New York City Mayor Eric Adams is abandoning the Democratic Party in his next big for Governor, announcing this morning that he will run as an independent.

This is undoubtedly a strategy to take on the disgraced and former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, in the general election instead of losing to him in the primary.

Here’s more from CNN:

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is ditching the Democratic Party as he seeks a second term.

Adams, who was a Republican before he became a Democrat, formally announced his mayoral reelection campaign in a video Thursday, saying he plans to run as an independent.

“Though I am still a Democrat, I am announcing that I will forego the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an Independent candidate in the general election,” Adams said in the video.

The move, which comes less than 24 hours after a judge permanently dismissed a federal corruption case against the mayor, sets up what is likely to be a frenzied, fast-paced race toward the general election in November. The charges were first dropped a few weeks into President Donald Trump’s second term in part because the case would impede Adams’ ability to do his job as mayor, including cooperating with Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Justice Department’s new acting deputy attorney general wrote.

Several Democrats are seeking the party’s nomination, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo currently leading in most polls.

The Democratic primary in New York, which is held in June, is considered the determining race ahead of the November election. Democrats outnumber Republicans by large margins in the city; whoever wins the primary is seen as the likely victor in the general election. Michael Bloomberg, a once and now again Democrat, won mayoral races in the nation’s most populous city as an independent and as a Republican, spending millions of his personal fortune to do so.