NYC Mayor Eric Adams unfazed by Lightfoot’s big loss in Chicago
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday he doesn’t see Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s loss in Chicago’s mayoral election as a cautionary tale for his own future as the leader of America’s largest city.
“To the contrary,” Adams told host CNN Dana Bash when asked if Lightfoot’s historic defeat Tuesday in the country's third-largest city was a warning sign.
“I think it's a warning sign for the country,” Adams said on "State of the Union," pointing to his own tough-on-crime message during his campaign and first year in office. “I think if anything, it is really stating that this is what I have been talking about. America, we have to be safe,” Adams added.
Lightfoot, who was elected in 2019, came under fire from voters and her eight challengers for her handling of crime in Chicago.
On Tuesday night, Lightfoot conceded after gaining about 17% of the vote, coming in third behind former public schools chief Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who will face off in a runoff. She was the first elected Chicago mayor to lose reelection since Jane Byrne in 1983.
When it comes to crime, mayors are “the closest to the problem” Adams said Sunday, calling public safety “a prerequisite to prosperity.”
“That is why we're zero-focused, double-digit decrease in shooters, double-digit decrease in homicides," Adams said. "We have witnessed this year, particularly in the month of February, all of our index crimes is low, low for the entire year."