How Moderate Are New York City Democrats?
Peggy Noonan is pleased that New York Democrats Take a Stab at Reality (Declarations, June 26) in their primary election for New York City mayor. Her assessment that voters realize they are amid a crime wave and cannot afford to ignore law and order is based on the fact that the three more or less reality-oriented moderates in the election received 63% of the first-choice vote. Applauding New Yorkers for favoring the slightly less-progressive and less-hostile-to-police candidates in a city plagued by crime is a stretch. Eric Adams, with less than a third of the total, and Andrew Yang, with 12%, staked out pro-police turf. But the other candidates positions on policing ranged from redirecting the police budget to community-service projects to tightening controls on police and guns. Ms. Noonan included a third candidate, Kathryn Garcia (19%), in her list of moderates, even though her primary crime-control fixes are gun suppression, gun buybacks and zero tolerance for police behavior that is anything but perfect. That stance may pass as moderate in New York, Chicago, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. In most of reality-oriented America, it would not. Adam Graham  Charleston, S.C.