New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced this week that he is seeking reelection as an independent candidate in November’s mayoral race, forgoing a run in the Democratic primary. Adams has served as mayor since 2021, when he was first elected as a member of the Democratic Party.
“I have always put New York’s people before politics and party—and I always will. I am running for mayor in the general election because our city needs independent leadership that understands working people,” Adams posted on X Thursday.
In an accompanying video, Adams stated that there isn’t a “liberal or conservative way” to address the problems of New York, but rather a need for leadership that focuses on the city’s residents over partisan politics. He praised New Yorkers for being “pro–public safety, pro–worker, pro–quality of life,” which he said are values he equally shares. Adams also acknowledged the toll that investigations into him over the last few years have taken on his ability to campaign effectively and maintain public trust.
Adams has faced legal scrutiny since late 2023, when federal authorities began investigating whether foreign funds were unlawfully funneled into his first mayoral campaign. In early 2024, a federal grand jury indicted him on five counts, including bribery, wire fraud, and conspiracy to solicit contributions from a foreign national. Adams and his legal team consistently denied any wrongdoing throughout the process. On Wednesday, a federal judge dismissed the case with prejudice, preventing prosecutors from refiling the same charges in the future.
“I had hoped to fight for them in the Democratic primary for mayor, and more than 25,000 New Yorkers signed my Democratic primary petition,” he said in the video. “But the dismissal of the bogus case against me dragged on too long, making it impossible to mount a primary campaign while these false accusations were held over me.”
Adams added that while he is running as an independent candidate this year, he is remaining a member of the Democratic Party. He also restated his belief that the city is “better served by truly independent leadership, not leaders pulled at by the extremists on the far left or the far right.”
Adams was first elected mayor in 2021, placing first in a field of nine candidates. Before that, he served as the Brooklyn Borough President and as a member of the New York State Senate for four terms. In all his past campaigns, Adams ran as a member of the Democratic Party, though he occasionally received endorsements from the Working Families Party.
To qualify for the ballot as an independent, Adams will need to collect at least 3,750 valid signatures from registered voters who have not otherwise participated in any party primary. The petitioning period for independent candidates in New York City begins in April and runs through May. The window to collect signatures for party primaries also closed this week, and the general election will be held later this year on November 4.
At this point, it is too early to say who Adams will face in the general election. However, several Democrats announced their candidacies well before the primary deadline, including State Comptroller Brad Lander and former Governor Andrew Cuomo. On the Republican side, declared candidates include previous GOP mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa and former Florida congressional candidate Darren Aquino, among others. The Working Families Party has also indicated it may field a candidate, depending on the outcome of the Democratic primary.
With thanks to reader Unimportant for notifying Independent Political Report of Adams’ candidacy.
I don’t like Adams, but I do feel somewhat sorry for him – the way he got thrown under the bus by the Democratic Party – albeit only the tiniest bit. He is after all still a huge socialist crook, and has shown know sign of regret about his corruption and other crimes from before he got stabbed in the back by his party.
But no matter how bad of a mayor Adams has been thus far, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s far preferable to the odious Cuomo, who – as Unimportant rightly pointed out in the Monthly Open Thread – is responsible for some of “the most draconian ballot access [laws] of any state for minor parties at the presidential and statewide level” and who “resigned amidst numerous allegations of sexual improprieties from various women, other unrelated corruption allegations, dictatorial handling of covid 19, turning nursing homes into coronavirus death camps, and profiting from his covid ‘leadership’ through a crooked book deal.”
I’m glad to see “Guardian Angel-in-chief” Curtis Sliwa is running for mayor. He’s not perfect by any stretch, but he’s preferable over Adams in the same way Adams is preferable over Cuomo.
Since the 70s, Sliwa has been doing a great job at what the NYPD refuses to do: i.e. keeping the subway and later the streets safe(r), preventing robberies, muggings and looting – all while uniting people regardless of race, religion, politics, background, etc. in the face of incessant attempts at race-baiting and class-division from the left.
Sliwa is the hero NYC needs, not the one it deserves – as, surprisingly Cuomo’s own father apparently said in 1977 (“[The Guardian Angels] are a better expression of morality than our city deserves”)- may those words resurface now to aid Sliwa against his son.