And then there were three.
After Mayor Eric Adams dropped his bid for reelection Sunday afternoon, the three men seeking to replace him this November took little time to adjust to the new dynamic — digging their heels in with just over a month to go until Election Day.
Though the mayor had long faced calls to drop out in the interest of clearing a packed field and acknowledging New Yorkers’ overall distaste for his administration, few of his opponents jumped to applaud his decision on Sunday — save for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has battled with Adams for moderate and independent votes.
“The choice Mayor Adams made today was not an easy one, but I believe he is sincere in putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition,” Cuomo wrote in a statement. “We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them.”
Though Cuomo, now the only independent candidate left in the race, had slammed Adams’ policies throughout the campaign, he offered props to the mayor for his career in politics.
“Mayor Adams has much to be proud of in his accomplishments,” Cuomo said. “Only in New York can a child raised in a tenement in Bushwick, who once worked as a squeegee boy and a mailroom clerk, rise to become mayor. Whatever differences we may have, Eric Adams’ story is undeniably one of resilience, a testament to the spirit of this city.”
Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee who is running far ahead of his competition in most polls, gave a terse condemnation of the mayor’s reported ties to President Donald Trump — the New York Times reported earlier this month that Adams was in talks with the federal government for a potential ambassadorship.
He also invoked Cuomo’s reported talks with the president, whom all candidates have rallied against to varying degrees.
“Donald Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo’s actions but they will not dictate the results of this election,” Mamdani wrote in a statement. “New York deserves better than trading in one disgraced, corrupt politician for another. On November 4th, we are going to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas and deliver a government every New Yorker can be proud of.”
Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, who has lambasted the mayor’s governance of the city throughout the duration of the campaign, will look to gain some ground after Adams’ exit, as the mayor had been courting Republican votes as he ran on an independent party line.
“Curtis Sliwa is the only candidate who can defeat Mamdani,” Sliwa spokesperson Daniel Kurzyna wrote in a statement to amNewYork. “Our team, our resources, and our funding are unmatched. Most importantly, we have the best solutions to help working people afford to stay in New York City and feel safe.”
Though Sliwa’s fundraising stayed largely on par with Adams, Mamdani has far out-fundraised his competition, recently hitting the Campaign Finance Board’s $8 million cap.
Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the New York City mayor’s race Sunday afternoon, announcing the decision in a video filmed from the staircase of Gracie Mansion posted on X.
Adams expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve as mayor for a single term: “Thank you for making my story a reality,” he wrote in the caption of the post.
By the time he dropped out, Adams had sunk significantly in most polls, seeing single digits and consistently polling more than 30 points behind Mamdani, the race’s leader. With stalled fundraising efforts — a deficit he attributed to media coverage of the race — the mayor’s public campaigning efforts had been nearly nonexistent for a week.
The Working Families Party, which had endorsed Mamdani as its first choice in the Democratic primary, blasted Adams and former Governor Andrew Cuomo — Mamdani’s main competition in the race — in response to Adams’ decision. The party called Adams and Cuomo “loyal lapdogs” of President Donald Trump, and wrote in a statement that Mamdani is the right choice for New York City.
“We’ve known since day one that Cuomo and Adams have always been in the pocket of morally bankrupt billionaires who back Trump and any politician willing to do their bidding,” the party wrote in its statement. “Eric Adams failed New Yorkers as mayor. And now, he is dutifully following their orders to step aside.”
