It took simply a few days after Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the 2025 marketing campaign earlier than the remaining candidates started concentrating on one another. Whereas the race could have grow to be extra centered, it’s no much less scurrilous.
“Zohran Mamdani is a hypocrite who will do something and say something in a cynical try to idiot voters,” former Gov. Andrew Cuomo Spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi stated in an announcement to the press. “Regardless of his promise, he received’t apologize for calling the NYPD racist for years, he received’t ever give a transparent reply about his previous marketing campaign pledge to decriminalize prostitution and he’s not being straight on how he funds his marketing campaign. It’s a sample, however luckily New Yorkers are good and so they can odor a phoney a mile away.”
Not one to skip a counterpunch, Queens assemblymember Zohran Mamdani launched his response on Tuesday:
“We all know that what billionaires and C-suite executives are as soon as once more making an attempt to purchase their method out of is a metropolis that working individuals can really afford — a metropolis the place the issues of these individuals will likely be on the forefront and on the coronary heart of our politics. New York Metropolis deserves higher than one more mayor purchased by billionaires, higher than somebody who would fairly spend time in a non-public membership than out right here with the general public,” stated Mamdani, who additionally launched his newest marketing campaign advert.
Adams, 65, the second Black man to carry the place within the metropolis’s historical past, formally give up after a turbulent single time period and a lackluster efficiency in opposition to the opposite candidates. He was operating for re-election as an Unbiased candidate in opposition to Democratic nominee Mamdani, and fellow impartial candidate Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
“Regardless of all we’ve achieved, I can’t proceed my re-election marketing campaign. The fixed media hypothesis about my future and the Marketing campaign Finance Board’s choice to withhold hundreds of thousands of {dollars} have undermined my skill to boost the funds wanted for a critical marketing campaign,” Adams stated in a curated video submit on X this Sunday, September 28. “I hope in time New Yorkers will see this metropolis thrived beneath our management.”
Starting in 2023, Adams and his administration had been beneath intense federal scrutiny. Federal prosecutors had been quietly investigating him and his “interior circle” due to alleged fraud in his 2021 mayoral marketing campaign. A slew of Adams’ prime officers and company heads abruptly resigned from their positions over a number of months. Adams was lastly indicted in 2024 on a five-count felony cost. Nonetheless, after cosying as much as Republicans and President Donald Trump, a federal decide moved to dismiss his corruption case again in April 2025.
All through all of it, Adams doggedly refused to resign.
Despite the fact that he had efficiently overwhelmed his corruption fees, the controversy put a major dent on his possibilities of successful the Democratic major in June 2025. Mamdani, in style amongst youthful voters within the 5 Boroughs with a message that addressed the excessive value of dwelling in New York, pulled off an upset and took the first, leaving each Cuomo and Adams considering what can be subsequent.
In a shock transfer, Adams determined to desert the first and run within the common election as an Unbiased –– a last-ditch effort to save lots of his mayoralty for a second time period.
Together with his volunteers working laborious to get out the vote in numerous communities, Adams nonetheless had a a lot much less noticeable presence on the marketing campaign path. On his social media platforms this summer season, he pivoted to posting stylish quick movies and content material that may be fitter for a twenty-something TikTok influencer, in an effort to imitate Mamdani’s on-line success.
His polling numbers had been nonetheless behind the pack, and at one level, trailing behind Sliwa at 9% in a Siena College/New York Occasions ballot.
Regardless of rumors that he was dropping out of the operating to take a federal job in Trump’s administration for the previous few weeks, Adams had maintained that he wouldn’t publicly finish his marketing campaign. This got here after The New York Occasions revealed that Trump had conspired with Cuomo forward of the mayoral election set for this November.
The race now focuses totally on Mamdani and Cuomo — who’ve the assist of billionaire-funded Tremendous PACs and is backed by plenty of people who find themselves fearful of getting a Democratic Socialist operating the town. In line with a Sept. 23 Suffolk College ballot, Cuomo is available in 20 share factors behind Mamdani, leaving the Queens state assemblymember with the momentum within the race.
Reactions to the withdrawal
Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights activist and founding father of the Nationwide Motion Community (NAN), has been a longtime mentor and colleague of Adams. He was just lately seen main the 56th Annual African American Day Parade in Harlem, an occasion from which Adams was noticeably absent this yr.
“Mayor Adams knowledgeable me earlier at the moment that he wouldn’t search re-election, and I instructed him I revered his choice, wished him nothing however the very best, and stated I used to be honored his final interview earlier than this announcement was with me on PoliticsNation. We’ve got been mates for practically 35 years, and he helped us set up the Nationwide Motion Community in 1991,” stated Sharpton.
“He has been a good friend of NAN yr in and yr out since, particularly over the past nearly 4 years he led Metropolis Corridor. NAN stays centered on persevering with our work of constructing New York Metropolis protected, livable, and affluent for Black and Brown communities,” he continued.
In response to the breaking information that Adams dropped out of the race for mayor, Mamdani stated in an announcement that “Trump and his billionaire donors” would possibly be capable of affect Adams and Cuomo, however they’d not dictate the election. “New York deserves higher than buying and selling in a single disgraced, corrupt politician for an additional,” stated Mamdani. “On November 4th, we’re going to flip the web page on the politics of massive cash and small concepts and ship a authorities each New Yorker will be happy with.”
Cuomo stated, in an announcement, that Adams hadn’t made an “simple” selection, however he believed that he was sincerely “placing the well-being of New York Metropolis forward of non-public ambition. We face damaging extremist forces that may devastate our metropolis by way of incompetence or ignorance, however it’s not too late to cease them.” He then went on to reward Adams as a local New Yorker with a profitable rags-to-riches story.
Daniel Kurzyna, a spokesperson for Sliwa, lauded the Guardian Angels founder as the one candidate who might now defeat Mamdani within the mayoral race. “Our group, our assets, and our funding are unmatched. Most significantly, we have now the very best options to assist working individuals afford to remain in New York Metropolis and really feel protected.”
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries has to this point not endorsed Mamdani for mayor because the Democratic nominee and acquired backlash for it. In a short assertion, he referred to as Adams brave for his years of public service as a New York police officer and elected official. He stated his focus will likely be on addressing the “Republican healthcare disaster and funding the federal government” to keep away from a shutdown quickly.
Brooklyn Celebration Boss and Assemblymember Rodynese Bichotte Hermelyn had beforehand backed Cuomo for mayor after which Mamdani after his major win. She thanked Adams for his service and wished him effectively. “Now we proceed to show the web page in uniting behind our Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, and electing daring management that facilities affordability, fairness, and justice,” stated Hermelyn.
The one different Black individual to have held the accountability of operating New York Metropolis was the late Mayor David Dinkins, who was elected in 1989 and likewise served one controversial time period earlier than shedding to Rudy Giuliani 4 years later. One other Republican, Michael Bloomberg, was elected in 2001, although he grew to become an impartial in 2007.
Regardless of dealing with heated criticism throughout his time period over a violent protest that broke out between Jewish and Black communities in Brooklyn and the Central Park 5 case, Dinkins is usually remembered favorably in hindsight for his insurance policies on neighborhood security.
Early in his first yr as mayor, like Dinkins, Adams was already dealing with rumors of being a one-term chief.
Even Sharpton drew sharp comparisons between the 2 in a 2024 op-ed.
“Mayor Eric Adams’ choice to drop out of the race will make this a tighter mayoral election and provides Cuomo a preventing probability as we face a pivotal turning level whereas our metropolis is beneath assault by President Trump,” stated James Christopher, who owns and runs a political consultancy.
“Nonetheless, Adams has basically been compelled to make this tough choice, and New Yorkers throughout the political spectrum are definitely not cheering as our incumbent Mayor is compelled to observe Dinkins’ footsteps as a one-term Black Mayor.”
