Gov. DeSantis visits NYC, slams bail laws, ‘woke’ politicians in echo of Mayor Adams

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis jetted into New York City on Monday to press the case that the Empire State must turn the tide on “woke” politics, including by rolling back its “failed” bail reform laws — echoing sentiments recently embraced by Mayor Adams.

DeSantis, a self-professed “law and order” Republican who’s closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, delivered the broadside at the state of New York politics during a speech at a law enforcement conference on Staten Island.

“I read that New York is the only state that doesn’t allow judges to consider when they’re making a bail determination whether someone’s a danger to the community — that’s like one of the most important things that you need to be considering when you’re making these bail determinations,” DeSantis said.

The Florida gov blamed New York’s bail laws on Democrats trying to “out-woke” each other, and, in reference to NYPD officers, added: “You apprehend a criminal, bring him in, and then they just release ‘em, so you got to risk your life again two weeks later to apprehend the same guy all over again. How does that make any sense? Is that making your community any safer by doing that? So you need to do things like repeal these failed pieces of legislation.”

DeSantis’ “danger to the community” comment appeared to reference the fact that New York does not have a so-called “dangerousness standard” when it comes to setting bail for non-violent offenses.

Democrats in the state Legislature and criminal justice advocates have argued that such standards disproportionately impact low-income Black and Hispanic New Yorkers. In 2019 and 2020, the state Legislature made most non-violent crimes ineligible for bail on the same auspice.

Since taking office, Adams has pushed state legislators in Albany to reverse some of the bail reforms, including by calling for a dangerousness standard to be implemented.

Like DeSantis, Adams has also recently taken aim at “woke” members of the Democratic Party.

“There’s a hemorrhaging of our Latino community, our AAPI communities, that’s leaving the traditional Democratic base, because we’ve allowed the loudest and those who consider themselves to be ‘woke’ [to take charge],” Adams said in an appearance on MSNBC earlier this month.

An Adams spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on DeSantis’ embrace of some of the mayor’s priorities.

But earlier in the day, the mayor tore into DeSantis on Twitter over the Florida governor’s policies on abortion rights and other issues.

“Welcome to NYC, @GovRonDeSantis, a place where we don’t ban books, discriminate against our LGBTQ+ neighbors, use asylum seekers as props, or let the government stand between a woman and health care,” Adams wrote on Twitter. “We’re happy to teach you something about values while you’re here.”

This story will be updated.