New York City Mayor Eric Adams withdrew from the city’s Democratic primary on Thursday and said he would instead run for reelection as an independent, a move intended to buy him time to save a campaign deeply wounded by a bribery scandal and liberal anger over his warm relationship with President Donald Trump.
In a video announcement, Adams said he will not run in the Democratic primary in June because his recently dismissed criminal case “dragged on too long” while the “false accusations were held over me,” preventing him from campaigning.
The decision came after intense speculation over whether Adams would remain in the Democratic primary, which has attracted several serious opponents, including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In a practical sense, the move will allow Adams to skip directly to the general election in November, giving him more time to campaign unencumbered by the weight of his criminal charges. But it will also further distance Adams from the city’s heavily Democratic electorate and party organization, potentially weakening his chances of winning a second term.
The mayor, who had not formed much of a formal reelection apparatus, has struggled to raise money in recent months and suffered a blow when he was denied access to millions of dollars in public matching funds for his campaign because of questions about gaps in his recordkeeping.
At a Thursday afternoon forum held by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Adams said the criminal case had “overshadowed” his achievements and politically sidelined him.
“I wanted to run in a Democratic primary but I have to be realistic,” he said. “I have to let New Yorkers know what I have done.”
A federal judge dismissed Adams’ corruption case on Wednesday, ending a legal saga that left the mayor severely damaged and raised questions about his political independence.
The charges, brought last year during President Joe Biden’s administration, accused Adams of accepting illegal campaign contributions and travel discounts from a Turkish official and others, in exchange for helping Turkey open a diplomatic building without passing fire inspections, among other things.
The mayor pleaded not guilty and was set for a trial in April, but the case was upended after Trump’s Justice Department moved to drop the charges so that Adams could assist with the president’s immigration agenda, while leaving open the possibility that the case could be revived.
The highly unusual move set off a firestorm of criticism and resignations and threw Adams’ mayoralty in doubt, with many people questioning whether he was beholden to the Trump administration.
In an order dismissing the case, federal Judge Dale E. Ho denied prosecutors the option to refile the charges and wrote that allowing the case to be revived “would create the unavoidable perception that the mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration.”
In his video announcement, Adams maintained his innocence but acknowledged that the case had “shaken” voters and said he put his trust in the wrong people.
“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. And let me be clear, although the charges against me were false, I trusted people I should not have, and I regret that,” he said.
Adams, a former police officer, has governed as a centrist Democrat and often done battle with the city’s progressives. He was a registered Republican in the 1990s but has spent his political career, which includes time as a state senator and Brooklyn borough president, as a Democrat.
The mayor’s political opponents swiftly criticized his decision to run as an independent. Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic state assemblyman running for mayor, said, “Regardless of what party Adams flees to, New Yorkers deserve better than a self-interested, disgraced mayor who has and always will put his needs before their own.”
Another candidate, Democratic state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, described the whole ordeal as “a circus.”
Jim Walden, a former prosecutor who is running as an independent, promptly challenged Adams to a debate, arguing that the mayor’s decision came “out of desperation, not principle.”
Adams’ announcement was first reported by Politico.
