Adams Vows to Stay in 2025 NYC Mayoral Race

Mayor Eric Adams on Sept. 5 announced that he would remain a candidate in the 2025 mayoral election on Nov. 4, following days of reports that he planned to withdraw at President Donald Trump’s behest in exchange for a nomination as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Trump and Adams denied the reports.

Adams delivered the news in remarks at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, in Manhattan. He said that he was the only candidate in the race who could defeat state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, who is a self-described democratic socialist and is leading in most major opinion polls.

“I am in this race, and I’m the only one who can beat Mamdani,” Adams said.

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D-N.Y.) also ran in the Democratic primary but lost to Mamdani in an upset. Adams accused Cuomo of having “a career pushing black candidates out of races.”

“This is his career, and that must stop with me,” Adams said.

Multiple news organizations had reported that Adams was set to travel to Washington, D.C. and meet with Trump administration officials to discuss potentially dropping out of the race in exchange for being nominated as ambassador to Saudi Arabia or another position.

Adams has said in a statement that press reports of him being in Washington for meetings about his future were wrong.

Trump denied making any offer to Adams.

“I didn’t do that. No, I wouldn’t do that. There’s nothing wrong with doing it, but I didn’t do that,” said Trump when asked about an alleged offer to Adams on Sept. 5, to press members in the Oval Office of the White House.

Tracking Fourth Place

Adams is currently polling in the range of 9–15 percent in opinion polls of likely voters in the general election, which usually places him fourth in the race. Mamdani currently leads, usually by a margin of at least 10 percentage points, with Cuomo second and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa third.

Many political observers have said that Cuomo has the best chance of beating Mamdani if Adams or Sliwa drops out of the race and seeks to consolidate their support behind him.

The president has heavily criticized Mamdani and called on New Yorkers to vote against him.

“We’re going to have a communist mayor, it would seem to me, if [Adams] stays in, if you have more than one candidate running against [Mamdani],” Trump told the press. “I would say that Cuomo might have a chance of winning if it was a one-on-one. If it’s not one-on-one, it’s going to be a hard race, and we’ll get used to a communist.”

Sliwa, like Adams, has also vowed to stay in the race.

“The ONLY job I’m interested in is being the next Mayor of NYC. I have not been contacted by the White House and [I’m] not interested in a job with the White House,” Sliwa wrote on X. “I’m the only candidate on a major party line who can defeat Mamdani, and I’m committed to carrying this fight through to Election Day,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.