In his nearly four years as mayor of New York City, Eric Adams has rarely vetoed bills passed by the City Council. But as he ramps up his re-election campaign, he has vetoed four bills in quick succession, arguing that the measures would hurt the economy and public safety.
Mr. Adams, a Democrat who is running as an independent and is trailing in polls, has received a wave of criticism from members of his party over the vetoes, especially for his opposition to bills that would help grocery delivery workers and unlicensed street vendors.
The Council is expected to override his vetoes on those two issues next month. But Mr. Adams appears eager for a fight and has claimed that the delivery worker legislation would raise the price of groceries and that the vendor bill would allow unlicensed street vending to proliferate.
Randy Mastro, Mr. Adams’s first deputy mayor, said in an interview that he hoped the Council, which voted convincingly to pass the measures, would let the vetoes stand. Mr. Mastro argued that it was important to “do the right thing and stand up for common sense,” even if the mayor ultimately loses the debate.
Each bill touches on a hot-button issue in the city, and the vetoes are part of a longstanding war between the mayor and the Council. The mayor’s last vetoes came in January 2024, when he lost a showdown with the Council over bills that sought to end solitary confinement in city jails and expanded documentation of police stops.
The latest series of vetoes began on July 30, when Mr. Adams rejected a bill related to a casino license in the Bronx, in a move that could end up helping President Trump. Mr. Adams has faced criticism over his efforts to ally himself with the president as part of his ultimately successful effort to get Mr. Trump’s Justice Department to abandon a federal corruption indictment against him.
Mr. Adams wants to allow a gambling company, Bally’s, to pursue the Bronx casino project; if the company were to win approval, it would pay $115 million to the Trump Organization, the former operator of the site.
The mayor has argued that he wants each casino bid to be treated fairly and that the Council bill, which rejected zoning changes that were essential to the Bally’s plan, unfairly targeted one project. The Council did not have the two-thirds majority of votes required in the 51-member body to override that veto.
The second veto came later that same day, when Mr. Adams moved to stop a bill that would reduce criminal penalties for street vendors who operate without a license. Many of the vendors are immigrants, and leaders in the Council worry that if the bill does not become law, the vendors will be more likely to be swept up in Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Then, on Wednesday, the mayor vetoed a pair of bills that would set minimum pay rules for workers who deliver groceries for companies such as Instacart. The bills would match pay standards for restaurant delivery workers that took effect earlier this year, and that Mr. Adams supported.
The Council said in a statement that Mr. Adams was “displaying hypocrisy” and allowing delivery workers to be exploited.
“This veto demonstrates that the mayor’s claims to care about working-class New Yorkers and a sustainable delivery industry for New York City are hollow because he is undermining the workers who make the sector possible,” the Council said.
The bills are also figuring into the mayor’s race. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, supports the delivery-worker and street-vendor bills.
The high cost of groceries is a focus of Mr. Mamdani’s campaign, and he has pledged to create one city-owned grocery store in each borough. He has also raised concerns about the high costs of permits for street vendors and the complex rules they must follow.
“Mayor Adams has once again sided with Donald Trump and the predatory delivery app industry over workers, failing to deliver pay increases for delivery workers and choosing to jeopardize the lives of street vendors — the majority of whom are immigrants — from the federal government’s dangerous deportation crackdowns,” Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani, said.
Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, is supporting Mr. Mamdani in the mayor’s race. She has been highly critical of Mayor Adams, to whom she is not related, and said on Thursday that she looked forward to overriding the mayor’s vetoes.
Mr. Mastro argued that Mr. Adams opposed the legislation raising delivery workers’ pay because it could increase grocery prices for New Yorkers at a time when many are struggling with rising costs.
“It’s a matter of affordability,” he said. “To do this now, at this moment in time, would increase grocery prices for people who depend on deliveries, including seniors and people with disabilities.”
Instacart, which has conducted an intense lobbying effort to stop the delivery worker bills from becoming law, thanked Mr. Adams in a statement on Wednesday for “listening to the growing chorus of New Yorkers speaking out against this harmful legislation.”
The legislation would require third-party app companies like Instacart to pay delivery workers a minimum of $21.44 an hour. Workers’ rights groups have criticized the mayor’s vetoes and highlighted the low wages earned by Instacart workers.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said “the city’s priority should be to protect the workers who feed New York City and not to protect the already substantial profits being made by app-based delivery companies.”
The delivery-worker bills were approved with the support of at least 35 Council members, and the street-vendor bill was approved with 40 votes. The Council is expected to override the mayor’s vetoes at a meeting on Sept. 10.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller and an ally of Mr. Mamdani, criticized the mayor’s vetoes, and said that in both cases Mr. Adams was favoring wealthy businesses.
“Adams’s City Hall clearly sides with deep-pocketed corporate interests if he’s willing to erode pay protections and criminalize small businesses with the swipe of a pen,” Mr. Lander said.