New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing federal corruption charges and his fellow Dems are already jockeying for position to replace him — and it’s a basket of horribles.
Prompting us to ask: Where on Earth is the GOP in all this?
The “basket” is beyond depressing: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams becomes acting mayor if Adams leaves; he’s a cop-bashing socialist who’s accused Israel of war crimes over its humane and justified counterattack against Hamas.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller, gets the job if Williams passes; he was already planning to challenge Adams next year.
He’s a backer of the most insane woke policies on everything from education to COVID to climate and beyond.
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, also already in the scrum, is cut from the same far-left mold.
Andrew Cuomo also seems sure to jump in — and the others are so awful that they make the disgraced ex-gov who oversaw New York’s pandemic-era care-home disaster (and other COVID miscalls) and took a shady mega-millions book deal look like the reasonable choice.
The whole situation screams that Gothamites need a new vision.
And that the local GOP needs to get in gear and actually fight this one out, putting up a strong contender for the ’25 election (or a special, if it comes to that).
The mayoralty of America’s largest city should not simply be a job that Republicans cede to Democrats without a battle.
Especially when on everything that actually matters to New Yorkers — crime, schools, our migrant crisis — the GOP is dead-bang, center-of-the-bullseye correct on policy.
Will it be easy? Absolutely not.
Any serious GOP contender for the office faces an uphill battle: Hostile media that will scream “white supremacist,” “disinformation” and “extremist” no matter how close to those of the median voter he or she hews.
The city GOP will be coming from behind in money, staff and turnout capacity.
But!
This is the best opportunity an insurgent candidate fighting for safe streets, good schools, an economy on the upswing and migrant sanity could want.
Republicans need to grab it.
That’s what democracy is about, after all — choice. And the Big Apple’s voters desperately need some.
