April 3 (UPI) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday he will run as an independent as he seeks re-election.
Adams released a video statement early in which he first declared that he shared the experience of being raised in New York City, adding that “like so many of you, I grew up in a city that failed you,” and that “when New Yorkers worry about their bills at the kitchen table, or feeling safe on a subway platform, they don’t expect a political party to help,” but instead want leadership from someone who “understands their story.”
He continued, saying he will always fight for New Yorkers, but he “had hoped to fight for them again in a Democratic primary for mayor,” and had received more than 25,000 signatures on a Democratic primary position, but as the corruption case against him “dragged on too long,” it made it impossible to mount a proper primary campaign.
“And that is why,” Adams continued, after he confirmed he was still a Democrat, “I am announcing that I will forego the Democratic primary for Mayor, and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an independent candidate in the general election.”
His announcement follows a Wednesday dismissal of federal corruption charges. The judge in the case did so, and dismissed the counts against Adams “with prejudice,” which means the Department of Justice cannot revive the case at a later date.
Judge Dale Ho wrote in his decision that the decision to drop the charges “smacks of a bargain,” adding that Adams “took at least one new immigration-related action consistent with the preferences of the new administration.”
A poll taken in February by the Honan Strategy Group “found that 85% of Democrats do not believe that Adams should be re-elected and that 81% disapprove of his job performance, including 60% who say they strongly disapprove,” and placed him third in a hypothetical ballot for the Democratic mayoral primary with 9% of the vote, behind former Governor Andrew Cuomo at 35% and city Comptroller Brad Lander at 10%.
