by 23 percent, and the city recorded the fewest shooting victims for the first half of any year since 1994.
  • Mayor Adams argued that Mamdani's progressive policies will hurt businesses and make the city less safe.
  • Mamdani supports reducing the number of people held in the Rikers Island jail complex and replace it with borough-based jails.
  • The Police Department has a budget of about $6.3 billion for fiscal year 2026, according to city data.
  • Benny Boscio Jr., president of the Corrections Officers' Benevolent Association, warned that Mamdani's policies would repeat the "epic failure" of former Mayor Bill de Blasio's progressive policies.
  • The city's largest police union, the Police Benevolent Association, has not endorsed Mayor Adams, and will likely make a decision about an endorsement in the fall.
  • Jeffrey Lerner, a spokesman for Mamdani, said that Adams's leadership has created a "reckless environment for law enforcement."

Statistics:

  • Major crime in the city dropped by 6 percent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
  • Murders dropped by 23 percent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
  • The city recorded the fewest shooting victims for the first half of any year since 1994.
  • The Police Department has a budget of about $6.3 billion for fiscal year 2026, according to city data.
  • Mamdani's proposed separate Department of Community Safety would have a budget of about $1 billion.

Sources:

  • "Mayor Adams Seeks to Portray Democratic Nominee as Soft on Crime"
  • This article appeared in print on page A21 of the New York Times.
  • Maia Coleman and Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting.
  • PHOTO: Mayor Eric Adams boasts of the city's falling crime numbers, but his leadership of the Police Department has been turbulent. (PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSÐ A. ALVARADO JR. FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)