Mayor Adams Insists 2023 Was His 'Aaron Judge Year,' Despite Negativity

In January, New York City Mayor Eric Adams made a bold declaration. This year, he said, was going to be his “Aaron Judge year,” referencing the New York Yankees slugger who had swatted an American League-record 62 home runs the previous season. 

In his final City Hall press briefing of 2023 on Tuesday, Adams insisted he had followed through on that promise. “Look at the numbers,” he said. “This is an Aaron Judge year.”

Adams was likely not referring to his approval rating, which has nosedived to 28 percent, according to a Quinnipiac poll from earlier this month, the lowest for a New York City mayor since the poll began. Still, as he looks toward 2024, Adams remains confident that public sentiment surrounding his administration will eventually shift.

“History is going to be kind to this administration,” Adams wrote. “When I finish my book, and you read what this administration has done under these circumstances, history is going to look back and say, this was one heck of an administration, managing the city out of this.”

The defining story of the Brownsville native’s 2023 will no doubt be the ongoing migrant crisis – the city has now accepted more than 161,000 migrants, according to Anne Williams-Isom, deputy mayor of health and human services, with 4,000 entering the city last week alone.

Adams has repeatedly called on President Joe Biden and the federal government to help fund the services necessary to house the migrants, to little success. Adams took 10 trips to Washington, D.C., this year, none of which included a meeting with the White House.

“It baffles me,” Adams said. “New York City is the economic engine of the state and the country. And I don't have the answer. My role, as I did when I was a state senator, people came to visit me several times to get initiatives passed, I have to keep hammering away at this issue.”

Adams is unlikely to change his approach toward the federal government in the new year. He pushed back on the notion that his blunt rhetoric around the Biden administration’s lack of financial assistance hurt his cause.

“There were months that went by of calling for help before we raised the concern of how the administration handled it,” he said. “I don't think my candidness should get in the way of anyone looking at what New York City was going through and the other municipalities in providing the help that we needed. … I doubt anyone from the White House is saying because Eric was candid on what he felt his city needed, that we're going to ignore them.”

As an exceptionally public-facing mayor, Adams said he understands why he gets a lot of heat. As the calendar turns, he said he’s determined to help New Yorkers direct their anger “in the right direction.” 

“I always make the joke, the guy said, ‘I'm getting divorced, Eric. It's your fault,’” he said. “I'm a visible mayor. I'm on the trains, I'm on the streets, I'm in all of these communities. And I'm a visible mayor. And people are angry about the asylum and migrants. I've never seen New Yorkers as angry as they are now about a particular topic that they have all rallied behind.

“And I don't wake up every day looking at the polls, I don't wake up every day worrying about reelection. I don't wake up every day worrying about, you know, what people think of me. I wake up every day thinking that I've got to navigate the city out of this.”

In 2024, he will be tasked with doing that amid a steady cacophony of outside noise unlikely to quiet anytime soon. If 2023 was his Aaron Judge year, and Adams wants to remain in office, he might need 2024 to be his Derek Jeter year.