NYC mayor's race: Adams pushing unity message after grueling primary
Democratic nominee for mayor Eric Adams was once again in Washington, D.C. trying to unify his party after a grueling mayoral primary.
Adams met with most of New York's congressional delegation, the majority of which did not support his bid for mayor.
In a Zoom interview with the Brooklyn borough president, Adams said he aimed to strike a unifying tone when he spoke with New York's representatives.
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"In the meeting it was a clear feeling of how do we move forward," Adams said.
Adams was not the first choice for many of the House members he spoke with, including Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, who ranked Adams second in the primary behind Andrew Yang. But Torres was impressed.
"There were no differences of opinion aired at the meeting," Torres said. "It's clear to me from the meeting Eric aims to be a unifying figure in a time of division. And we all share the goal of ending the epidemic of gun violence in New York City."
PIX11 asked Adams about how he would, if elected, work with Democrats -- in particular, those who supported Maya Wiley. Adams has expressed concerns about a moment toward policies he feels are too extreme -- like defunding the police.
"Let's differentiate between campaigning and governing," Adams said. "I'm still going to be competitive around those issues that are important to me. But once we leave November, it's about how do we govern and leaving the campaign aspect of it."
Democratic NYC mayoral nominee Eric Adams visits DC…again
Meanwhile, back in New York, Republican nominee for mayor Curtis Sliwa ripped Adams for once again visiting Washington, having met with President Joe Biden on gun violence two weeks ago.
Sliwa called it "another dog and pony show" to "anoint him mayor of New York City."
"Don't go to sleep on Curtis Sliwa," he said. "There's a general election."
Sliwa also tweaked Adams for traveling twice since clinching the nomination.
"All on the taxpayer's dime as Brooklyn Borough President," he said. "I've never heard of anything like this."
Adams stressed he feels it's part of his current (and what he hopes is his future) job: to go to Washington and lobby for money for Brooklyn and the city as a whole.
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