New York City Mayor Eric Adams welcomed the entrance of a leading contender into the Big Apple’s mayoral race as Empire State Democrats struggle to unify behind a candidate.
After months of speculation that he would challenge Adams in the city’s 2025 mayoral race, former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a bid to do so on Saturday. The news marked a full circle moment for Cuomo, who backed Adams during the 2021 mayoral race.
Adams appeared to embrace the announcement, suggesting that his chief opponent would now be forced to reveal his “real positions” to constituents.
“Come one, come all. We all gotta come out,” the mayor said. “We can’t hide in the shadows. We gotta come out, give our real positions, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s campaign season.”
Some prominent New York Democrats, such as Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), continue to be cagey on positions on who they’ll back.
“You know, as I’ve said before, anyone who wants to run for any office certainly is able to do so,” Hochul said following Cuomo’s announcement.
“I think he’d be a candidate that a lot of people, as I’ve heard from the district that I represent, would be very interested in checking out,” Jeffries said last week.
Others have declined to back either mayoral candidate.
“Our club is going to see to it that Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo are not elected,” Allen Roskoff, the president of New York City’s influential Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, announced Saturday evening.
Both Cuomo and Adams face challenges as they eye a primary win on June 24.
Cuomo has been scrutinized regarding investigations finding his administration concealed the deaths of 4,100 senior citizens he ordered into nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The former governor was forced to resign in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations before the Department of Justice concluded in 2024 that he had sexually harassed 13 state employees.
Adams’s political ambitions also took a hit last fall when he was indicted on federal corruption charges. President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice moved to dismiss the charges, suggesting the indictment came because the Biden administration was angry the mayor broke with the White House on relaxed immigration policies.
The DOJ’s move provoked outrage from Democrats, including from Adams’s colleagues, sparking accusations of quid pro quo, particularly after the incumbent mayor announced further initiatives to cooperate with the Trump administration on deporting illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.
This week, House Judiciary Committee Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) announced an investigation into the Trump DOJ’s effort to dismiss the indictment, claiming it was “a blatant and illegal quid pro quo to secure the Mayor’s loyal assistance in executing the Trump Administration’s mass arrest and deportation policies.”
While polls show Cuomo poses the top threat to Adams’s hopes for reelection, other contenders have emerged in the crowded race to unseat the incumbent mayor, including former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, and New York state Sens. Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie.
Myrie is endorsed by Empire State Democrats such as Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), while Stringer has gained the support of Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). Lander has drawn endorsements from the Broadway Democrats, which is the Democratic club of Morningside Heights and Manhattanville, and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Many of the contenders are running on an anti-crime platform that rivals campaigns pitched by Adams and Cuomo.
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Lander announced this week a plan to combat antisemitism as Jews are the victims of the majority of hate crimes in the city.
“I take that very seriously as the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in city government, and will do everything I can to combat it as mayor,” he told the Times of Israel.
