Jim Walden Suspends Independent Campaign for New York City Mayor

Jim Walden has suspended his independent bid for New York City mayor, following through on earlier remarks that he would exit the race if his polling numbers remained low heading into the fall.

Media outlets began reporting September 2 that Walden, a former federal prosecutor in New York, became the first candidate in the race to suspend his campaign, citing the absence of a clear path to victory. Walden said he intends to encourage the remaining candidates to unite behind a single contender by the end of the month in an effort to oppose Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, who won the party’s primary in an upset against then-Democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo.

“In a choice between values and ambitions, values must win,” Walden wrote in a statement on X that afternoon from his personal account. He has since deleted his campaign website and related social accounts. “For months I have been steadfast in my view that, unless there is a one-on-one race in November, a Trojan Horse will take control of City Hall. I cannot spend more public money in the futile hope I am the one called to battle.”

Walden’s decision is consistent with comments he made in July to CBS News, when he pledged to exit the race if he saw no viable path to victory entering the fall. At the time, he warned that a crowded independent field risked splitting the vote and urged fellow candidates to consider dropping out if they had little chance of victory, in the interest of opposing Mamdani and giving voters what he described as a “clean choice” between a socialist and a free-market agenda.

“I advanced it not for my own personal gain, [but] because my political interests and everyone else’s ambitions should take a backseat to giving New Yorkers a very clean choice between one candidate and Zohran Mamdani,” Walden said of his pledge at the time.

Following Walden’s suspension, CBS News reported that a spokesperson for the Mamdani campaign issued a response, stating that “the billionaire class is narrowing their selection process, and Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams are pulling out all the stops to charm them alongside Donald Trump.”

Alternatively, a spokesperson for the Cuomo campaign praised Walden for putting his “ego and ambition aside for the good of New York City,” adding that his decision underscored what they called the “existential threat” posed by Mamdani.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a spokesperson for the independent Adams campaign said Adams intends to remain in the race and is focused on the future.