Former NY Dem Governor Never Felt More ‘Unsafe’ In City Than Today

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Former New York Governor David Paterson (D) revealed he’s never felt more unsafe in his state than today and predicted New York Democrats could be paying at the polls if they don’t focus on tackling crime.

On Sunday’s The Cats Roundtable, Paterson called crime Democrats’ “blind spot” and claimed he felt safer in the ’80s and ’90s.

“For the first time in my life—even in the late eighties and nineties when the crime rate was killing 2,000 people a year, I never felt as unsafe as I do now just walking around and God forbid, sometimes we take the subway home from WABC, and you’re hearing about an assault on the subway almost every other day,” the former governor said.

Paterson took a slight dig at New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) over recent comments describing the New York City “brand.” Adams has also discussed crime in his city in the past, blaming the quick release of suspects and the rhetoric coming from the extremes on both sides of the political aisle.

“Mayor Adams says that New York City has a brand — it does have a brand if we don’t start adjusting to some of the situations that we’re in right now,” he said.

If Democrats don’t focus more on cracking down on crime, they could face a “monsoon” at the ballot box soon, the former governor added. He highlighted Democratic losses in Nassau County elections as an example of this potential “monsoon.”

“That could happen again unless some of these people who have not been speaking out start doing it,” he said. “I don’t want to be the one in November to say, ‘I told you so.'”

Paterson also spoke with the New York Post over the weekend and did offer some positive words for Adams, grading him a “B+” on his handling of crime.

“Mayor Adams is doing as well as can be expected at this particular time,” he said.