After weeks of anticipation, Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams formally launched her marketing campaign for mayor on Worldwide Ladies’s Day.
To have fun the launch of her marketing campaign, Adams held a press convention on Saturday, March 8, exterior of her metropolis council workplace, which is smack dab in the midst of Rochdale Village Purchasing Middle in Southeast Jamaica, Queens. Her marketing campaign supporters have been joined by locals and sorors from Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority, Inc.
The information about her determination to run was initially damaged late Wednesday night time on March 5. She is working for mayor in opposition to incumbent Eric Adams (no relation), former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and a slew of various candidates.
“I by no means deliberate to run for mayor, however I’m not giving up on New York Metropolis. Our metropolis deserves a frontrunner who serves its folks first and all the time, not somebody centered on themselves and their very own political pursuits,” mentioned Adams. “I’m a public servant, mom, Queens woman, and I’m working for mayor. No drama, no nonsense — simply my dedication to main with competence and integrity.”
The encircling neighborhood of Rochdale Village, aka the “Jewel of Jamaica,” was developed beneath the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program to offer inexpensive housing for low- and middle-income households. It operates like a small city inside the borough with its personal malls, playgrounds, public security division, energy plant, daycare facilities, colleges, neighborhood middle, senior middle; and is run by a board of administrators.
Southeast Jamaica is a certain voter base that Adams will lean on closely to compensate for petitioning and fundraising within the mayoral race. This weekend, Adams started gathering petition signatures to get on the Democratic poll. Inexperienced sheets for residents to signal have been seen through the occasion and all through the purchasing middle. To seem on the June poll, candidates should gather 3,750 signatures from registered Democratic voters by April 3.
She additionally hopes to gather sufficient donations to take part within the metropolis’s matching funds program.
Different challenges her marketing campaign has to deal with will probably be title recognition, contemplating she and Mayor Adams have comparable names, and the truth that New York Metropolis has by no means elected a lady for mayor regardless of many valiant makes an attempt. However above all, the federal administration and President Donald Trump loom heavy over each mayoral candidate.
“The neighborhoods that New Yorkers name dwelling could differ, however the issues and prospects New Yorkers face are the identical,” mentioned Adams. “The belief in metropolis corridor and the deal with public service to New Yorkers has been weakened. Donald Trump’s corruption of our metropolis’s independence is rising and each single day he’s spreading chaos that’s dangerous to our metropolis and households. New Yorkers are fed up, so it’s time for us to face up.”
Adams was endorsed by a bevy of her colleagues, together with Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, Majority Chief Amanda Farias, Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, Senator James Sanders, former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, former Councilmember I. Daneek Miller, and councilmembers Kevin Riley, Althea Stevens, Sandy Nurse, Chris Banks, and Yusef Salaam.
“The final time a Black girl ran a few months in the past, we didn’t hear, and now we’re coping with the results,” mentioned Stevens on the convention. “When you’re prepared for a frontrunner that’s going to steer with integrity, that’s gonna lead with love, with compassion, that’s going to construct bridges. That’s going to vary this metropolis. You need to vote for a Black girl.”
Salaam added that he was deeply moved to be working with Adams as a primary time councilmember. Two of his Harlem colleagues, Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs and first-timer Jordan Wright, opted to endorse Cuomo within the mayoral race.
“Proper now we’re at a important second in our metropolis,” mentioned Salaam. “We should have a mayor who is totally devoted to creating New Yorkers’ lives higher. Adrienne is that particular person, proving that she will get outcomes and addresses the problems of significance to our communities. From confronting maternal mortality to rising inexpensive housing, our metropolis and its persons are all the time her north star. I actually imagine she’s going to proceed that path as our subsequent mayor.”
Adams was born and raised in Hollis, Queens by union-working dad and mom. She attended Bayside Excessive College, and briefly York School concurrently her father earlier than transferring to Spelman School in Atlanta. She mentioned her profession has included being a flight attendant and a company coach. She joined Neighborhood Board 12 and have become an advocate later in life, preventing for fairness in training and extra assets for colleges.
“The place I’m from is who I’m; Adrienne, from Queens,” she mentioned to a packed crowd.
She reiterated that she didn’t intend to run for elected workplace, however ran and received in 2017. She turned the primary girl to symbolize District 28 in Queens. In 2022, she was elected by metropolis council to be the primary Black speaker and lead essentially the most various and first-ever, women-majority council in metropolis historical past.
