There’s political blood in the water after a series of blows to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and potential challengers are weighing whether to pounce.
Nearly a dozen possible candidates, including former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer and two up-and-coming state senators from Queens and Brooklyn, are considering plans to run in the 2025 Democratic primary, people familiar with their thinking told Bloomberg News.
Cuomo, who resigned in August 2021 amid allegations that he sexually harassed multiple women, including some former state employees, has talked to advisers about a possible run. Two people who have spoken with the former governor said he considers the mayor a friend and would run only if Adams decides not to seek reelection. Cuomo has denied the allegations.
A poll conducted in mid-November asked New Yorkers whether they would consider voting for Cuomo in the 2025 mayoral race. The polling firm didn’t respond to a question about who paid for the survey.
Several people who’ve spoken to the ex-governor, who has a $7 million war chest of leftover campaign funds, said he’s eager to re-enter public life — so restless, in fact, that he’s even considering challenging US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who is up for reelection next year. Cuomo declined to comment.
From the FBI raiding the home of his campaign’s fundraising chief to his cuts to the police department after running on a platform of improving public safety, Adams’s standing has never been weaker. His approval numbers sank this month to the lowest of his term, sparking speculation that he might not run again or be vulnerable to a primary challenge. A spokesperson for Adams’s campaign declined to comment.
Read more: NYPD to Shrink to 1990s Levels Under ‘Painful’ Budget Cuts
Other likely candidates include state Senator Zellnor Myrie, who won an upset victory against an incumbent Democrat in 2018. Myrie has racked up a string of legislative victories, including the recent passage of the Clean Slate Act, which allows some people to have their criminal records expunged after a multiyear waiting period. A person familiar with Myrie’s thinking said the lawmaker has already secured $1 million worth of commitments should he decide to run.
Queens state Senator Jessica Ramos, a progressive, is also aggressively courting potential donors, local elected officials and labor leaders, said four people familiar with her planning. She chairs the state Senate’s Labor Committee and has close ties to the city’s powerful labor unions, whose votes are typically critical to primary victories.
“She has been the most aggressive in calling people, objectively the most aggressive person in seeing if there’s potential for her to run against Adams,” said Democratic political consultant Trip Yang, who has advised several New York City political campaigns. Ramos has been openly critical of Adams’s leadership for months, even before his recent string of political misfortunes.
Ramos wouldn’t comment on her plans earlier this month at the annual Somos political conference in Puerto Rico.
“I’m here having several conversations, both with constituents, advocates, unions and my colleagues,” she said. “And it’s clear that we’re all deeply concerned about the future of the city.”
FBI Raid
The Adams administration was thrown into turmoil on Nov. 2 when federal agents raided the home of the mayor’s chief fundraiser, 25-year-old Brianna Suggs. According to a search warrant seen by the New York Times, investigators are looking into whether Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal donations and whether he pressured Fire Department officials to sign off on a new high-rise Turkish consulate despite safety concerns. A few days after the raid, FBI agents seized the mayor’s cell phone and other devices.
Adams hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, and if he chooses to run again he will be a formidable foe for any opponent. He’s already raised $2.5 million for his reelection. When combined with expected public matching funds, that means he has two-thirds of the amount needed to spend the maximum allowed for a publicly financed campaign.
But that hasn’t stopped potential candidates from lining up.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who is first in line to succeed the mayor in the event Adams vacates the seat, would likely seek reelection if he ends up an accidental mayor. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso is also weighing a bid, several people familiar with his thinking said. In a statement, Reynoso said he is focused on his current position. Stringer, the former city comptroller, was running well in the 2021 primary before allegations of sexual misconduct derailed his campaign. He denied the allegations, and people familiar with his thinking say he’s considering entering the race again.
Former mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia, who came in second to Adams in 2021, is also eyeing a bid.
The wide field of potential challengers 18 months ahead of the primary is a sign of the political peril Adams faces. The fund-raising probe is far from the only quagmire he’s managing. The city’s homeless population has ballooned since he took office from 60,569 people to more than 139,000 people in September, propelled in large part by a migrant crisis that’s mostly out of his control.
More than 125,000 migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum, have entered New York since spring 2022, roughly 66,000 of whom are living in city shelters. The cost of caring for them has led Adams to cut the city’s budget for new police officers and trash pickup, imperiling the vision of a safe, clean city he promised when he ran for mayor, and leaving him with a $7.1 billion budget gap to close next year.
Poll Problems
Adams’s approval ratings have dipped to their lowest point since he took office in January 2022. A late November Marist Poll found 54% of New York City residents disapprove of Adams, while just 37% approve. In March 2022, he had a 61% approval rating.
One-term mayors aren’t a total rarity in New York’s history. New York’s first Black mayor, David Dinkins, lost his bid for reelection in 1993 to Rudy Giuliani. Abe Beame, who presided during the city’s 1970s fiscal crisis, lost his bid for a second term too.
But even with the extraordinary challenges Adams faces, it will be hard for even the best-funded challenger to beat him in a primary.
Incumbent Democratic mayors have several key advantages: the power of the bully pulpit, wide name recognition and institutional support from labor unions reluctant to gamble on less-than-certain bets. Adams may face a welter of problems, but he’s got significant strengths too: He won election with support from a formidable base of Black voters in central Brooklyn and southeastern Queens who aren’t yet wavering in their support for him.
And labor unions that supported Adams in 2021 are still in his corner.
Manny Pastreich, president of building services union Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, said his group is focused on the “very concrete things” Adams and his administration have done to help workers, including supporting them in collective-bargaining fights and securing a $20 million settlement with Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. for alleged violations of scheduling rules.
“If you go back and look at any mayor in the history of New York, there is a circus,” he said. “It is important, when you take someone who’s got such a big job in the city, to stay focused on what they are actually doing for working people.”
--With assistance from Josh Eidelson.
Author: Laura Nahmias, Simone Foxman and Zach Williams
