This is my take as a liberal Texan, just because I live in a red state doesn’t mean I think these “blue” states are role models, NY especially is very hypocritical. People think down here we are a bunch of shooty bigoted cowboys and that’s sort of true, but over the years I’ve picked up that the East Coast has a bunch of dark shit going on that’s not reported in the media. I don’t think NYC models a good multi-cultural society either, it’s just a bunch of segregated pockets of different ethnicities/races/classes who secretly hate each other and want to be dominant. Guys like Eric Adams therefore are a product of that, there is nothing liberal about him except that he’s black so he has to play the part. I’d argue that there are sunbelt Republican mayors who are more progressive than Adams.