New York Mayor Eric Adams pledged to be “radically practical” in his inaugural mayoral remarks, rejecting the “ideological wars of our recent political past” that divided New Yorkers.

Adams, who campaigned as a centrist in one of the most left-leaning cities in the United States, took veiled swipes at his predecessor, progressive former Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying the city’s “dysfunctional” government “created its own crisis long before COVID” and pledging to reject “false choices” proposed by ideologues.