Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has spent most of a year cultivating a friendly relationship with Republican President Donald Trump.
The alliance likely helped Adams escape criminal corruption charges earlier this year, but has otherwise been an albatross around his neck as he seeks reelection in a predominantly Democratic city where Trump is still widely unpopular.
However, the Trump Justice Department’s recent decision to sue the city, and Adams, over its sanctuary laws and Hizzoner’s move calling on the feds to investigate conditions inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lockup inside 26 Federal Plaza signal that their relationship may be souring.
Creating distance with Trump could aid Adams in his steep uphill quest against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani — a democratic socialist Queens Assembly member — to secure another four years in City Hall. Mamdani, as well as Adams’ other opponents, have slammed the mayor’s blanket refusal to criticize Trump or his policies, while working with the federal administration on its immigration crackdown.
“Adams is trying to distance himself from Trump by calling for a probe into conditions inside Federal Plaza, while Trump is suing the city over sanctuary laws,” said political strategist Ken Frydman. “That should help Adams on election day.”
Hank Sheinkopf, another veteran Democratic consultant, echoed Frydman’s views.
“Trump has an 85-plus percent negative or thereabouts in New York City, anything that removes Adams from Trump helps him,” Sheinkopf said. “Adams has made a conscious decision to get away from him, obviously. Is that something the president likes? Probably not.”
Adams, who is running as an independent, is facing a field that also includes former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and attorney Jim Walden. Cuomo and Walden are both running as independents.
How tensions built between Adams and Trump
The mayor came into the crosshairs of the Trump administration last week, when the DOJ filed a sweeping lawsuit against him and the city overall, seeking to overturn its sanctuary laws. In the suit, DOJ attorneys allege that New York’s sanctuary laws are unconstitutional and “designed to impede” the federal government’s enforcement of its immigration statutes.
The action followed an off-duty Customs and Border Protection agent getting shot, allegedly by two undocumented migrants with criminal records, on July 19, according to police.
Adams responded to the suit by insisting it is nothing new because his administration has already been aggressively fighting Trump’s in court, pointing to a lawsuit the city filed against the Trump administration to recoup $80 million in migrant funding that it clawed back earlier this year. He has defended parts of city sanctuary protections, while assailing other aspects of the laws as limiting his ability to collaborate with the feds on criminal probes.
“The narrative is that we’re just rolling over,” Adams said during a Friday interview on Fox5.
The mayor said that while he would commend Trump on the areas where they agreed, “In those areas that we disagree, we’re going to fight on behalf of the city of New York, such as the $80 million clawback that we experienced. So many people want to show that no matter what happens, the mayor is doing such and such. That’s just not true.”
Yet the suit constitutes the most aggressive action Trump has taken against Adams to date, after months of appearing not to go after New York City as aggressively as other large, democratically run municipalities, such as Los Angeles. Trump sent the National Guard and the Marines into Los Angeles over the protestations of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass to quell protests against ICE detentions there, but has not taken similar actions in New York.
The day before the DOJ suit, Adams’ office sent a letter to the U.S. General Services Administration, which owns 26 Federal Plaza, requesting that it inspect ICE’s holding area on the building’s 10th floor. The missive came after a video taken inside a holding room showed migrant men being held in cramped and potentially unsafe conditions.
Too late to change?
However, one Democratic strategist — who asked to remain anonymous for this story so that he could opine freely on the matter — said that while Adams could use both instances to distance himself from Trump, it is likely too late for that tactic to fly with voters.
“I can see a world where Adams tries to turn this into his moment of winning back Democrats and showing that he’s a good Democrat,” the strategist said. “But Democratic voters just don’t trust him anymore. So as much as he will try to message on ‘Trump’s coming after me,’ or ‘I’m standing up to Trump,’ he’s just lost all ability to be credible in that.”
Adams began warming up to Trump during last year’s presidential election, doing so in earnest after he was indicted on federal corruption charges. The mayor then vowed to “work and not war” with Trump, met with him privately at his Palm Beach golf course shortly before he was sworn in, and raced to Washington, D.C., at the last minute to attend his inauguration.
Trump has been quite complimentary of Adams, even describing him as a “very good person” earlier this month.
The relationship appeared to pay off for Adams when Trump’s DOJ filed a motion to dismiss his criminal case in February, which a federal judge eventually granted in early April. Many have alleged that Adams exchanged his cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown for the dismissal, accusations he denies.
The Democratic strategist said Adams’ corruption scandals and all of that baggage will make it very difficult for him to reestablish trust with Democratic voters.
“It’s a pattern of lacking credibility, there’s no trust left among the Democratic Primary voter base in the city for him,” they said. “There’s just nothing I think he could do to turn it around.”
