Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire from his fellow Democrats, and was even criminally indicted by President Joe Biden's administration, after he began to speak out against the rampant illegal immigration of the past few years and the negative impact it has had on his city.

There is now growing speculation, which Adams hasn't definitively ruled out, that the mayor may soon switch his partisan allegiance from the Democratic to the Republican Party, according to Politico.

Fueling that speculation, at least in part, is the fact that Adams was previously part of the GOP in the late 1990s, has refrained from criticizing President-elect Donald Trump, has spoken positively about Trump's plans to address government inefficiency, and has signaled his openness to a crackdown on illegal immigration and deportations for criminal illegal migrants, among other things.

Didn't rule out possible party switch

Friday morning, in an interview with Spectrum News' NY1, Mayor Adams was asked if he would consider rejoining the Republican Party, to which he replied, "The party that is most important to me is the American party. I’m a part of the American party. I love this country."

Eric Adams was an enrolled Republican from 1997 to 2001, so in light of him sounding like a pro-Trump mayor, I asked him this morning on @NY1 if he’d consider rejoining the GOP pic.twitter.com/Da1NOn4gqm

— Jamie Stelter (@JamieStelter) December 6, 2024

A short time later, Adams sat for a separate interview with Pix11 and was asked if he wanted to "clarify" what had been said earlier about the possibility of switching parties, given what the media headlines would be for such a significant partisan change.

"I think that what people fail to realize is that I'm not motivated by headlines. We need to move away from identifying, classifying ourselves as anything other than Americans," Adams said. "I'm an American, and I'm going to continue to say that. So no matter what party I'm on or vote on, I'm going to push for the American values. And I think America has told us, stop the squabbling, leaders, and start leading us out of the crisis that we're facing."

Pressed on whether he still planned to run for re-election next year as a Democrat, the mayor replied, "Headlines could be whatever they want. As I said, yes, that is what I'm proposing to do. I've been a Democrat for many years, and I'm going to run for my reelection as a Democrat."

"But my focus is the American people and the people of New York City," he added. "And those who don't like it, they would cancel me. And I say, cancel me. I'm for America."

Is Adams really leaning toward the GOP or just angling for a Trump pardon?

The New York Post reported on Mayor Adams' apparent refusal to definitively rule out a possible party switch and highlighted the apparent overtures he's made to President-elect Trump and his openly expressed willingness to work cooperatively with the incoming administration on a number of big issues.

In fact, Adams is scheduled to meet next week with Tom Homan, who is set to be Trump's "Border Czar," to discuss plans to address the illegal immigration crisis and deportations of illegal migrants who commit other crimes.

Some critics have suggested that Adams' outreach toward Republicans is nothing more than cynical self-preservation and hope for a presidential pardon to avoid the criminal indictment he faces, though others have said that he is simply revealing his true right-leaning positions that don't align with the Democratic Party.

One of the mayor's likely primary challengers next year, Queens State Sen. Jessica Ramos, sarcastically quipped that she was glad Adams was "finally being honest about being a Republican," but added that "he should just run as one and let the Democrats pick a real leader."

Another possible primary opponent, Scott Stringer, surmised that Adams' legal issues were "literally trumping the priorities of New Yorkers," and added, "The sad fact of this mayoralty is that a presidential pardon would be considered his greatest accomplishment."