New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) ruled out running as a Republican for reelection as mayor, following renewed speculation that he may switch parties after the Department of Justice moved to dismiss his corruption case.
President Trump has denied a direct role in the dismissal, while Adams has denied an explicit quid-pro-quo in exchange for his participation in enforcing Trump’s immigration agenda.
Adams told NBC New York in an interview Thursday that he “100 percent” will be seeking the Democratic nomination for a second term as mayor in June. This came after a New York Times report that Adams spoke about possibly running in the GOP primary with Bronx Republican Party Chair Mike Rendino.
“I am going to be running as a Democrat for the Mayor of the City of New York,” Adams told the local New York NBC outlet. “For all those saying differently, you heard it directly from me: I am going to be running in the Democratic primary.”
He said his goal is just to win support from all New Yorkers after winning the primary. “And I want to establish relationships with those important leaders, county leaders, throughout the city,” he said.
Even with the Department of Justice (DOJ) directing that the corruption case against him be dropped, Adams’s political prospects currently seem dim as he has poor favorability and trails in early polling of the potential Democratic primary races.
One poll from Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill released last week showed Adams in second place with just 10 percent, well behind the 33 percent for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who hasn’t entered the race yet but is expected to soon.
Adams has argued his chances are better than they seem, noting that he was behind in the 2021 race for much of the primary battle before pulling off a win and then winning the general election.
But polls show Adams is widely unpopular among New Yorkers, with nearly 60 percent in the Emerson poll viewing him unfavorably. President Trump had a higher approval rating in the heavily Democratic city than the mayor.
The survey also showed that a clear plurality of voters, 49 percent, don’t want the charges that have been filed against Adams to be dropped, while 27 percent said they support their dismissal.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove told prosecutors on Monday to dismiss the case without prejudice, arguing that it “improperly interfered” with Adams’s 2025 reelection campaign and “unduly restricted” Adams’s ability to address illegal immigration and violent crime.
The acting U.S. attorney for Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, resigned from her post along with other DOJ officials over their refusal to drop the case. Sassoon’s searing letter said she could not in good faith dismiss the charges, and warned that maintaining the threat of renewed charges against Adams was against the public interest.
Adams reiterated his intention to win re-election despite the controversy and long odds during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Friday with Trump border czar Tom Homan.
“I had another Andrew in my previous race,” he said, referring to former mayoral candidate Andrew Yang. “He was beating me by double digits in February. But we don’t call Andrew Yang mayor. We call Eric Adams mayor. Never give up. New York is never give up.”
