“Voters knew that Adams had long brushed close to low-grade corruption, but he also came closest to addressing the declining public safety and quality of life that worried New Yorkers. So voters hoped for the best: that on the big stage, he would govern the city, and himself, against temptation. He didn’t… Adams’s withdrawal from the race also reminds us that we can do worse—and we very likely might…

“[Adams] warned of radical ideas from extremes on the left and right: ‘That is not change. That is chaos,’ he said. He was clearly referring to the leading candidate to succeed him: Democratic nominee Zohran Mandani, whose proposals include moving critical police functions to social-services workers and promising an indefinite rent freeze, even as landlord costs keep rising. Mamdani wants to transfer much family and personal responsibility—extended-family care of infants, for example—to the state.”

‍Nicole Gelinas, City Journal

“Mamdani’s big-ticket idea of free buses sounds wonderful – until you do the math. The MTA already runs deficits and routinely comes begging for subsidies to keep the trains moving. Wiping out fare revenue would blow a hole in the budget the size of the Midtown Tunnel. Where would that money come from? Higher taxes, of course. The same taxes that already drive families and businesses out of New York…

“Crime remains the elephant in the room. Adams ran and won on restoring public safety, though his record is mixed at best. But at least Adams acknowledged the crisis. Cuomo, for all his flaws, has too. Mamdani? He wants to cut NYPD overtime, pair social workers with officers and further shackle a police force that, despite its imperfections, remains one of the best-trained in the nation… Do you want a mayor who takes crime seriously, or one who sees crime as a laboratory for social experiments?”‍

David Sypher Jr., Spectator World