Eric Adams Drops out of New York City Mayoral Race

On Sunday, incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams officially ended his campaign for re-election. Adams had been running an independent campaign for reelection after dropping out of the democratic primary race earlier this year. 

In a nearly 9-minute long video posted to X, Adams said his reelection efforts could not continue. 

“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my re-election campaign. 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,” Adams said in the video. 

The move comes at a time when the polling consistently shows the mayor coming in at fourth place in the November general election - behind Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani with 46%, Andrew Cuomo with 24%, and Curtis Sliwa at 15%.  

Adams’ reelection was seen by many politicos as an uphill battle because of a tenure mired by controversy, alleged corruption and compromised allies. In September 2024, Adams was federally charged with bribery and corruption by the Southern District of New York court. While the charges against the mayor were ultimately dropped in February, Adams has been working to remove the stain of those charges from the minds of voters. 

In response to Adams’ dropping out of the race, Zohran Mamdani shed light on some of the alleged shortcomings of Eric Adams’ tenure at city hall in a video posted to YouTube.    

“Four years ago, [Eric Adams] ran on a promise to working class New Yorkers to deliver both safety and justice [and] to bring the voice of the outer voices to City Hall. Instead, he raised their rents, closed their buses and cut funding for their schools, libraries and childcare,” Mamdani said while proclaiming a new day is coming if he wins in November.  

Mamdani also took aim at Cuomo - who he bested for the Democratic nomination in June - and said he looked forward to beating him again this November. 

Meanwhile, Cuomo posted a statement on X in which he applauded Adams’ decision to drop out of the race. This comes after months of Cuomo and Adams calling on one another to drop out of the race to create an easier path to defeat Mamdani. 

“The choice[Eric Adams] made today was not an easy one, but I believe he is sincere in putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition. 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 in a statement. 

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa also weighed in on the news. Sliwa wrote on X that he is the only person that can defeat Mamdani. 

“Our team, our resources, and our supporters are unmatched. Most importantly, we have the best solutions to help working people afford to stay in New York City and feel safe”, Sliwa wrote in a post. 

While Eric Adams did drop out of the race, the mayor will still remain on the November ballot as the move comes after the deadline given by the New York City Board of Elections to ensure a candidate’s name is removed from the ballot when they drop out of the race.  

This is also the case for Jim Walden who was running on an independent campaign and dropped out of the race a few weeks ago. 

With just a few weeks until the general election in November, there will surely be more news and developments heading into the final days of this consequential mayoral race.