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‘Getting to a place of workability’: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez on her relationship with Mayor Adams
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Mar 27, 2023
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Left photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Right photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Mar 27, 2023
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They have been portrayed as two powerful but opposing New York politicians prone to trading barbs on Twitter or in the press.
Mayor Eric Adams is a pro-policing centrist who has described himself as the new face of the Democratic Party, while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the party’s quintessential progressive who has called for shrinking the NYPD budget.
But after an arguably rocky start, the two politicians now appear to be seeking common ground, and have even made collegial comments about one another in recent days. These remarks come amid months of Democratic infighting in New York, as progressives and moderates argue over the best direction for the party after four congressional seats were lost to Republicans.
“I think that we are getting to a place of workability,” Ocasio-Cortez said with a laugh during an interview last week following a visit to a gun violence prevention program in the Bronx.
Asked about the reported friction between herself and the mayor, she added: “I don't know where it started. But I'm interested in bettering the lives of our constituents. And to be fair, I think the mayor has those interests as well.”
In response to the congresswoman’s comments, Adams issued a statement that was both conciliatory and complimentary.
“Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has been an advocate for New York City in Washington, D.C.,” he said, citing her work lobbying for federal funding for the asylum-seeker crisis, partnering with the city’s education department on workforce development, and helping to establish a debt relief program for taxi medallion owners.
He added: “I look forward to continuing to work with [her] and the rest of our congressional delegation to support New Yorkers.”
Similarly, when he was asked during a January interview with Politico if he had a relationship with Ocasio-Cortez, Adams acknowledged their shared goals in helping working-class New Yorkers.
“We may have a philosophical disagreement on certain things, but we've come from the same background for the most part, working-class families,” he said
He added: “My road may be different from hers, but we have the same destination.”
The two Democrats have clashed publicly in the past.
During his first week in office, Ocasio-Cortez — who endorsed Maya Wiley during the Democratic mayoral primary — chastised Adams for using the term “low skill” to describe low-wage workers.
The mayor shot back by accusing the progressive lawmaker of being the “word police.”
Last spring, the New York Times reported that they had not spoken to one another in nearly a year.
But at least one political observer said he was not surprised by the change in tone.
“In politics it’s always better to be working with each other than at cross purposes,” said Neal Kwatra, a Democratic consultant. “They both have big policy priorities on hard and intractable stuff they want to bring to fruition. Working together and making stuff happen for their constituents is ultimately the name of the game for both of them.”
Ocasio-Cortez has singled out tackling gun violence prevention initiatives as a potential avenue for building consensus with the mayor.
Her meeting in the Bronx last week was intended to extol a Jacobi Hospital program that recently published findings in a medical journal showing a significant reduction in community gun violence. The congresswoman has assisted the program with more than $1.2 million in federal funding. But the prospect of future federal money has now dimmed under a Republican-controlled House.
“I’m going to continue putting pressure and applying pressure — whether that's on the city level or the state level — for us to have this,” she told Gothamist. “And it's not even from an ideological bent. It's from a data-proven bent.”
Adams has expressed support for violence interruption programs, although city funding for them has remained flat.
While Ocasio-Cortez and Adams may rally around certain policies, few should expect them to become close allies.
The two differ sharply in ideology and style. They are also both targets of opposing factions in the Democratic Party: Progressives criticize Adams for his stances on policing and shrinking the budget, while moderates portray Ocasio-Cortez as the embodiment of an extremist wing of the party.
It remains unclear how often the two communicate. Neither responded to a follow-up question on the last time they met or had a conversation.
Their last joint public appearance was in September, when Ocasio-Cortez spoke at an event hosted at City Hall to promote a federally funded taxi medallion relief program to assist debt-ridden drivers.
Ocasio-Cortez remains one of the most prominent left-wing critics of large police budgets, and she has weighed in on the budget battle between the progressive faction of the City Council and the mayor.
During her Bronx visit, she sharply criticized city spending.
“New York City has the equivalent of an army,” she said during a Q&A session with organizers. “We have militarized the city when our playgrounds have been broken down.”
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Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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