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A defiant Mayor Eric Adams officially launched his independent re-election bid Thursday, joined by more than a hundred supporters in front of City Hall — including some of the people previously embroiled in many investigations into his administration and inner circle.
At the campaign launch during office hours, the incumbent recounted his oft-told story of struggle, overcoming poverty and dyslexia as a child, and getting beat up by cops. He vowed that his work as the city’s steward isn’t done, and presented a contrast between himself and the presumed Democratic nominee, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani of Queens.
“This election is a choice between real progress and empty promises,” Adams said.
“There’s no dignity in giving everything for free, there’s dignity in someone giving you a job.” (Mamdani has run on a number of proposals including free bus service and creating city-run grocery stores.) Adams then said it wasn’t a “city of hand outs, this is a city of hands up.”
In a statement, Mamdani said he’s “run on a promise to end this era of corruption, incompetence and the betrayal of working class New Yorkers. Today is no different.”
Adams has insisted he’s still a Democrat and only bowed out of the Democratic primary on April 2 because of his federal trial, which was slated to begin later in the month before it was dismissed.
The people involved in the many probes around Adams’ circle remained, however. Attendees at Thursday’s event includedBrianna Suggs, a fundraiser for his 2021 campaign whose home was raided by federal investigators in November 2023. She is back on the re-election campaign and appeared to be an organizer of the City Hall rally.
Winnie Greco was also there, handing out T-shirts and volunteer badges in front of City Hall. She told THE CITY she wasn’t officially part of the campaign, which was re-iterated by campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro. She resigned from her nebulous role in the Adams administration last October months after the FBI raided her homes in The Bronx. She has not been charged with any crimes.
Former State Sen. Malcolm Smith was also there — to support his former colleague, he told THE CITY. Smith was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2015 and, separately, named with Adams and John Sampson in a 2010 state inspector general’s investigation into a racino at Aqueduct racetrack years earlier.
Current mayoral staffers — including Deputy Chief of Staff Menashe Shapiro and aide David Johnson — also were involved in the rally, and said they took a personal day to do so, since Conflicts of Interest Board rules prohibit city workers from participating in political campaigns while on the clock.
Although Adams’ supporters and staffers were excited about Mamdani’s win over Cuomo, the mayor still faces an uphill battle to re-election, so far without help from the city’s matching funds program.
On Wednesday, the city Campaign Finance Board fired back at a lawsuit from Adams, which argues that the watchdog agency was wrong to deny him millions of dollars in public matching funds.
Late last year the board rejected the mayor’s claim for $4 million in public funds, citing among other things his then-pending indictment on bribery and campaign finance fraud charges. The indictment alleged Adams solicited and accepted illegal straw donations, including from foreign sources, in his pursuit of matching funds during the 2021 election.
In May Adams sued the CFB.
Representing the board, the law firm Lankler Siffert & Wohl struck back Wednesday, highlighting the fact that the Justice Department lawyers who requested to kill Adams’ case admitted that they had not assessed the merits of the case, and noting the Manhattan U.S. attorney who resigned rather than follow the department’s order stated that the case was solid.
“The unique circumstances surrounding its dismissal support the board’s decision to continue denying funds based, in part, on the indictment,” they wrote. “All available information considered by the Board suggests that the charges remain meritorious.”
They also noted the Adams’ campaign’s continued refusal to provide the board with documentation related to the straw donations referenced in the indictment.
“The [campaign’s] response did not say that Mayor Adams had reviewed his own records for responsive documents — only that the Campaign’s past and current employees, consultants, and agents had done such review,” they wrote. “This is a significant gap in the response.”
Adams’ attorneys with the politically connected law firm of Abrams Fensterman have until next week to respond to the board’s filings. The board is scheduled to vote on the next round of matching funds July 15.
In addition to money woes, Adams has also faced record-low approval numbers.
A smattering of protestors stood a few hundred feet away from the Adams campaign launch inside City Hall Park on Thursday, blowing whistles and chanting at him throughout. A few protestors got closer to the rally, cursing at the mayor as he spoke.
“You can call me all the names you want, but I’m going to answer to only one: Mayor Adams,” he said to cheers from supporters, who began a chant of “Eric! Eric!”
Those who came out in support talked about the mayor’s past accomplishments, with Sheikh Musa Drammeh calling him the “moral clarity mayor.”
Bishop Chantel R. Wright celebrated the mayor’s work expanding minority and women-owned business contracts:
“I can only cheer for those things that are making a difference, for those who have nonprofits,” she said. “Now we can go in and 50% of our contracts and do the business that supports our communities.”
And Mijal Bitton, a Jewish Argentinian immigrant, warned of “socialism” since Mamdani is a self-professed democratic socialist who has campaigned on rent freezes and a stronger social safety net.
“When you are worried about rent, about safety, about your kids, you cannot afford luxury fantasies,” she said. “Those who pay for those luxury fantasies are those least able to afford it.”
Adams ended his speech with a list of promises for his second turn, including bringing down crime, building more housing and launching a citywide mental health program.
“The excitement has filled the air. You are going to see a movement you’ve never witnessed before,” he said.
“Let’s move forward — together.”
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