Mayor Eric Adams said he will finish his term and is not planning to drop out of the New York City mayoral race, denying media reports that he was preparing to leave City Hall for a position in the Trump administration and vowing to continue his bid for re-election.
Speaking in an interview at Gracie Mansion with New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin, Adams rejected accounts that he had discussed a job with the president and said he has never spoken to former President Donald Trump about employment. "I will finish my term," Adams said, adding, "I feel strong and I'm not giving up. It's too early to throw in the towel."
Adams acknowledged mistakes early in his administration but framed the biggest challenges as external shocks that altered plans he made before taking office in 2022. He said he would have made different early appointments and hires and pointed to a string of departures from top City Hall positions as contributing to a sense of disorder.
"Some of my appointments and hires I would have done differently, out of the gate," Adams said. He cited three major early problems faced by his administration: the COVID-19 pandemic, rising crime, and a large influx of asylum-seekers. He described the pandemic as changing the job he expected to inherit and recalled early fights over reopening schools and concerns about growing learning gaps.
Adams also addressed the federal indictment tied to his first mayoral campaign that has shadowed his time in office. He said agents seized his electronic devices and that leaks from prosecutors damaged his political standing. Adams characterized the episode as a lesson about the interplay of mayors, the media and prosecutors and said the prosecution was later dropped during the Trump administration. He called attention to commentary by federal officials at the time; the column noted an op-ed by then-Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Turning to the November election and his chief rival, Adams sharply criticized Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old progressive who has emerged as a prominent challenger for the mayoralty. Adams accused Mamdani and his backers of promoting policies that would be harmful to the city and repeatedly questioned whether voters fully understand the power of the mayor's office.
Adams warned against proposals he said Mamdani supports, including shifting control of city schools back to the state Legislature, decriminalizing prostitution, emptying Rikers Island and instituting rent freezes coupled with new taxes on wealthy residents. "Most New Yorkers don't fully understand how much damage he can do," Adams said. "He is diabolical," he added, asserting Mamdani knows promises he is making cannot be fully implemented.
On education, Adams said a move to return governance of city schools to Albany would cede local control to unions and state officials. He accused Mamdani of advocating measures that, in Adams’ view, would empower the United Federation of Teachers, led by Michael Mulgrew.
Adams also criticized Mamdani’s stance on public safety and the criminal justice system. He said plans to empty Rikers Island would be perilous because the facility holds many of the city's most dangerous inmates, and he described recent court decisions as tending to limit incarceration, making it harder to send people to Rikers.
Adams raised concerns about Mamdani’s supporters and their role in recent protests, linking a portion of the candidate's base to anti-Israel demonstrations that flared after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. He referenced a widely reported subway incident in which people yelled at passengers they believed to be Jewish and said some critics of Israel are not "American patriots," citing personal family history to contrast his view of civic duty.
Adams also assailed the Democratic Socialists of America, which he said have influence on Mamdani’s campaign. "They hate families," Adams said in the interview, calling their agenda a social experiment that would harm New York and take years to reverse.
Campaign aides for Mamdani and representatives for the Democratic Socialists of America did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mamdani has presented himself as a progressive alternative who emphasizes affordable housing, tenant protections and police accountability; his campaign has argued that bold changes are needed to address inequality and public safety in the city.
Adams framed his outlook in personal terms, saying he has long been in the public eye from his years with the New York Police Department and that he believes he retains a reservoir of trust with many New Yorkers. He recounted moments of hardship, including his indictment and the day he left court to visit a senior center, and said his mother’s persistence shapes his approach to adversity.
The New York Post interview comes amid a flurry of public and editorial attention about the state of Adams’ campaign. Polling and media coverage have at times portrayed his re-election prospects as uncertain; Adams dismissed narratives that he plans to depart City Hall early.
As the race moves forward toward the November election, Adams reiterated his intention to continue governing and campaigning. He urged voters to weigh the policy differences at stake and warned that the decisions made by City Hall will have long-term consequences for schools, public safety and the city's economic future.
The mayor did not announce additional campaign plans in the interview, and his comments make clear an intent to remain an active, if embattled, candidate as the fall election approaches.