(The Center Square) — Embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams is leaving the Democratic primary to run as an independent as he tries to salvage his reelection bid.
The Democrat announced Thursday that he will forgo the party’s June primary and seek another term as mayor by running as an independent candidate. In a video announcing his decision, Adams said the city needs “independent leadership that understands working people” and that the criminal charges he was previously facing had become a distraction to his campaign.
“I have always put New York’s people before politics and party – and I always will,” Adams said. “I firmly believe that this city is better served by truly independent leadership, not leaders pulled at by the extremists at the far left or the far right, but instead those rooted in the common middle, the place where the vast majority of New Yorkers are firmly planted.”
The move leaves former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who stepped down from office in 2021 amid sexual harassment claims, as the perceived Democratic frontrunner in the crowded mayoral race.
It also comes one day after a federal judge in New York formally dropped bribery and corruption charges against Adams, which alleged he used his position to receive luxury travel and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish foreign nationals. The U.S. Department of Justice had recommended dismissing the case against Adams, who has aligned himself with President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In the video, Adams said the indictments against him had “handcuffed” his reelection bid but reiterated his claims of innocence. He criticized fellow Democrats for being soft on crime and argued that New Yorkers want someone who can improve public safety and lower costs, regardless of their party affiliation.
“There isn’t a liberal or conservative way to fix New York,” Adams said. “There is a right way and a wrong way and true leaders don’t just know the right path, they have the guts to take it.”
Adams, a former NYPD captain, was elected to lead the nation’s largest city in 2021, pledging to reduce crime and guide the city out of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is the second Black mayor of the nation’s most populous city.
Following his indictments, Adams’s favorability has dropped to a record low of 20%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in early March, with fellow Democrats and a majority of New Yorkers calling for him to resign.
Several of the mayor’s Democratic rivals pounced on his decision to run as an independent, most pointing out that Adam’s decision comes just one day after getting a “slimy deal” from President Trump to drop the corruption charges against him.
“The irony is, there is nothing ‘independent’ about Eric Adams, who is completely beholden to real estate moguls, billionaires, and the far-right,” state Assemblyman and Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Kwame Mamdani posted on social media. “Regardless of what party Adams flees to, New Yorkers deserve better than a self-interested, disgraced mayor who has and always will put his needs before their own.”
