Mayor Eric Adams of New York City has spent weeks inching closer to President-elect Donald J. Trump, flouting the concerns of many fellow Democrats.
Now, members of Mr. Adams’s team are exploring whether he can get in even tighter proximity. Two of his advisers are quietly trying to secure a ticket for him to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration in Washington next month.
They have reached out to prominent New York Republicans in recent weeks asking for help connecting with the president-elect’s team. The advisers told them that Mr. Adams was interested in taking part in the inaugural festivities and wanted to know if he would be welcome, according to five people familiar with the conversations.
Attending in person would be an unusually high-profile show of support by the mayor of the nation’s largest Democratic stronghold. New York City mayors have not traditionally attended presidential inaugurations. Mr. Adams’s predecessor, Bill de Blasio, led a protest of Mr. Trump’s first swearing-in eight years ago.
Mr. Adams could still ultimately choose to skip the events, but he has taken a more open approach to Mr. Trump since November’s election than many Democrats. In recent weeks, he has greeted Mr. Trump at Madison Square Garden, briefly opened the door to switching parties and met with Mr. Trump’s “border czar” designee about plans to accelerate the deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Mr. Adams, of course, has always been both ideologically heterodox and drawn to the world stage, attending World Cup soccer matches and a papal audience as mayor. He argues that his outreach to Mr. Trump is motivated solely by advancing the city’s interests.
But some fellow Democrats have come to suspect another motive: that Mr. Adams is currying favor in hopes of securing a pardon before he goes on trial in April on federal corruption charges.
Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Mr. Adams, said the mayor had not had “any conversations about participating in the presidential inauguration, and has no plans to do so at this time.”
Yet in recent days, the two Adams advisers have made direct overtures to Republican Party officials to help the mayor attend the inauguration, evidently at his behest. The advisers are Rory Whelan, a Republican Mr. Adams has known since his days in the State Senate and hired this fall, and Joel Eisdorfer, who recently departed a position as Mr. Adams’s liaison to Jewish New Yorkers.
It was not clear from the conversations exactly how Mr. Adams imagined himself partaking among the inaugural festivities, which typically include the swearing-in, a luncheon, a parade and multiple balls.
One person involved in the conversations said he came away with the impression the mayor was looking for a meaningful interaction with the incoming administration and an invitation to sit on the large platform where Mr. Trump will be sworn in on the west front of the Capitol. Another person said Mr. Adams’s team was still primarily focused on procuring an invitation, rather than a specific role.
A third person close to the mayor cast doubt on the idea that Mr. Adams would actually attend the ceremonial events in January. The person stressed that the mayor was trying to find common ground with the incoming Trump administration while still protecting other values the new president could put at risk.
The inaugural platform can hold hundreds of people but is reserved for members of Congress and the Supreme Court, former presidents, family of the president-elect and a small number of invited guests. Mayors of American cities have not typically been among them. There are other ticketed seating areas nearby for the news media, dignitaries and donors, and members of the general public can watch the ceremony from the lawn of the National Mall.
Republicans appear to be inclined to help Mr. Adams in his quest to build a relationship with the incoming administration.
“The mayor of New York, the greatest city in the nation and in the world, certainly belongs at the nonpartisan inauguration of a president-elect of the United States,” said Edward F. Cox, the chairman of the New York Republican Party.
Mr. Cox added that, so far, he had “not been involved in any way in making that happen.”
A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Adams’s team has not reached out to high-ranking fellow Democrats who could help him get a seat if he asked. Aides to Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer, the New Yorkers who lead House and Senate Democrats, said they had not heard from the mayor or his team. Both men serve on the small committee responsible for planning the nonpartisan inaugural ceremony at the Capitol. (Mr. Trump’s team plans other festivities.)
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, does not plan to attend, according to a spokeswoman, Jen Goodman. The governor has said she will try to find common ground with Mr. Trump where she can but has also promised to protect New Yorkers if his administration infringes on abortion rights or other state priorities.
John Catsimatidis, the New York billionaire who is friendly with both the mayor and the president-elect, said it appeared to him that Mr. Adams was trying to slowly build ties in Mr. Trump’s orbit. Mr. Catsimatidis, a Republican, said the mayor had not asked for his advice, but if he were to, he would recommend prioritizing meeting Mr. Trump in a more intimate setting.
“It’s a long way to the inauguration,” he said. “There’s got to be a pre-sit-down before you talk about the inauguration.”
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