New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that he is ending his campaign for reelection.
In a video released on social media, Adams spoke with pride about his achievements as mayor, including a drop in violent crime. But he said that “constant media speculation” about his future and a decision by the city’s campaign finance board to withhold public funding from his reelection effort, made it impossible to stay in the race.
“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” Adams said.
The one-term Democrat’s decision to quit the race comes days after he repeatedly insisted he would stay in the contest, saying everyday New Yorkers don’t “surrender.”
But speculation that he wouldn’t make it to Election Day has been rampant for a year. Adams’ campaign was severely wounded by his now-dismissed federal bribery case and liberal anger over his warm relationship with President Donald Trump. He skipped the Democratic primary and got on the ballot as an independent.
In the video, Adams did not directly mention or endorse any of the remaining candidates in the race. He also warned that “extremism is growing in our politics.”
“Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer (is) to destroy the very system we built over generations,” he said. “That is not change, that is chaos. Instead, I urge leaders to choose leaders not by what they promise, but by what they have delivered.
Adams capitulation could potentially provide a lift to the campaign of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow centrist who has portrayed himself as the only candidate potentially able to beat the Democratic Party’s nominee, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani.
It was unclear, though, whether enough Adams’ supporters would shift their allegiances to Cuomo to make a difference.
Mamdani, who, at age 33, would be the city’s youngest and most liberal mayor in generations if elected, beat Cuomo decisively in the Democratic primary by campaigning on a promise try to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
Republican Curtis Sliwa also remains in the race, though his candidacy has been undercut from within his own party; Trump in a recent interview called him “not exactly prime time.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has endorsed Mamdani, said in a statement after the mayor’s announcement that she has been proud to have worked with Adams for the last four years, and that he leaves the city “better than he inherited it.”