NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that he is ending his campaign for reelection.
In a video released on social media, Adams spoke with pride about his achievements as mayor, including a drop in violent crime. But he said that “constant media speculation” about his future and a decision by the city’s campaign finance board to withhold public funding from his reelection effort, made it impossible to stay in the race.
“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” Adams said.
The one-term Democrat’s decision to quit the race comes days after he repeatedly insisted he would stay in the contest, saying everyday New Yorkers don’t “surrender.”
But speculation that he wouldn’t make it to Election Day has been rampant for a year. Adams’ campaign was severely wounded by his now-dismissed federal bribery case and liberal anger over his warm relationship with President Donald Trump. He skipped the Democratic primary and got on the ballot as an independent.
Adams makes no endorsements in dropping out
In the video, Adams did not directly mention or endorse any of the remaining candidates in the race, but he warned of “insidious forces” using local government to “advance divisive agendas.”
“Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer (is) to destroy the very system we built over generations,” he said. “That is not change, that is chaos. Instead, I urge leaders to choose leaders not by what they promise, but by what they have delivered.
Adams capitulation could potentially provide a lift to the campaign of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow centrist who has portrayed himself as the only candidate potentially able to beat the Democratic Party’s nominee, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani.
It was unclear, though, whether enough Adams’ supporters would shift their allegiances to Cuomo to make a difference.
Mamdani, who, at age 33, would be the city’s youngest and most liberal mayor in generations if elected, beat Cuomo decisively in the Democratic primary by campaigning on a promise try to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
Republican Curtis Sliwa also remains in the race, though his candidacy has been undercut from within his own party; Trump in a recent interview called him “not exactly prime time.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has endorsed Mamdani, said in a statement after the mayor’s announcement that she has been proud to have worked with Adams for the last four years, and that he leaves the city “better than he inherited it.”
Rough showing in polls
Polls conducted in early September illustrated Adams’ challenges. One poll by The New York Times and Siena University and another by Quinnipiac University showed likely voters favoring Mamdani over Cuomo, with Sliwa and Adams trailing further behind.
The Quinnipiac poll suggested the gap between Mamdani and Cuomo could narrow if Adams dropped out. The Times/Siena poll suggested that if both Adams and Sliwa withdrew, Mamdani’s advantage over Cuomo could shrink even further.
Sliwa, though, has repeatedly insisted he will not quit under any circumstances.
In recent weeks, Trump administration intermediaries interested in blocking Mamdani’s path to victory by getting him into a one-on-one matchup with Cuomo had approached Adams to see if he could be coaxed out of the contest with an offer of a government job.
Amid reports on those discussions, Adams called a news conference where he pledged to keep running and derided Cuomo and Mamdani as “spoiled brats.” Later, Adams went even further on social media, calling Cuomo “a liar and a snake.”
Indictment overshadows progress
Adams, 65, is the city’s second Black mayor. A former New York City police captain and Brooklyn borough president, he took office in 2022 promising to crack down on crime and revitalize the city with his signature “swagger” as it recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.
On his signature issue, he succeeded. Crime rates that ticked upward after COVID-19 hit the city has fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, though it is unclear how much that had to do with Adams’ policies.
But Adams’ focus on reducing crime and disorder has been overshadowed, time and again, by swirling scandals, corruption probes and lawsuits that have alleged rampant favor-trading at the highest levels of city government.
Over a head-spinning period of weeks last year, his police commissioner, schools chancellor and several deputy mayors resigned following a series of federal raids on their homes. None have faced criminal charges.
Then, in late September, federal prosecutors brought fraud and bribery charges against Adams himself, saying he had accepted illegal campaign contributions and steep travel discounts from a Turkish official and others in exchange for accelerating the opening of Turkey’s diplomatic building, among other favors.
Trump intervenes
Adams denied wrongdoing and pledged to remain in office as he fought the case in court. But he also began speaking warmly about Trump, who was then seen as having a growing chance of regaining the White House. He defended Trump in media briefings, urged his own party to tone down rhetoric against the Republican, refrained from criticizing him and also largely stopped promoting the campaign of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
After Trump won, Adams met with Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan, and pledged the city’s cooperation with some aspects of the new administration’s immigration crackdown.
Then, in February, Trump’s Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop the charges against Adams so the mayor could assist with the Republican president’s immigration agenda.
The extraordinary intervention set off a fresh round of tumult in City Hall and the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, with some of Adams’ closest allies suggesting he had struck a deal with the White House for his freedom.
Adams announced he would skip the June Democratic primary but would stay in the race.
Summer brings no reprieve
Since returning to the campaign trail this summer, Adams, who often describes himself as “perfectly imperfect,” once again found himself surrounded by scandal.
In late August, his former top advisor — who served as a campaign volunteer — was hit with fresh bribery charges. Another former aide was removed from the campaign after handing a potato chip bag full of cash to a local reporter.
In the final weeks of his campaign, he had rejected mounting calls to bow out to give Cuomo a better shot at beating Mamdani.
“History is going to be kind to me when I’m out of the political spotlight 10, 15 years from now, and they look over and say: You know what? We got to give this guy his due,” Adams said recently. “That’s what I’m fighting for.”
Jake Offenhartz And Anthony Izaguirre, The Associated Press
