New York City Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race for re-election Sunday. This decision comes as candidate and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, rallies for bipartisan support to ensure that Mamdani loses the race.
“I’ve been sitting down with my team,” Adams said in a video on X, announcing his decision. “We’ve got to make the right decision. I’m going to make the right decision for the city of New York, the city I love.”
“It has been my honor to be your mayor,” Adams further said. “And I’m proud to say that we took that victory four years ago and turned it into action, making this city better for those who have been failed by government.”
In September 2024, Adams was indicted federally on counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery, and soliciting illegal campaign contributions. These were dismissed in April by the US Department of Justice.
Since his indictment and the subsequent dismissal of charges, support for Adams has decreased.
Mamdani told Democracy Now that Adams was a Trump-backed mayor who failed to produce conditions for a better New York City. He also said Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa is the candidate he trusts most.
“[O]f Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, Curtis Sliwa is the one that I would trust the most,” Mamdani said. “And I do think it is very real that there are many who are threatened by our campaign and our politics of putting working people at the heart of this city’s focus, and are trying to do everything in their power—and we’ve seen that with Donald Trump being on the phone with Andrew Cuomo, trying to do everything in his power—to ensure that they stop this movement.”
Adams’ name will remain on the ballot due to his resignation not coming before May 30, per New York City Board of Election policy. He was polling fourth, “in the high single digits,” according to the New York Post, which would, at this time, not be enough to aid Cuomo in winning the election over Mamdani.
