The political tsunami that swept Republicans into power in places they weren’t expected to was one of the top stories last week, as RedState reported. But there was also a pleasant surprise tucked among the Democrats who won — even in New York City — as Nick Arama included in a round-up of the winners nationally in last Tuesday’s elections:

But that wasn’t all. In the deeply blue — it’s hard to get bluer — New York City, there was also a sea change. The city will now have a more moderate Democrat, law and order former police officer Eric Adams as mayor to replace the rabidly left Bill de Blasio.

Indeed, he’s certainly different in some striking ways from De Blasio. On Friday, Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, took his fellow progressive Democrats to task for the party’s devastating losses elsewhere. He didn’t mince words about what the issues are.

NY Daily News:

“There’s a body in our country where there’s no desire to talk. There’s an anarchist group in this country that many of us are ignoring,” he said. “They’re throwing Molotov cocktails at police cars. They are trying to disrupt our way of life.”

He added that Democrats need to “weed them out from those who have real concerns and engage in real conversation with them.”

“If I have one message to the Democrats: Get back on the ground,” he said.

He name-checked two Democrat politicians in particular, whom he shared that message with.

Adams said he spoke with both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris about Tuesday night’s election results and said he was clear in his conversations with them that Democrats “better engage on the ground.”

“I just believe we don’t have our fingers on the pulse of everyday Democrats and even in the purple areas — people who are trying to decide,” he said. “Democrats don’t want to disband police departments. They want police officers to do their job.”

Appearing Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Adams continued to pile on, telling co-anchor Dana Bash:

“….[W]e continue to give a dysfunctional product every year, not educating our children; 65 percent of black and brown children don’t read proficiency in New York City….  Public safety is really a real problem, not only the action, but the perception.”

NYC mayor-elect Eric Adams: "65% of black and brown children don't read [proficiently] in New York City. We have rats that are running, […] not picking up the garbage, public safety is really a real problem. […] We need to get back to the basics." pic.twitter.com/fJ7tNfgsd6

— The Hill (@thehill) November 8, 2021

But don’t get me wrong. Adams is still a progressive who believes that ‘government’ is the answer for most problems; For example, his answer to Bash about how COVID vaccinations are going in NY begins by sounding like any other Dem. He isn’t planning on scrapping the mandates his predecessor put in place.

But you must admit, hearing something like this is refreshing from the leader of a major Democrat city: (emphasis mine)

“We have done an amazing job. Over 80 percent of New Yorkers are mandated. Many of our municipal employees are as well. But when you look in the crevices of those last numbers that are not, some are legitimate issues.

Like, one young lady I spoke with, she has a religious exemption for all of our [sic] children. They’re 20-something years old, never vaccinated in schools. So, why are we all of a sudden telling her we are no longer going to respect that?

And so, if there are real health care issues, real religious exemptions….

Read it a second time, because I had to. A progressive who respects religious liberties, calls out Antifa as violent thugs, and doesn’t want to rip apart our police departments? Adams and any other Democrat who speaks this way is someone conservatives need to keep a close eye on in the future.