Mayor Eric Adams once called himself the “Biden of Brooklyn.” But over the past two years, he became a thorn in the president’s side.
The Adams-Joe Biden relationship soured as migrants surged into America’s largest city. By the time of his indictment this week, Adams — with no evidence — was blaming his legal woes on his criticism of the White House’s handling of asylum seekers.
Flashback to July 2021, the relationship between the two was blossoming. After winning the Democratic nomination for mayor, Adams was invited to the White House for a meeting with Biden about strategies to combat gun violence.
By early 2022, when Adams was officially in Gracie Mansion, the two were together again — this time in New York — once again talking about gun violence and ways to support law enforcement.
“Mayor Adams, you and I agree the answer is not to abandon our streets,” Biden told lawmakers and members of law enforcement gathered at One Police Plaza. “The answer is to come together.”
“We need…a 9/11 type response to address the domestic terror that is pervasive in this city and country,” Adams said.
New York Democratic consultant Mike Morey argues that in these early months, Biden and Adams were compatriots, each affirming for the other a belief in the centrist wing of the Democratic party.
“Eric Adams’ success in New York City, particularly as an African American candidate who ran on essentially a pro-law enforcement platform, I think really gave Joe Biden additional wind in his sails,” Morey said.
But the eventual surge of asylum seekers into New York prompted Adams to publicly and routinely criticize the White House, echoing the criticism made by Republicans.
“I don’t see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City,” Adams said in 2023 at a town hall in the Upper West Side.
The Adams-Biden relationship turned chilly. Politico reports the two have not had a “substantive” conversation in nearly two years.
Now Adams suggests the feds are prosecuting him because he criticized Biden’s migrant policy, though there is no evidence supporting the claim.
“Adams has always had a bit of baggage. There’ve always been yellow flags and some red flags along the way,” Peter Loge, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University, said. “Once those flags started getting waved in earnest, the White House said, ‘You know what, we actually don’t need this headache.’”
There is little evidence the souring of the Adams-Biden relationship has hurt New York City. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries remain guardians of the city’s interests in Washington.
But, Morey says, the deterioration of the relationship has damaged the mayor’s reputation and brand: “Whether he has the ability to deliver for New York City or deliver for his state, or has access to a bigger megaphone by standing with the President of the United States, being at the White House, having people return his phone calls.”
With the mayor now under federal indictment and Biden leaving office, this breakup appears permanent.
