Better late than never.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is hitting the airwaves with her first TV ad in the final days leading up to the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary.
In the 32-second spot, titled “Rise Above,” Speaker Adams broadcasts her campaign’s central message that she is the one candidate in the race who will transcend “the drama” to deliver for New Yorkers. It provides a brief introduction to the speaker, a candidate with whom most Democratic voters are likely still unfamiliar.
“In New York City, we know drama, but as City Council speaker, I rise above,” the speaker says at the pulpit of a church with a gospel choir performing behind her.
The speaker — who has represented part of southeast Queens on the council since 2018 — also highlights her many clashes with Mayor Eric Adams, to whom she is not related.
Those include fighting his budget cuts to the city’s universal pre-K program and public libraries, and getting those trims partially restored, as well as suing to block his administration’s recent executive order to allow federal immigration authorities back on Rikers Island.
“Now I’m running for mayor,” Adrienne Adams says. “Not for power or praise, but for my children and for yours. For affordability. For safety. For justice. I’m Adrienne Adams, and I’m in it for us.”
The ad marks the beginning of Speaker Adams’ multi-million dollar buy with the start of early voting a little over a week away, according to her campaign.
The speaker released her first TV ad, as several of her closest competitors have already been on the air for over a month. She is catching up to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the frontrunner, Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, city Comptroller Brad Lander, his predecessor Scott Stringer, and Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie.
The delay stemmed from Speaker Adams having only unlocked public matching funds last week as a result of her late entrance into the race in early March. The city Campaign Finance Board awarded her campaign $2.4 million in public money at its meeting on May 30.
The ad blitz kicked off a day after the first mayoral Democratic primary debate. During the two-hour forum, Speaker Adams had a standout moment where she took Cuomo to task for what she cast as his many missteps as governor that he should apologize for.
“No regrets when it comes to cutting Medicaid or health care? No regrets when it comes to slow-walking PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), and vaccinations in the season of COVID to Black and brown communities?” the speaker said, referring to budget cuts Cuomo enacted in office and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The former governor disputed her characterizations of his leadership.
The speaker received another boost Thursday when leading progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ranked her second on a slate of endorsed candidates. Ocasio-Cortez described the move to the New York Times as a way to expand the progressive tent by appealing to the speaker’s base of working-class Black voters.
