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

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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Scorching hot sauces that pack a punch
The Week Recommends The best sauces to tingle your lips and add a fiery kick to your food
-
Syria’s strange post-Assad election
The Explainer Sunday’s limited vote ‘suited the phase Syria is undergoing’, says interim president
-
Why did the China spying case collapse?
Today’s Big Question Unwillingness to call China an ‘enemy’ apparently scuppered espionage trial
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsion
Speed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
-
Oregon sues to stop Trump military deployment
Speed Read The president wants to send the National Guard into Portland