Mayor Eric Adams has consistently said he’s with Team Hochul and his fellow Democrats.

“Kathy Hochul has been a real partner,” Adams said Wednesday. “She stood with me on January 6th as we dealt with subway crime. She stood with me and put in place the plan to remove over 5,000 guns off our streets.”

But that isn’t deterring Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Republican rival, Rep. Lee Zeldin, from continuously saying he and Adams would be a good team, too.

“I guarantee you that the story that will be written in 2023 is how well a Gov. Zeldin is working with a Mayor Adams,” Zeldin said late Tuesday after his Spectrum News debate against Hochul.

What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Eric Adams insists he's aligned with Gov. Kathy Hochul and is ready to campaign with her

  • Rep. Lee Zeldin, Hochul's Republican opponent, continues to compliment the city's Democratic mayor

  • Zeldin and Adams have common ground when it comes to calling for an overhaul of bail reform

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In a tightened race for governor where public safety is now a central focus and where outreach to political moderates is crucial, both Zeldin and Hochul have sought an ally in Adams, a former cop who won his office last year by vowing to combat crime.

Hochul and Adams stood shoulder to shoulder on Saturday to announce how they would jointly drive down violence on the subways.

And she praised their partnership from church pulpits on the campaign trail a day later.

“I work with our mayor,” Hochul said Sunday. “And just yesterday, we announced a new plan for our subways. It’s about getting more police officers out there. You need to see them. You need to know they’re there to protect you.”

Adams and Zeldin served together in the state Senate.

Democrat and Republican, they’re aligned now when it comes to wanting to roll back bail reform or preserve solitary confinement.

Asked recently by NY1 about how regularly they keep in touch, Zeldin teased, “those conversations have continued ’til far more recent than you would ever imagine.”

Adams’ spokesman Fabien Levy characterized the last conversation between the mayor and Zeldin, a Long Island congressman, as “a few seconds of pleasantries” and said it’s Hochul that Adams has regular conversations with.

On Wednesday, Zeldin again referenced Adams in a complimentary manner.

“If I say something that Mayor Adams disagrees with, that’s fine,” Zeldin said in Glendale, Queens. “You know what, the next day we can sit down and still work on an issue to find common ground.”

Adams was adamant Wednesday that he’s helping Hochul win her first full term, saying he looks forward to filling in his ballot for the incumbent.