Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has given up his bid for re-election. In this race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa have thrown their hats into the ring, but Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is being seen as the overwhelmingly dominant front-runner.
On the 28th (local time), Adams said in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter), "Despite all we have achieved, I cannot continue my re-election campaign," adding that "continued media speculation and the Campaign Finance Board's decision to withhold millions of dollars have weakened my ability to raise funds."
As a result, Adams, who was elected as a Democrat in 2021 and has served since January of the following year, will step down as mayor early next year.
Because he had initially hinted at running for re-election as an independent, some analysts say Adams' mid-course withdrawal was a somewhat expected sequence. In the Nov. election, Mamdani is widely favored to win, and Adams had also faced sustained pressure to quit from the camp of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running in the race.
That day, President Donald Trump was also reported to have supported Adams' decision, saying "Adams' votes will go to Cuomo." Earlier, he had criticized Mamdani as a "communist," while stressing that an "anti-Mamdani" consolidation was needed and expressing his support for former Gov. Cuomo.
4th, President Trump said, "I don't think we can win unless it's a one-on-one matchup," adding, "If two people drop out and it becomes a one-on-one race, we can beat (Mamdani)."
Adams' withdrawal is expected to have some effect on the current race, in which Mamdani holds a large lead. According to polling results released by the New York Times (NYT) 2nd, Mamdani led with 46%, followed by ▲Cuomo (24%) ▲Sliwa (15%) ▲Adams (9%).