New York City Mayor Eric Adams Drops Out of Mayoral Race

New York Mayor Eric Adams announced on Sunday that he would end his re-election bid, dropping out of a race that has shaken the political landscape and drawn the interest of national leaders, including President Donald Trump. “Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” he said in a video announcing his withdrawal, adding that “constant media speculation” about his future made it impossible to stay in the race. “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 did not endorse any other candidate in the race. Adams’ campaign was a long shot; the sitting mayor has spent much of his tenure since he was sworn in to run New York City in 2022 embroiled in controversy, most notably over his federal criminal indictment on bribery and conspiracy charges. Adams has denied the allegations. The Justice Department, which brought the charges against Adams in September while President Joe Biden was in office, dropped the case in April, saying that pursuing the case would interfere with the mayor’s ability to carry out the Trump Administration’s hard-line immigration agenda. When approving the dismissal, the judge called the situation “disturbing,” saying that “everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.” That same month, Adams—who ran as a Democrat in the 2021 mayoral race—announced that he would run for re-election as an independent.  For months, the mayor rejected calls to step down or end his candidacy. But The New York Times reported earlier this month that Adams had told his close associates that he was considering other opportunities instead of seeking re-election. Adams reportedly engaged in talks with Trump’s advisers about the possibility of the mayor dropping out of the race and taking a role in the Administration: Politico reported he had been offered a role in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, while the Times reported that Trump’s advisers were discussing a potential plan for the President to nominate Adams to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Amid the reports, a spokesperson for Adams insisted that the mayor had not had any discussions with Trump about the race, though Adams later said he “will always listen if called to serve our country.” Trump denied on Sept. 4 that he was encouraging any candidates to drop out of the race. He went on to say, however, that he would “prefer not to have a Communist mayor of New York City,” ostensibly referring to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, and that he “would like to see two people drop out” of the race to allow a single candidate to face off against Mamdani—who has held a clear lead in the polls—in a one-on-one matchup. “I think that’s a race that could be won,” he said. Mamdani, a Democratic socialist serving as a state Assemblymember, clinched the Democratic nomination when he defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Party’s June primary election. The victory marked a stunning political upset: Cuomo was long considered a front-runner in the primary race, until Mamdani surged in the polls in the weeks leading up to the election. In the wake of Mamdani’s victory, Trump privately debated whether to get involved in the mayoral race to try to prevent the Democratic nominee from winning the general election, people with knowledge of those discussions told the Times. The President has publicly blasted Mamdani on multiple occasions, calling him “a 100% Communist Lunatic.” Trump has alluded to false claims that Mamdani is in the U.S. “illegally” (he is not; Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and came to the U.S. as a child, became a naturalized American citizen in 2018). The President has even threatened to arrest Mamdani, after the Democratic nominee vowed to push back on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. With Adams dropping out of the race, Mamdani is still set to face Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and Cuomo, who is mounting an independent bid after his loss in the Democratic primary, in November’s election. Trump supported Cuomo’s decision to run as an independent, saying at the time, “I think he should stay. I think he has a shot.” The Times reported that Trump’s advisers have also discussed persuading Sliwa to end his candidacy to bolster Cuomo’s chances against Mamdani. Sliwa and Cuomo have both denied any contact with the White House.