Former city comptroller Scott Stringer is eyeing a second run for mayor in a potential comeback bid challenging Mayor Eric Adams.
Stringer said he’s opening an exploratory committee that could see him on the ballot next to the incumbent in the 2025 Democratic primary.
The ex-comptroller lost to Adams in the 2021 Democratic primary after his campaign crumbled when a former campaign volunteer accused him of sexual assault two decades prior.
Stringer denied the accusation and has since sued the woman, Jean Kim, for defamation. She sued him for abuse under the Adult Survivors Act last year.
“I’m setting up an exploratory committee to run for mayor,” Stringer, 63, told The Post Wednesday.
“This administration is steering the ship into the iceberg. We need to move the ship away from the iceberg,” he said.
He claims Adams’ tenure, now at its midpoint, has been a disappointment.
“Crime is up. Housing is down. Education is flat,” Stringer said.
Adams, however, has boasted that crime fell last year in 5 of 7 categories including murders and shootings.
The percentage of students who cleared proficiency on the state’s math exam also increased 11 points last year, while the percentage of kids passing English Language Arts was up 3 points.
But the recent exams were based on new standards put in place, so the results weren’t directly comparable with the prior year’s tests.
Adams’ approval rating dropped to a meager 28% in a Quinnipiac poll released last month — which is the lowest ever recorded for a New York City mayor by the university since they began querying Big Apple voters a quarter-century ago.
The mayor has been grappling with a migrant crisis, budget woes, and a serious FBI probe into his 2021 campaign. He has not been accused of wrongdoing in the federal probe but has raised $725,000 for a legal defense fund.
Stringer was the city comptroller from 2014 to 2021 and previously served as Manhattan borough president and a state assemblyman representing the Upper West Side.
He was elected comptroller in 2013, defeating Eliot Spitzer, who attempted a comeback after resigning as governor in a prostitution scandal.
Stringer is not the only New York pol trying to rise from the ashes of career-damning scandals.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned under the threat of impeachment in 2021 amid accusations of sexual misconduct, also has not ruled out another bid for public office. He has similarly denied wrongdoing.