On Thursday morning (April 3), New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that he was not going to run for reelection as a Democrat, but as an independent. Adams did so in a six-minute video that was released to the public, a day after a federal judge dismissed the corruption charges that were filed against him last year, which was recommended by the Department of Justice shortly after President Donald Trump took office. His decision takes him out of a crowded primary for the Democratic nomination.
“I know that the accusations leveled against me may have shaken your confidence in me and that you may rightly have questions about my conduct,” he said. “Let me be clear, although the charges against me were false, I trusted people that I should not have and I regret that.” Adams also said that he was still a Democrat, but this decision would let him “appeal directly to all New Yorkers.” Since the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Dale E. Ho, Mayor Adams reaffirmed his support of Trump by touting a book by FBI Director Kash Patel at the press conference, encouraging people to read it “to understand how we can never allow this to happen to another innocent American.”
Adams’ misfortunes were reflected in a subpar fundraising campaign, which brought in low amounts in combination with him not being granted matching funds from the election commission. Then there are the opponents in the Democratic primary, with former Governor Andrew Cuomo as the favorite and State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani as a rising choice. Adams plans to secure the 3,570 signatures needed to run as an independent by May 27. It then lets him secure a ballot spot with public safety as the focus.
In an interview with Politico, he acknowledged the pressure of the situation. “I’m in the race to the end. I’m not running on the Democratic line. It’s just not realistic to turn around my numbers and to run a good campaign (from) where we are right now,” Adams said. “It hurts like hell.” According to former Democratic mayoral candidate Ruth Messinger, Adams’ move isn’t surprising. “It’s part of a pattern of Eric focusing on what might be good for Eric,” she said, noting it might make more voters gravitate towards picking Cuomo if he were to face off against Adams and the presumptive GOP candidate, Curtis Sliwa.
