NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams insisted again Friday that he won't end his reelection campaign, stressing that he'll remain in the race as reports swirl that he’s been approached about possibly taking a job in the Trump administration.
At a hastily called news conference, Adams declared, “I am in this race. And I am the only one who can beat Mamdani," referring to the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani.
“How many times have I been told throughout this journey to step aside, to surrender, to give up, to give in,” he said. “That’s the same thing we tell everyday New Yorkers. Everyday New Yorkers are not giving up, are not giving in, are not surrendering, so their mayor is not going to do that.”
Adams has spent the week fending off news reports that intermediaries for President Donald Trump had contacted people in the mayor's orbit to talk about whether he would consider abandoning his campaign to take a federal job. He had released a statement earlier Friday that said said he “will always listen if called to serve our country” but that he had not yet received any “formal offers.”
Hours later, he summoned news reporters to the mayor's official residence in Manhattan, Gracie Mansion, fueling speculation that he would bow out of the contest.
But instead, he doubled down on his intentions to press on, launching broadsides at Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, calling them “two spoiled brats” who are “not like us,” while playing up his own working-class origins.
Trump has told reporters he would prefer not to have Mamdani, 33, as the next mayor of the largest U.S. city. He said he’d like to see two of the three other major candidates taking on Mamdani — Cuomo, who like Adams is running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa — leave the race to create a one-on-one contest.
Moments after Adams’ announcement, Trump was asked about it by reporters at the White House. “He’s free to do what he wants,” Trump said of Adams.
Trump continued: “Cuomo might have a chance of winning if it was one-on-one," while adding, “if you have more than one candidate running against (Mamdani), it can’t be won.”
During a trip to Florida this week, Adams met with Steve Witkoff, a former real estate developer in New York who is now one of Trump’s main diplomatic envoys in Washington, said Adams' campaign spokesperson, Todd Shapiro. It was unclear what specifically was discussed.
In an interview, former Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson said he spoke with the mayor Wednesday morning. Adams told him he wanted to remain in the race but had received offers, Paterson said.
“He said, ‘Listen, they say I have some offers. I have a lot of offers.’ Then he started laughing. And he was saying that, you know, he really doesn’t want to leave and he’s trying to work that out so he doesn’t have to,” said Paterson, who has endorsed Adams for reelection. “He didn’t get specific about it, but I got that in his heart of hearts, he really wants to stay. But I also got that, even though he didn’t say it, that the odds can’t be very good."
Mamdani won the Democratic nomination after soundly defeating Cuomo in the primary and is the presumed favorite to become the next mayor.
“Through the collusion and corruption of the past few months, our relentless focus on the affordability crisis — created by Andrew Cuomo and inflamed by Eric Adams — has not wavered," Mamdani said in a statement Friday. “November, we’re going to deliver a city working New Yorkers can afford and turn the page on the broken, billionaire-backed politics of the past.”
Adams skipped the Democratic primary, saying he was sidelined from campaigning by his now-dismissed federal bribery case. ___
AP writers Seung Min Kim and Michelle L. Price contributed from Washington. Izaguirre reported from Albany, New York.