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Eric Adams Ditches Democratic Primary, Announces Independent Run
Lagging in polls after an extraordinary deal with the Trump administration to drop corruption charges against him, mayor says he’ll run to represent the city’s “working class.”
This article originally appeared in The City.
By Katie Honan
NEW YORK - Mayor Eric Adams will not run in the June Democratic primary for mayor, launching a long-shot independent run in the general election instead, he announced in a video released early Thursday.
“I’m not a quitter, I’m a New Yorker,” he said in the six-minute clip posted to X. “Although I am still a Democrat, I’m announcing I will forgo the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to New Yorkers as an independent candidate in the general election.”
— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) April 3, 2025
The mayor, whose five-count federal indictment was officially tossed by a judge Wednesday after the Trump administration demanded its dismissal, said in the video that he “grew up in a city that failed my family.”
“New Yorkers are strong and they deserve strong leadership,” he said.
“And when New Yorkers worry about their bills at the kitchen table, or feeling safe on the subway platform, they don’t expect a political party to help. They want leadership from a person who understands their struggle or story.”
Although Adams claimed to secure more than 25,000 signatures on petitions due today for the Democratic primary in June, he said the dismissal of his “bogus” case derailed his campaigning plans and made it “impossible” to mount a campaign.
“I know that the accusations leveled against me may have shaken your confidence in me and that you may rightly have questions about my conduct," he said. Declaring the charges “false,” he added: “I trusted people I should not have.”
In the announcement, he leaned into a frequent line during his mayoralty — referring to himself as a “working class” mayor who cares more about working-class people instead of any party rhetoric.
“The values of a working-class base – pro public safety, pro worker, pro quality of life — are still there standing strong even if many who shared them have left the party,” he said.
Adams also took a shot at the other candidates, wondering where they were the last four years.
“Some were advocating against more police even if they are for them now. Some were fighting the pro-growth strategies of our administration,” he said, without naming anyone in particular.
Adams denied he was running as anything other than a Democrat as recently as Wednesday morning, saying in a radio interview that he’s “always, I'm a Democrat. I'm going to be a Democrat. I'm going to run as a Democrat and I've said that over and over again.”
After speaking briefly following his federal case being tossed, he said: “I’m running for re-election and you know what? I’m gonna win."
Adams had struggled with his standing in the Democratic field, consistently lagging former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in polls.
Adams gives himself a long campaign season by running as an independent, with more time to raise money. His fundraising numbers for the last filing period were paltry, bringing in less than $20,000.
The mayor now has until May 27 to gather the petitions needed to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate.
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