Mayor Adams ended his mayoral election marketing campaign Sunday, a shocking transfer that comes after President Trump’s crew and New York enterprise leaders have pressured him to get out of the race to assist block Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani from taking up the reins at Metropolis Corridor.
Adams, who has been working for a second time period as an unbiased candidate in November’s mayoral election, made the blockbuster announcement in a video to be launched shortly by his marketing campaign.
Adams — town’s second Black mayor who was elected in 2021 on a pledge to make the 5 boroughs safer — took the extraordinary step as sources say intermediaries for the mayor have for weeks been in talks with Trump advisers about him dropping out in trade for a publish within the president’s administration.
Solely in America. Solely in New York.Thanks for making my story a actuality. pic.twitter.com/efHuyBnITJ
The hassle to sideline Adams, sources say, is designed to spice up the possibilities of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who’s additionally working as an unbiased in November’s mayoral race and polls present can be a much bigger menace to Mamdani with Adams out of the image.
A flurry of polls over the previous couple of weeks has proven Adams constantly working fourth, trailing not solely Mamdani and Cuomo, however Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa as effectively. A head-to-head contest between Cuomo and Mamdani could be a tighter contest, the polls present, although Sliwa has stated he’s staying within the race it doesn’t matter what.
Regardless of the swirl of rumors, Adams insisted for weeks he was staying within the race and accused the media of hampering his marketing campaign by reporting on the talks about his potential exit. Adams’ title will by all indications stay on the November poll, as a deadline to take away it has handed.
Frank Carone, Adams’ prime political adviser who has been heading his reelection marketing campaign, stated the mayor’s announcement “isn’t the end but a pivot.”
“I will continue to use all of my effort and energy to defeat the existential attack on our way of life and believe that socialism and all of its lies, must be given no quarter and be defeated completely, along with whoever promotes or endorses it,” Carone stated.
Issues on a number of fronts about Mamdani, a democratic socialist, fueled the trouble to dislodge Adams.
Trump has claimed Mamdani is a “communist” — he really identifies as a democratic socialist — who would “destroy” New York together with his tax-the-rich agenda. Polls have constantly confirmed Mamdani as the favourite to win the mayoral contest, with Cuomo because the runner-up.
Adams’ reelection marketing campaign suspension, which comes though he has insisted for months he wouldn’t drop out of the race below any circumstance, means his tenure as town’s one hundred and tenth mayor involves an finish on the finish of this 12 months.
His exit from November’s election comes after a primary time period at Metropolis Corridor marred by quite a few high-profile corruption scandals, together with his personal indictment final 12 months on federal bribery and marketing campaign finance fraud expenses. His indictment was dismissed by Trump’s Justice Division this spring as a part of a controversial association many consider has left Adams beholden to the president.
Along with urging Adams to step out of the race, Trump’s crew has prodded Sliwa to additionally drop his marketing campaign so as to maximize Cuomo’s possibilities to beat Mamdani. Sliwa has maintained he received’t go away the race except he’s lifeless.
The termination of Adams’ marketing campaign comes as Trump has made clear publicly he’d just like the mayoral discipline to be narrowed down so it’s one candidate dealing with off towards Mamdani on Nov. 4.
“I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one,” Trump stated earlier this month. “I think that’s a race that could be won.”
It wasn’t instantly clear if Adams has a Trump administration job lined up now that he’s out of the race.
New York Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks throughout a press convention on September 26, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures)
In polls of the mayoral race, Adams constantly positioned in the back of the again, clinching single digits of help as he stays deeply unpopular within the metropolis amid continued fallout from his corruption indictment and surrounding controversies. With out Adams within the race, it has been speculated Cuomo will have the ability to appeal to a few of the embattled incumbent’s base, although there’s no certainty of that.
Cuomo has maintained he received’t settle for any endorsement or help from Trump, who stays deeply unpopular with New York Metropolis voters. Nonetheless, Trump’s obvious desire for Cuomo within the race is probably going to supply fodder for assaults from Mamdani.
Adams launched his bid for reelection on an unbiased line after his corruption expenses have been dropped by Trump’s Division of Justice in April. In kicking off his unbiased bid, Adams stated the controversial dismissal of his corruption case impeded his skill to mount a critical marketing campaign within the June Democratic major that Mamdani went on to win.
For months, Adams insisted he wouldn’t drop out of the race, vowing simply in late August he would run for a second time period “no matter what.” His reelection marketing campaign slogan was “Always delivers, never quits.”
Different candidates within the race, together with Cuomo and Jim Walden, who himself stepped out of the race on Sept. 2, had beforehand advocated for consolidating behind the candidate polling the most effective within the fall so as to arrange a one-on-one competitors towards Mamdani.
Adams struggled to tug collectively a aggressive reelection marketing campaign, as he and members of his interior circle have been below intense scrutiny for the previous 12 months.
Adams grew to become the primary sitting mayor in trendy New York historical past to face prison expenses when Manhattan federal prosecutors indicted him in September 2024 for allegedly taking unlawful marketing campaign money and bribes within the type of luxurious journey perks from Turkish authorities operatives in trade for political favors.
Lots of his prime advisers, together with longtime confidante Ingrid Lewis-Martin and Metropolis Corridor aide Winnie Greco, have additionally been indicted or probed by federal and state investigators over the previous 12 months.
Within the months after his indictment, Adams firmed up his relationship with Trump, touring to Florida and Washington, D.C. to satisfy with him.
The president’s DOJ then intervened in February to halt his prosecution, and his case was in the end dropped at a Trump appointee’s route in April — not on the deserves of the costs, however on the grounds that they’d impede Adams’ skill to assist Trump’s hardline immigration agenda.
The top of his reelection marketing campaign towards that backdrop marks a exceptional turnaround for Adams, who after his win within the 2021 Democratic mayoral major stated his victory confirmed New Yorkers have been hungry for a centrist fashion of politics centered on law-and-order.
“I am the face of the new Democratic party,” Adams stated on the time.
Initially Printed: September 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM EDT
