Adrienne Adams said Democrats found their spark with Kamala Harris

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is a first-time delegate at the Democratic National Convention, and she is actively engaged in supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign as well as organizing efforts to address swing districts and mobilize voters.

In an interview with City & State from the DNC, Adams expressed her enthusiasm for the convention, highlighting the excitement among New York’s delegation. She emphasized the need for strategic campaigning in swing districts and swing states, underscoring her belief in unity among New York’s Democratic base. She also discussed the critical need for federal support to address New York’s migrant influx and talked about an upcoming hearing on Randy Mastro’s nomination for corporate counsel. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you describe to New Yorkers who aren’t in Chicago what the energy among the New York delegation is like? What’s been your favorite moment of the convention so far?

The feeling for the New York delegation is one of exhilaration, and I think also just feeling that this is such a fantastic moment in time for all of us to be a part of the New York delegation is extremely exciting. We have so many people on board telling the story about the vice president and our presumptive vice presidential nominee as well. New York is pumped up, and we’re ready. We’ve needed this spark. And finally, we have this spark. She has definitely moved and motivated not just New Yorkers, but an entire nation, and she has created a shift in the atmosphere.

Do you have specific plans to campaign for Kamala in New York’s swing districts or in swing states this fall?

I will absolutely campaign for Kamala Harris, wherever and whenever I am needed to do so. Right now, our delegation for New York, we’re putting together (and) organizing strategies during this session, and during these sessions, over the next couple of days that we’re going to be here in Chicago. We will be mobilizing, organizing, there will be phone banking, there will be buses going to those swing states. I intend to be on one of those buses going somewhere in the United States where I’m needed the most. So I will put on my sneakers and I will be ready to go. I am totally into (activism) to make her the first woman president of the United States. I’m going to go wherever I’m needed. We know that we have several places, several pockets in New York that are going to need our help. We’re going to be knocking on those doors as well in those counties that need our help, they need to hear about who the true Kamala Harris is.

At the Harris-Walz rally in Harlem last week, you warned that some parts of New York City are a battleground. What are those areas, and what should Democrats be doing in those areas this fall?

Closer to me, it would be some areas in Long Island and even some pockets in Queens as well, (which have) tended to go red for their own reasons. I happen to believe that we can get those voters back. We can get those voters because we all want the same things. We want economic equity in the country. We want for inflation to be no more. We want all of the same things, so our goals are the same. I think that the messaging has been very different when it comes to the former president and the way that things are presented. Our presentation of the goals of the United States and our candidate will be presented with joy, with optimism, with the true feeling that we are about our business as citizens of the United States. We do care about each other, and the pessimistic message that has been brought about from the former president and his base has to be turned around. I believe we can do that in New York, because New York has always done the right thing for all of its people. We have a certain, let’s just say, stigma about New York, but true New Yorkers, we know who we are. We know the care and concern that we have for each other and for our city. I think we’re going to make it happen.

If you were to have the chance to speak to national party leaders in Chicago this week, what case would you make about New York City’s needs and priorities? Mayor Eric Adams has talked a lot about getting help from the federal government on the migrant influx, is that something you would advocate for as well?

I think that would probably be at the top of my list as well. I think we’ve done an outstanding job in New York of handling the crisis that has come our way, the many buses that have come our way over the years now. We’ve done a tremendous job in making sure that our new New Yorkers have homes, that they have food, that they have education for the children, that they have health care, even they have means of transportation. But there comes a time when every bag bursts at the seam, when it’s too full. Our bag is too full right now, and the proliferation has not been equitable, as we know. New York, because of our status, we have been one of several, although certainly not a majority of this country, but we’ve been a number of several cities that have borne the brunt of this migrant crisis. The entire country should be made to bear that weight with all of us, along with the ability for migrants to work. That is all that they’re asking for when they come off these buses. I have been to the buses, and the first thing that people that come from good jobs, from other countries, that perhaps have a trade, that perhaps may be nurses or teachers or even doctors, but are fleeing peril in their countries, the first thing that they look for when they come into our cities is a way to make a living, a way to support themselves and their families. That is the place that we are sorely lacking across this crisis. We have to have a means to have migrants be able to work in our cities.

Next week, the council is set to hold a hearing on Randy Mastro’s nomination for corporation counsel. What are you hoping to learn from Mastro or about Mastro at that hearing?

I have met with Mr. Mastro, so I have heard from him personally on a one-on-one basis. What I would like for the hearing to accomplish, and what I believe it will accomplish will be the overall view of his entire record. Whenever we are trying to sell ourselves, we always show our best faces, and that is normal. That’s what’s supposed to happen when we have a hearing that we are going to have for the sole purpose of corporation counsel for both sides of City Hall, both the administration and for the City Council, has to be totally balanced. That is what we will be looking towards in this hearing. We want to hear the side that will be balanced, not just the side that will tip the scales in favor of one side or another. We need to have that confidence in his history and track record, that he will be balanced for the City Council and the administration.

Do you plan to vote to accept Mastro’s nomination?

I have no comment on my vote.

What have you heard from other council members on Mastro? Are you hearing more concerns about him? Or any voices saying that he should be heard out, and have a chance to make his case?

I think that was expressed initially. Even before the formal nomination came out, several caucuses came out against Mr. Mastro for their own reasons. So I believe that members have spoken whether or not they will be moved by individual meetings that we know have taken place between individual members and Mr. Mastro is yet to be seen, and again, those hearings will tell that story.

Is the mayor’s office communicating with you or others in the council to make the case for Mastro?

I can’t speak for the mayor’s office and what they’re doing as far as individual members are concerned. I will let you know that it is typically customary when these things happen, that communication does take place between both sides of City Hall.

There’s a lot of fuss over party unity and Democrats’ big tent at the convention this week. In New York City, the largely Democratic City Council has repeatedly clashed with the Democratic mayor. Do you think that Democrats in New York City have exhibited party unity over the past few years?

Overall, I definitely do. We can look at the statistics to bear that out. New York is still a largely Democratic city. We will still be a Democratic city. We will be a Democratic state. We watched even the win of our governor when many thought that she was going to lose her election, so we watched her dynamic win as well. I believe that New York overall will be true blue.

What is the message that you would like to send to anyone who’s undecided for the upcoming November election?

Please, please, please take a look at our candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. There’s just no comparison when you stack her up against the former President Donald J. Trump. We are looking at someone who has a long track record of professionalism. Her work ethic is impeccable. The work that she has done has elevated her to a place of vice presidency as a woman. That alone should be a deal-breaker for anyone. Stack that up against our former president, who has brought us ridicule in these United States, who was a convicted felon, something that a constituent of mine would never be able to run for president of the United States had they had the same status as Donald J. Trump has right now. So we are looking at someone that has brought in the past embarrassment to the entire country, someone who continues to speak in rhetoric, divisive language, racism, sexism and just plain idiocy to the people of the United States. Kamala Harris brings the exact opposite presentation of herself as a wife, as a mother, as a professional, as a lawyer, as an elected official, as a citizen, a true resident of the United States, one who has lived this life of (having) a single parent who has taught her right from wrong, something that many of us can identify with. Kamala Harris is the everyday New Yorker, the everyday Chicagoan, the everyday Californian. She is the everyday resident of the United States of America. She is the only person to vote for in this election to be president.

Are there any issues or criticisms in New York that you think the Harris-Walz ticket should be addressing to help their presidency?

I think that there is a lot of misinformation that needs to be corrected. There is misinformation about the economy. The economy is now in an upward swing. There is misinformation about public safety. Public safety is now on an upward swing in the positive. There is misinformation around a lot of other issues that just don’t exist, and that is part of the campaign of Donald Trump. This is what he does. He promotes, you know, lies and inaccuracies.

First of all, I don’t know how you could possibly be undecided when there was such a clear difference between these two individuals and these campaigns for their vice presidential candidates as well. Take a good long look at the presentation of the former president and ask yourself if that is someone who you would like to be the face of the United States, the voice of the United States. (He is) someone that has a very hard time communicating, in fact, someone that must be fact-checked every two seconds within every speech. Compare that to the presentation of the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. I think the choice is clear.