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Mayor Eric Adams Officially Launches Bid for Reelection As an Independent

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 26, 2025 8:45 PM

Earlier this week, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won the New York City Democratic mayoral primary after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded. Rather than run in the crowded primary of 11 candidates, Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat in 2021, announced he would instead run in the general as an independent. He had his kickoff event on Thursday afternoon to run for reelection. 

Adams reposted footage and pictures from his kickoff rally over X, including one post that offers "there's more organic energy here than for any Cuomo event."

Adams' pinned post, from Tuesday, calls on New Yorkers to reelect him for another term as mayor. 

As the New York Post highlighted about Adams' kickoff event:

Mayor Eric Adams officially kicked off his re-election campaign Thursday, pitting himself as the blue collar candidate saving the city from “silver spoon” socialist Zohran Mamdani.

Adams addressed a raucous crowd of more than 100 supporters — mixed with a couple of vocal hecklers — from City Hall’s steps, arguing his battle-tested record showed he deserved four more years as Big Apple mayor.

“It’s a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a suit and a silver spoon,” he said, referring to Mamdani.

...

Energy exuded from the pro-Adams crowd, who hooped and hollered at the mayor’s swipes against Mamdani, renewed attacks on his socialism and boasts of taking guns off the streets in black and brown communities.

The boisterous throng also gleefully engaged with Adams’ introductory speakers, at times drowning them out with chants of “four more years” in both English and Spanish.

...

The mayor’s speech leaned heavily on his faith and personal backstory, from his dyslexia to formative childhood arrest to being labeled a “criminal” amid his corruption case.

“If you’re going to be a man of people who are going through a lot, you must be a human being that has gone through a lot,” he said.

Adams trashed his critics and naysayers, arguing he has a record of “results.”

“They talk about problems, I fix them,” he said. “That’s the difference — you don’t lead his city from a soapbox. You lead it from the ground up.”

Adams also tried to knock down Mamdani – whose campaign focused on affordability – by again attacking his background as the privileged son of an academic and a famed filmmaker.

He also took a veiled swipe against Mamdani’s social media-heavy campaign, contending he instead was focused on bread-and-butter issues for New Yorkers.

“I’m not interested in Twitter politics, I’m interested in getting the trash picked up,” Adams said.

“I’m not interested in slogans, I’m interested in solutions. I don’t work for special interests, I work for the people.”

Adams' kickoff comes after he already went after Mamdani on Wednesday. As Leah covered, the mayor appeared on "Fox & Friends" where he decried Mamdani as "a snake oil salesman who would say and do anything to get elected," and warned that New York City "can't go backwards" in electing Mamdani as he spoke about his own campaign. 

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As Adams also pointed out, Mamdani has been making all sorts of promises he would not have the authority to do as mayor, but rather an assemblyman, a position he currently holds. Fox News listed on the screen several far-left campaign promises that Mamdani has made while Adams was speaking. Adams used the specific examples of raising taxes on the top 1 percent of the city's high income earners as well as free busing. "He doesn't understand the power of government and how you must make sure you improve your economy [and] raise the standard of living," Adams said, which he offered he's done as mayor.

Townhall has been covering such promises that the socialist candidate has made to highlight how far-left they are, from freezing the rent and city-owned grocery stores, to "free" childcare and public transportation. There's also concerns about Jewish New Yorkers and antisemitism, given Mamdani's defense of pro-Hamas, genocidal phrases like "globalize the intifada."

"Eric Adams" has been trending over X for Thursday night, as has "Sliwa," in reference to Curtis Sliwa, who is once more running for mayor as a Republican. Donors are reportedly calling on Sliwa to drop out, according to another report from the Post, in order to have it more of a race between Adams and Mamdani. Even the general election is a crowded field, with Mamdani, Adams, Sliwa, independent Jim Walden, and perhaps also Cuomo running as an independent. CNN is reporting that Cuomo will indeed stay in the race. 

The deadline to drop out is already pretty much here, though, on Friday. The report also includes comments from Sliwa about how he's staying in the race:

Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa defiantly insisted that he’s not going anywhere Thursday — as calls mount for him to drop his longshot bid over fears of socialist Zohran Mamdani’s surging campaign.

The pressure campaign on Sliwa amped up as Mamdani surprisingly trounced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s Democratic primary — and both the Guardian Angels founder and the Queens assemblyman will face Mayor Eric Adams in November.

“I’m focused on one thing: winning this race and saving New York City from the corruption and collapse he created,” Sliwa told The Post of Adams on Thursday.

“He’s not running against a fantasy. He’s running against me. I’m the only one capable of beating Zohran Mamdani and I’m going to do it.”

Sources said Adams, who is running as an independent, hasn’t given up his Hail Mary hope of taking over Sliwa’s spot on the coveted GOP party line in the general election.

Adams has been gunning “big time” for Sliwa’s spot as recently as Wednesday, and even told bigwig donors that the red beret-wearing vigilante was dropping out for a job in the Trump administration, according to the sources.

But Sliwa scoffed at the idea.

“It’s laughable that Eric Adams is telling donors I’m headed to the White House,” he said. “He’s clearly panicked.”

Republicans, big business leaders and even some moderate Democrats are panicked over the prospect of Mamdani sailing to victory against a divided field of opponents: Sliwa, Adams, independent Jim Walden and perhaps even a stubborn Cuomo also running as an independent.

Sliwa has also continued to post pictures about the excitement about his own rallies over X, as he did on Thursday evening.