Eric Adams says he is progressive. Democrats beg to differ.

When a homeless person was choked to death by another passenger on the New York subway earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams was unusually reluctant. For more than a week, he did not denounce the murder, as many of his Democratic colleagues immediately had, or express deep sympathy for the victim, Jordan Neely.

Instead, the mayor took a more detached stance, noting that “there were serious mental issues at play here.”

“I was a former traffic police officer and I’ve responded to a lot of jobs where you had a passenger someone assisting someone,” he said on CNN. “And so we can’t just blatantly say what a passenger should or shouldn’t do in such a situation.”

The mayor’s response was the most recent example of him moving away from the city’s left, creating a wedge with some of his Democratic colleagues. Mr. Adams is pushing for more moderate, even conservative, views on issues such as rent, religion and his signature theme, improving public safety — a sharp turn from his Democratic predecessor, Bill de Blasio, and from progressive leaders who recently ran for mayor. have won. elections in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles.

The latest example came on Wednesday, when Mr Adams issued an executive order temporarily suspending some rules regarding the city’s long-standing right to shelter as officials struggle to find housing for asylum seekers arriving from the southern border arrive. The move was criticized by homeless advocates and Democratic officials such as City Council speaker Adrienne Adams.

The mayor has spoken sadly about the separation of church and state, supported the expansion of charter schools and called for a reduction in the flow of migrants in rhetoric that critics have called xenophobic. He has also proposed cuts that could hurt key services like libraries, arguing that all city agencies should be fiscally cautious at a time when the city is expected to cost more than $1 billion from the expanding migrant crisis — a factor that was not in the game for previous mayors.

And last week, the mayor-controlled Rent Guidelines Board proposed another year of significant increases for the city’s roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments — the highest back-to-back increases since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office.

Left-wing Democrats question whether Mr. Adams’s approach — sometimes more akin to Mr. Bloomberg or even former Republican mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani — is appropriate for New York, one of the most liberal cities in the country. But the mayor says his form of pragmatic politics is exactly what the city needs, and what his core voters of working-class New Yorkers want.

“It’s not nice for people if they can’t put you in this box,” Mr. Adams, the city’s second black mayor, said in an interview. “I said from the moment I started running that people couldn’t put me in a box.”

He acknowledged that some of his views are considered conservative, but said others were “extremely liberal,” pointing to his support for free buses and tax credits for poor New Yorkers. Mr Adams, who grew up in the Church of Christ, said many Democrats were religious and his supporters agreed with his beliefs on faith and other issues.

“The overwhelming number of New Yorkers know that this man is doing his very best to solve the problems in this city and that’s what we’re focusing on,” he said.

Mr. Adams emerged from a crowded field of Democratic contenders in the 2021 mayoral race as the most prominent and well-funded moderate candidate, focusing almost exclusively on a public safety message at a time when New Yorkers were concerned about crime. He won the primary by a narrow margin—just 7,197 votes—under a new ranked-choice voting system that spared Mr. Adams a runoff primary.

As mayor, Mr. Adams has largely delivered on his campaign promises. He has been a charismatic cheerleader for the city recovering from the pandemic, maintaining a relentless schedule of press conferences and community events. He has pushed for tighter bail restrictions, increased the police presence in the city, hailed the killing of rats and is not shy about enjoying a night out.

Many Democrats in New York City are black and Latino voters who may support much of the mayor’s agenda, including his emphasis on faith. Mr Adams has maintained strong support among black voters at 52 percent, even as his overall approval rating fell to 37 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in February. Black voters were also more supportive of the mayor’s approach to crime and homelessness than white voters.

But some voters are disappointed by his new direction for the city. Mr Adams has removed homeless camps, pledged to involuntarily take the mentally ill off the streets, defended the use of police arrests and resisted calls to close the Rikers Island prison complex by 2027. He was also backed by the city’s mayor’s police union just a year after the group backed President Donald J. Trump’s re-election bid and recently provided officers with generous pay raises as part of a new eight-year, $5.5 billion labor contract.

In the Crown Heights and East New York neighborhoods of Brooklyn, reactions to Mr. Adams’ performance were mixed. Older voters tended to support the mayor, praising his efforts, his energy and his dedication to public safety.

“He’s fighting for the city, keeping the city cleaner, there’s plenty of police everywhere,” said Garfield Miller, 65, a carpenter who lives in eastern New York, and said he voted for Mr. Adams. Vibert David, 66, and his brother, Asworth David, 65, also voted for Mr Adams and said they would enthusiastically do so again.

“You have to be visible,” said Vibert David. “As an old officer, he is doing well.”

But others accused the mayor of trying to solve everything with more police, saying he wasn’t doing enough to alleviate the city’s problems with homelessness, mental illness and lack of affordable housing.

“He’s partying at 3 a.m. when he’s supposed to be helping the city,” says Ineze Thompson, 25, a barista who lives in Manhattan’s Washington Heights.

On Friday, Mr. Adams faced a more immediate backlash: When he began speaking at the CUNY School of Law graduation ceremony, many graduates were turned their backs to him.

“If the mayor cuts things like libraries and schools, it really begs the question: Who is the constituency he feels responsible for and what is the legacy he wants to leave behind?” said Sochie Nnaemeka, the director of the Working Families Party in New York.

The Working Families Party and other progressive Democrats have made great strides in New York, winning seats and pushing a leftist agenda in the city council and state legislatures. Earlier this year, progressive lawmakers were even able to overrule Governor Kathy Hochul’s nominee for the state’s Supreme Court Judge Hector D. LaSalle over fears he was too conservative. But they are also frustrated on some important issues because New York’s two most influential elected officials, Ms. Hochul and Mr. Adams, often disagree with their views.

Mr. Adams, who was a registered Republican in the 1990s, is friends with Republicans and the real estate industry and regularly appears on a conservative radio program. He chides “awakened” members of his party and recently named Jimmy Oddo, a Republican, as head of the Buildings Department, replacing another Republican who held the job.

The mayor has feuded with leftist leaders, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, though they seemed to reach a détente in March when Ms. Ocasio-Cortez visited Gracie Mansion for dinner. But after Mr Neely’s death, Ms Ocasio-Cortez accused Mr Adams of hitting a “new low” in his stoic response.

“Killing the mentally ill is wrong,” Mrs. Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. “Why is that so hard to say?”

Some Democrats believe Adams will face a challenge from the left in 2025, and their hopes have been bolstered by recent mayoral victories for Karen Bass in Los Angeles and Brandon Johnson in Chicago, both of whom were backed by the progressive Working Families Party. Mr. Johnson ran against a “hard crime” candidate and won with a public safety message that went beyond policing, focusing on youth employment and mental health.

“Eric Adams’ roar and rhetorical style have caught the attention of many people, but his policy stances don’t align with what most of the big blue city’s voters want,” said Anna Bahr, a Democratic political strategist who worked on the Bass and Johnson campaigns.

Some of Mr. Adams’ rhetoric may have frayed his relationship with President Biden. After the mayor sharply criticized the president’s handling of the migrant crisis, his name was quietly removed this week from an initial list of national surrogates for Mr Biden’s re-election campaign.

The mayor sometimes seemed to agree with the criticism. On Wednesday, the mayor gave a speech to soften his stance on Mr. Neely’s death, called for more help for homeless New Yorkers and said clearly for the first time that “Jordan Neely didn’t deserve to die.”

Two days later, Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran who used the stranglehold on Mr. Neely, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, and Mr. Adams welcomed the news, saying “justice can now be served against Daniel Penny.”

In the interview, Mr. Adams said he identifies as progressive – just not the brand epitomized by America’s Democratic Socialists. In fact, he said that “the far left” had made great strides in environmental issues during his administration, including city-wide composting, and programs to help youth involved in the justice system.

Mr. Adams has also been an outspoken advocate for abortion rights and democratic social issues. During his campaign, he came up with a plan to help poor people, through tax cuts, low-cost childcare and a new website to access city benefits, and he is implementing those measures.

“I’m a combination of just about every mayor, from Koch to Dinkins — I’m skipping Giuliani — to Bloomberg to de Blasio,” he said. “I’m a combination of all those guys because I learned from them all.”

Lisa Cruz And Nate Schweber reporting contributed.