The New York City mayor’s race “didn’t stop on June 24, it started on June 24.”
That was the message a defiant Mayor Eric Adams delivered during a chaotic kick-off event for his independent general election bid on the steps of City Hall Thursday, just two days after the June 24 Democratic primary, which was won by socialist Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani of Astoria.
“We’ve got people from all across the city and different ethnicities and groups, not people who read about me, but people I have touched individually,” Adams said of those gathered for his announcement. “Look at the display that’s here of different languages and different cultures, all of wanting the same thing. I’m so proud to be here to say to the people of the City of New York: I am seeking reelection.”
The event featured a lineup of former elected officials, including ex-City Council Members Inez Dickens and Fernando Cabrera, along with faith leaders like Bishop Chantel Wright and Sheikh Musa Drammeh. Also in attendance were Adams’ longtime mentor Rev. Herbert Daughtry, campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs — whose Brooklyn home was raided by federal agents in 2023 — and Winnie Greco, the former top aide who resigned amid a federal probe last year.
The moderate incumbent mayor, who skipped the primary amid a now-dismissed federal investigation, launched his campaign in front of a few hundred supporters. His bid comes as Mamdani, a progressive representing Astoria, appears to have secured the Democratic nomination with a platform focused on housing affordability, tenant protections, and public services.
Mamdani’s campaign promises include freezing rent increases for roughly 1 million stabilized tenants, opening city-run grocery stores, and making buses faster and free. He proposes funding those initiatives through higher taxes on corporations and wealthy New Yorkers.
Adams, widely viewed as a historically unpopular mayor, now faces a steep challenge in the general election against Mamdani, who appears to have defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — a contender whose campaign echoed themes from Adams’ own successful 2021 run. It remains to be seen whether Cuomo will join the November ballot on his own independent line.
In Queens, where Adams has long enjoyed strong ties to clergy leaders and law enforcement unions, Mamdani’s primary win represents a sharp break from establishment politics. His win builds on a leftward shift seen in western Queens since 2018, when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated longtime U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley.
Also appearing on the November ballot are Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa on the Republican line and independent attorney Jim Walden.
According to a report in the New York Times, Adams met with business leaders, including hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, on Wednesday night in Manhattan to discuss strategies to stop Mamdani and bolster Adams’ re-election.
At Thursday’s event, chants of “four more years” erupted from Adams’ supporters as protesters gathered just outside the gates of City Hall Park with chants of “shut it down.”
Several protesters breached the press area and interrupted Adams’ remarks. One shouted, “Eric Adams sold us out to Trump,” while another labeled him a “criminal” — a reference to his now-dismissed federal probe and rumored connections to the former president.
The mayor directly attacked Mamdani, contrasting his own working-class Brooklyn roots with what he characterized as Mamdani’s privileged background.
“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a suit and a silver spoon,” Adams said. “A choice between dirty fingernails and manicured hands. A choice between someone who delivered lower crime, the most jobs in history, the most new housing built in decades, and an Assembly member who did not pass a bill. This election is a choice between real progress and empty promises. A future for working people and not a fantasy state.”
Other speakers took direct aim at Mamdani’s embrace of socialism. Mijal Bitton, a spiritual leader and co-founder of the Downtown Minyan, warned that socialist ideologies had devastated her native Argentina.
“I’ve seen what happens when politicians weaponize envy, when they use frustration to divide instead of lifting up,” Bitton said. “My family has lived what happens when socialist promises collapse economies.”
Mamdani, in turn, accused Adams of exacerbating the city’s affordability crisis and aligning himself with Donald Trump.
“Since Oct. 23, I have run on a promise to end this era of corruption, incompetence, and the betrayal of working-class New Yorkers,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Today is no different. Just as voters made clear on Tuesday, they will do so again in November – choosing a city they can afford and bringing an end to the politics and politicians of the past.”
