Is Eric Adams' public safety 'synthesis' a winning formula for Democrats?

published 23 June 2021

Many Democrats, publicly and privately, view rising crime as the "single biggest threat to their electoral chances in 2022," Axios reports. But the party may still have an opportunity to make public safety a "winning issue," writes Matthew Yglesias.

"It's right [there] for the taking for them," Yglesias tweeted, adding that while many party members would "rather lose than win as the tough on crime party," they don't necessarily have to market themselves that way. Instead, he thinks Democrats could "own the brand as the party that favors higher rather than lower levels of government spending," noting that the party has delivered local government money "over GOP objections" while "every Trump [administration] budget proposed defunding police."

Business Insider's Josh Barro believes New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams, who is in the driver's seat as votes from Tuesday's election continue to be tallied, may have created a winning formula for Democrats that was equally misinterpreted by conservatives and those to the left of him. Adams, Barro wrote, campaigned successfully on a "synthesis of more police, more non-police stuff, and more accountability for police," as opposed to a narrower pro-police or anti-police agenda.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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