New York City Mayor Eric Adams called Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's reelection loss Tuesday a "warning sign for the country," when asked during a CNN interview whether he believes Lightfoot's loss is a warning sign for New York.
Adams made the comments Sunday on "State of the Union" with Dana Bash, explaining how he's made deterring violence a priority since taking office.
"Eric Adams has been talking about public safety, not only on the campaign trail, but for the first year," the mayor said, referring to himself. "I showed up at crime scenes. I knew what New Yorkers were saying. And I saw it all over the country. I think, if anything, it is really stating that this is what I have been talking about. America, we have to be safe."
Adams, a first-term mayor who was elected in 2021, largely campaigned on a message of public safety and fighting gun violence.
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"Mayors, we are closer -- we're the closest to the problem," Adams said on CNN. "And I stated on a campaign trail and in the city public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity, same in Chicago, like New York and many of our big cities across America."
Lightfoot became Chicago's first sitting mayor to lose reelection in 40 years earlier this week, as she failed to get enough votes in the nine-person mayoral race to advance to April 4's runoff election.
She has faced criticism for increases in violent crime in the city, with most candidates running on public safety platforms during the 2023 election. Lightfoot has maintained that most crime in the city has continued to decrease, pointing to statistics that show homicides have decreased by 14% and shootings have fallen by 20% year-over-year.
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New York City, meanwhile, has reported an overall decrease in crime, but some types of crime - such as car theft and assault - did increase in February, CNN reported.
