New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams delivers his speech throughout a ribbon-cutting ceremony at his Queens marketing campaign workplace in Queens on Aug. 14, 2025.
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Is Mayor Eric Adams getting ready to exit the New York Metropolis mayor’s race?
Rumors are swirling that Hizzoner is seeking to abandon his long-shot reelection bid as strain mounts on candidates against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani to consolidate behind the best-positioned contender and halt his seemingly ascent to Metropolis Corridor.
Including gasoline to the fireplace is a Wednesday afternoon New York Occasions report that advisers to Republican President Donald Trump are discussing giving Adams a job within the federal administration to clear the sphere for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who’s polling second to Mamdani. They’ve reportedly weighed doing the identical for GOP mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa.
The New York Publish, in the meantime, additionally reported Wednesday that Adams and the Trump White Home are in talks over a possible job.
Adams rep says ‘no meeting’ with Trump but
Adams’ marketing campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro, in a press release, mentioned the mayor has “not met” with Trump and claimed he’s staying within the race. Shapiro, nonetheless, didn’t reply whether or not Adams has mentioned the matter with anybody in Trump’s orbit.
“To say, ‘Would you take a job in the administration, or would I take it somewhere else?’ That’s hypothetical.” he mentioned. “I’m running for office, and I’m going to finish doing that.”
The contemporary wave of chatter follows unbiased lawyer Jim Walden’s ending his mayoral bid Tuesday afternoon and urging different low-polling candidates to do the identical. It additionally follows Adams quietly touring to Florida to satisfy with unnamed “political figures” on the identical day.
“I met with several political figures in Florida while I was there from various parts, including the mayor from the Miami administration,” Adams mentioned on Pix11 on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Shapiro insisted Adams traveled to Miami to be with mates for his sixty fifth birthday, which was on Monday, and that he was not on the lookout for future employment alternatives. He additionally contended Adams didn’t meet with the mayor of Miami.
Adams, a Democrat working as an unbiased, is now the lowest-polling candidate within the race. He has constantly registered in fourth place behind Sliwa in most up-to-date surveys.
Cuomo, who can also be working an unbiased marketing campaign, seems to be Mamdani’s most formidable challenger, as he’s polling in second place.
As for Sliwa, the Republican candidate denied reviews that the White Home had contacted him, and that he’s not concerned about working for Trump.
“My focus is right here in New York. I’m the only candidate on a major party line who can defeat Mamdani, and I’m committed to carrying this fight through to Election Day,” Sliwa mentioned. “The people of New York City deserve a mayor who truly cares.”
Denials from Adams and his supporters
Adams, for his half, mentioned throughout a sequence of TV and radio interviews on Wednesday morning that he’s staying within the race. However, on the identical time, he didn’t deny the rumors as forcefully as he had previously.
“Whenever I make a move, I’ll make an announcement,” Adams mentioned on Fox5 on Sept. 3. “I’m in this race to win.”
When New York News requested by way of textual content whether or not the mayor was about to drop out of the race, Adams’ marketing campaign chair, Frank Carone, merely replied “no.”
Former Gov. David Paterson, Adams’ most outstanding assist within the common election, instructed New York News that he has not “heard anything that would appear to be accurate.”
However Paterson speculated that the rumors have began to bubble up partially as a result of there was “a lull” within the mayor’s campaigning over the previous couple of days, which fits in opposition to Adams’ vow that he would marketing campaign in earnest after Labor Day.
“I think that’s where the rumors come from, that the campaign, he and his supporters said, ‘just watch us, right after Labor Day, we’re gonna start hitting it,’” Patterson mentioned. “And other than going to the West Indian Day Parade, nothing like that happened.”
The previous governor mentioned the previous couple of occasions he and the mayor spoke in current weeks, it appeared like Adams
Nonetheless, the mayor’s reply stands in sharp distinction to the far firmer, “hell no,” he gave to the identical query two weeks in the past, following his former high aide, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, getting slapped with 4 new corruption indictments.
The rumors that Adams is seeking to exit the race got here into public view with an Aug. 27 column by storied New York Publish gossip author Cindy Adams.
In her piece, Cindy Adams relays rumors that the mayor could also be prepared to finish his run if he’s supplied a comfortable job that permits him to proceed having fun with among the advantages he has loved as mayor, akin to cash, TV appearances, and good tables at eating places.
