Is the pendulum in New York politics swinging back towards the middle? New Yorkers nearly picked Republican Lee Zelden to be governor in 2022, despite voter registration numbers that heavily favored Democrats. In New York City, meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams has been a vocal critic of bail reform and a strong supporter of the NYPD, two opinions that have not endeared him to Democrat leadership. But, is the momentum actually turning? Democrat strategist Melissa DeRosa believes the time is ripe for less-extreme politicians. She appeared on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program to explain why New Yorkers who want leadership are looking at other alternatives.
“Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul often times say the right thing, but then they can’t manage their way out of a paper bag,” DeRosa told Berman and Riedel. “And so, it’s like you have this sort of empty rhetoric that’s not resulting in any meaningful action or change. So, I think that where people are right now, at least the people that I’ve talked to, are, we want someone in the middle, but we want someone who can get something done. And I think that Kathy Hochul almost losing to a Trump MAGA Republican in 2022 foreshadows her weakness going into 2026.”
One of the loudest voices in recent months that seems to be positioning himself for a run at the mayor’s job, meanwhile, is former Governor Andrew Cuomo- who championed many of the quality-of-life changes that he is now railing against. DeRosa chalked it up to Cuomo merely changing with the times. “What worked in 2019, 2018, 2017, when New York was the center of the universe and when people had to be here is a lot different than New York in 2024. Post-Covid, you don’t have to come to the city. Outward migration patterns are off the charts. But I think part of being a leader is acknowledging when you have to make change, and I agree with him on this… Post-Covid, things have changed, and if people aren’t willing to acknowledge that, I mean, that’s how lemmings go off cliffs.”
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