Mayor Eric Adams cut the ribbon on a new Harlem campaign office on Wednesday, lashing out at opponents while facing pressure from election officials to decide which independent line he will run on.
At 102 West 124th Street, Adams was joined by former Gov. David Paterson and community representatives as he launched the new outpost. Speaking at the ribbon cutting, the mayor said his opponents “want to put prostitution back on our street,” referring to the ongoing criticism of his front-running Democratic rival Zohran Mamdani, who previously advocated for decriminalizing sex work.
“This race … is about peeling back all the noise,” Adams said. “You have three people in the race who don’t have a record. You have one person who’s running from his record.”
He continued attacking the Queens Assembly member, echoing another criticism first raised by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over Mamdani’s rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria, which costs $2,300 a month.
“I talked about someone who wants to freeze rent, which he would personally benefit from,” Adams said. “Affordable units should be for those who are struggling, not multimillionaires. It’s hypocrisy to say you’re for low-income New Yorkers while occupying housing meant for them.”
Adams contrasted Mamdani’s situation with his own record as a landlord in Brooklyn, saying he has not raised rents on tenants in his building. “If you’re going to voice a belief, you should live that belief,” he said.
He added that Cuomo had long lived in the governor’s mansion and questioned whether that candidate understood the struggles of ordinary New Yorkers.
“I think he needs to get out of the race and give that apartment back to his daughter,” Adams said of the $8,000-a-month luxury Midtown apartment that Cuomo now occupies after his daughter moved to Brooklyn earlier this year as the mayor’s race got underway. “I think it’s unfair that he had to displace her so that he could find his way into New York City. The other candidate is living in a unit that should go to a low-income New Yorker.”
Adams contrasted his opponents’ record to his own, which highlighted his record on public safety, homelessness, and youth programs while making housing development a centerpiece of his campaign message. He pointed to projects including 10,000 units planned in Manhattan, 3,000 at the former Flushing Airport site in Queens, and new construction at Willets Point and along the Bronx waterfront. Figures show his administration has built or preserved about 229,800 affordable homes since 2022, with another 197,000 units expected through rezonings that could take years to complete.
The mayor, who has faced criticism over his leadership and ongoing investigations into his campaign, brushed off detractors by urging voters to “examine the record.” He also praised the New York Post for an editorial crediting him with accomplishments on crime and housing.
The Harlem opening is the latest in a series of campaign offices Adams’ team has launched across the city ahead of November’s election. The most recent were in St. Albans, Queens, and a Brooklyn outpost that is not technically supposed to be occupied due to an active vacate order on the Mill Basin building.
Adams must choose between lines
Adams, who was elected mayor in 2021 as a Democrat, is running in this upcoming election as an Independent. The Board of Elections told him Tuesday that he must choose between two independent ballot lines his campaign created for the November election.
As first reported by the City & State, in a letter dated Aug. 19, the board cited state election law requiring candidates nominated by more than one independent body to appear only once on the ballot. Adams was nominated under both the “Safe & Affordable” and “End Anti-Semitism” lines.
The board gave Adams five business days to notify officials which line he intends to keep. If he fails to designate, the board will decide where his name appears on the ballot.
Adams’ campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro told amNewYork that the mayor will appear on the Safe and Affordable ballot line but that he intends to pursue legal options “to ensure fairness and protect the democratic process.”
“Candidates who qualify are entitled to equal treatment, just as others who have appeared on multiple ballot lines in past elections,” Shapiro said. “Our campaign will continue to defend the principle that the Board of Elections must apply the rules consistently and without bias, so that New Yorkers—not bureaucratic maneuvering—decide the outcome of this race.”
