After days of denial, Mayor Eric Adams seemed to admit Friday that he is entertaining offers for other job opportunities, though he maintained that he continues to campaign robustly for re-election.
The admission came as questions continued to swirl around whether Adams would abandon his reelection bid for a plum job opportunity, potentially from Republican President Donald Trump, in a surprise September gambit that could turn the mayoral race on its head.
In a statement provided by his campaign Friday, Adams insisted “I am still running for reelection” and that “no formal offers have been made.”
Yet he also appeared to confirm a Thursday evening report from the New York Times that he is seriously considering taking a job with the Trump administration, saying, “I will always listen if called to serve our country.”
That report came hours after Adams publicly besmirched the Times’ original reporting on Wednesday that the Trump administration had approached him about a job opportunity that would end Adams’ mayoral candidacy. The original report also alleged that the Trump team approached Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa with his own job offer, but he has publicly rebuffed such reports.
Adams is set to travel to Washington D.C. next week to discuss his political future with Trump advisers, NY1 reported on Friday afternoon. Adams’ campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro did not immediately confirm the meeting.
Trump wants a one-on-one against Mamdani
Trump indicated Thursday evening that he wants the mayoral general election to be a two-person race to have the best chance at stopping frontrunner Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist Assembly member, from ascending to the mayoralty.
“I don’t like to see a communist become mayor, I’ll tell you that,” Trump told reporters in the White House, falsely labeling Mamdani a communist — which he has done previously. “I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one, and I think that’s a race that can be won.”
If Adams and Sliwa drop out, it would likely strengthen former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who, like Adams, is a Democrat running on an independent line — as they have overlapping bases of moderate, older voters. The field has already shrunk after another independent candidate, Jim Walden, suspended his campaign earlier this week.
Cuomo is trying to capitalize on sentiment among centrists, Republicans, and city business leaders who see a democratic socialist like Mamdani becoming mayor as dangerous for the city.
Adams’ Friday statement came after both the “Paper of Record” and Politico revealed that top Trump aides are considering offering Adams an ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week, Politico reported that Trump’s team has already floated a post at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the mayor.
The Times also reported on Thursday that Adams met personally with top Trump adviser Steve Witkoff during a trip to Florida earlier this week.
Adams’ statement came shortly after he abruptly cancelled his one scheduled public event on Friday morning.
Adams in search of a ‘soft landing’?
A source familiar with Adams’ thinking, granted anonymity to discuss the matter freely, told amNewYork that he is looking for a “soft landing” — meaning he wants a cushy gig with a level of prestige befitting an ex-New York City mayor.
Meanwhile, former Gov. David Paterson, another close Adams ally and his highest-profile supporter so far, told amNewYork that Adams disclosed he has been getting job offers but did not specify where they were coming from or whether he is considering taking any.
“He was saying he was getting a lot of them,” Paterson said of Adams. “He was really impressed he was getting offers, and he said, ‘When I figure out what I want to do, I’ll let you know.'”
Paterson added that Adams “really wants to stay in the race,” but that he “recognizes the reality” of his long odds — as he is polling in last place behind Sliwa in most recent surveys.
Mamdani contends that Cuomo is secretly colluding with Trump to clear the field to give him the best chance at winning. He is basing the accusation on reports of Cuomo and Trump discussing the mayor’s race over the phone last month, as well as the former governor telling potential donors that the president will urge Republicans to vote for him over Sliwa.
For his part, Cuomo has denied any recent conversations with Trump and claimed on Thursday that he knows “nothing about” the president offering Adams a job. But while Cuomo said he does not want Trump to personally boost his campaign, he said that whatever Adams and Sliwa do is their business.
“I don’t want him involved in anything with my race,” Cuomo said on Sept. 4. “What Eric Adams chooses to do is up to Eric Adams. What Curtis Sliwa chooses to do is up to Curtis Sliwa.”
