After weeks of speculation, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday he will end his re-election campaign.Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/ZUMA
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Sunday that he will abandon his chaotic reelection campaign to run the biggest city in the country. The move came after weeks of speculation that the Trump administration was pressuring Adams to drop out, in a bid to boost former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s chances against frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.
In a bizarre start to the nearly nine-minute-long announcement video he posted to X, Adams walks down a set of stairs to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and plops down next to an oversized photo of his mother. He appears to blame his decision on negative media coverage and his inability to access matching campaign funds from the city—rather than the dismal polling that continually showed him trailing Mamdani, Cuomo, and even right-wing vigilante Curtis Sliwa.
“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” Adams says in the video. “The constant media speculation about my future and the Campaign Finance Board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.” (Last month, the CFB denied Adams’ request for matching funds for the 10th time, reportedly claiming the campaign had not submitted the required paperwork and may have violated the law.)
Predictably, Adams sought to write his own political obituary, casting himself as an unlikely upstart who rose to great heights against all odds—and leaving out his fall from grace following a federal indictment and a doomed mayoral campaign that recently featured a since-suspended advisor appearing to try to pay off a reporter. “Who would have thought that a kid from South Jamaica Queens, growing up with learning disabilities, could one day become the mayor of the greatest city in the world,” Adams says in the video. “I cannot thank my mother enough for instilling in me the values she lived by. I hope every parent can use my life as an example for their child during challenging moments. Only in America can a story like this be told.”
Adams also struck a decidedly Trumpian tone, characterizing himself as a martyr for New York City. He claimed, for example, that he “was wrongfully charged because I fought for this city”; in fact, he was charged with bribery and campaign finance offenses before the case was dropped earlier this year after Trump’s Department of Justice requested it so that Adams could help with the administration’s mass deportation agenda. Later in the video, when warning of rising political extremism, Adams echoes a Republican talking point: “Our children are being radicalized to hate our city and our country.”
“Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer to destroy the very system we built together over generations,” Adams says in the video.
And while he did not make an endorsement in the race, Adams appears to take a swipe at Mamdani, the 33-year-old state assembly member and Democratic Socialist who has campaigned on a series of sweeping changes to city government, including universal daycare, free buses, and city-run grocery stores. “Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer to destroy the very system we built together over generations,” Adams says in the video. “That is not change, that is chaos. Instead, I urge New Yorkers to choose leaders not by what they promised, but by what they have delivered.”
In a statement released Sunday afternoon, Cuomo called Adams “sincere in putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition.” He, too, appeared to drag Mamdani, though not by name: “We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them,” Cuomo said.
Mamdani, for his part, characterized Adams’ decision as proof of Trump’s reported involvement in the race in order to elect Cuomo: “Donald Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo’s actions but they will not dictate the results of this election,” he said. “New York deserves better than trading in one disgraced, corrupt politician for another. On November 4th, we are going to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas and deliver a government every New Yorker can be proud of.”
Sliwa used the opportunity to try to boost his lagging campaign. “I am the only candidate who can defeat Mamdani,” he said, despite the fact that he has consistently polled far behind both Mamdani and Cuomo.
The mayor’s move could play a key role in November’s election—particularly if Sliwa follows his lead in dropping out. A New York Times/Siena poll released earlier this month found that in a one-on-one matchup, Mamdani only leads Cuomo by four points, as opposed to the more than 20-point margin he enjoyed with all the candidates in the race. But Sliwa has pledged to stay in the race, which polling suggests will be good for Mamdani. A Quinnipiac poll released earlier this month, for example, suggested that Mamdani would maintain a 16-point lead over Cuomo and a nearly 30-point lead over Sliwa in a three-way race.
Adams does not address what’s next for him—though there has been speculation he may get a job in the Trump administration—but says that he “will continue to fight for this city as I have for 40 years since the day I joined the NYPD to make our streets safer and our systems fairer.”
Before he does, maybe he’ll take a vacation…perhaps to Istanbul.
Update, September 28: This post has been updated with statements from Mamdani, Cuomo, and Sliwa.
