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.
