NEW YORK — New York Mayor Eric Adams set out Thursday to persuade skeptical voters to grant him a second term, hosting a kickoff event for his independent reelection bid after a corruption indictment, a controversial dismissal and a decision to drop out of the Democratic primary.
On the steps of City Hall, Adams rattled off his political accomplishments while punctuating his speech with barbs for the expected Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, casting the young liberal as a child of privilege with no real political achievements or realistic policies.
“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a silver spoon,” Adams said. “A choice between dirty fingernails and manicured nails.”
Two days ago, progressive upstart Mamdani declared a stunning Democratic primary victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the presumed favorite despite a sexual harassment scandal that forced him from office four years ago.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist in his third term in the state Assembly, was virtually unknown just months ago but has since skyrocketed to political stardom. His energetic campaign, known for its viral social media videos, has won major momentum through a laser-focus on improving the city’s astronomical cost of living.
At the same time, Mamdani has endured heat for his past criticisms of law enforcement, thin legislative record and lofty campaign promises.
Adams, even with all his political baggage, has seemed to relish a general election matchup with Mamdani, seeing a potentially viable lane to reelection if he goes up against the relatively inexperienced progressive.
“I’m not interesting in twitter politics, I’m interested in getting the trash picked up,” Adams told his supporters Thursday, digging at Mamdani. “I’m not interested in slogans, I’m in interested in solutions.”
Adams, still a registered Democrat, pulled out of the primary to run as an independent candidate in April, shortly after a federal judge dismissed the corruption case against him at the request of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. The mayor had argued that the legal saga had sidelined him from the campaign trail. He has done little in the way of campaigning since then.
But as the results in Tuesday’s primary were coming in, showing Mamdani with a commanding position, Adams underscored his own independent run with a post on social media that “the fight for New York’s future begins tonight.”
Results will be finalized after the city’s ranked choice vote-counting resumes July 1, and the winner advances to November’s election against candidates including Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime group.
Adams, 64, is a retired police captain who later became a state senator and Brooklyn’s borough president. He presents himself as a champion of working-class New York, public safety and an upbeat, self-believing attitude he calls “swagger” - the kind of drive that propelled a house-cleaner’s son to become the second Black mayor of the nation’s most populous metropolis.
Mamdani is the son of an award-winning filmmaker and an anthropology professor at Columbia University. He graduated from a private liberal arts college, worked as a foreclosure prevention counselor and had a side-hustle as a rapper before first being elected to the New York Assembly in 2020.
Democratic nominees generally enjoy strong tailwinds in a city where about two-thirds of registered voters are Democrats. But New Yorkers elected an unaffiliated mayor as recently as 2009, when incumbent Mike Bloomberg won a third term after leaving the Republican Party.
The big question for Adams: whether he can overcome his shaky standing with voters.
He has no shortage of detractors.
Protesters frequently interrupted his reelection rally on Thursday, chanting from a nearby park. As Adams stepped behind a podium and readied himself to deliver remarks, a protester emerged just feet away, yelling at the mayor. He was swiftly removed. Almost immediately after, another protester appeared, calling the mayor a “criminal” before he too was removed.
Still, Adams might have a chance to woo moderate and business-focused Cuomo supporters who are uneasy about Mamdani. The incumbent’s campaign event featured faith leaders, some of whom delivered remarks before Adams, and was attended by some former elected officials.
Cuomo himself is mulling an independent campaign that would put him on the general election ballot as well.