New York City Mayor Eric Adams will skip the Democratic primary and run for reelection as an independent, he announced Thursday.
The news came a day after his federal corruption case was dismissed by a judge.
Adams confirmed his 2025 campaign in a six-minute video posted on social media.
“Although I am still a Democrat, I am announcing that I will forgo the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an independent candidate in the general election,” Adams said, adding, “There isn’t a liberal or conservative way to fix New York, but there is a right way and a wrong way and true leaders just know the right path [if] they have the guts to take it.”
Adams will bypass the crowded Democratic primary, which includes former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
There is precedent to win as an independent
Mayors have run and won as independents in New York City. In 1965, John Lindsay got reelected as an independent after losing the Republican primary, and Michael Bloomberg won a third term as an independent after running as both a Republican and a Democrat.
Adams said he knows he has work to do to regain the public’s trust.
“I know that the accusations leveled against me may have shaken your confidence in me, and that you may rightly have questions about my conduct. And let me be clear: Although the charges against me were false, I trusted people I should not have, and I regret that, but the issues I face are nothing compared to yours — rising costs, public safety concerns, deep concerns about the future,” Adams said.
“This is a complete circus”
A poll released last week showed Adams was trailing Cuomo, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander among Democratic primary voters. It gave him a slight edge over former Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, state Sen. Jessica Ramos, former Assemblyman Michael Blake and activist Whitney Tilson.
Adams’ decision perplexed some of the candidates in the Democratic primary.
“If you’re reading the news this morning, you’re watching television [and] you’re scratching your head and saying, ‘What the hell is going on,’ you are not alone. I’m asking myself the same question. This is a complete circus,” Myrie said.
“He’s going to lose whatever election he runs in. If he runs in the Democratic primary, he’d lose there. If he runs in the general election, he’d lose there. He can’t face accountability from the New Yorkers that he sold out,” Lander said.
“The people voted for this man as a Democrat and he made it very clear he doesn’t care about us anymore, and so, it’s incredibly disappointing, but it’s not surprising,” Blake added.
“Eric Adams hasn’t been a Democrat for a very long time,” Stringer said.
“It’s ironic to hear the mayor describe himself as an independent when his record has shown him anything but that,” Mamdani said.
Cuomo took the high road.
“They call it democracy. Mayor Adams can run as an independent if he chooses. He can run in the Democratic primary if he chooses. That’s up to Mayor Adams,” Cuomo said.
Perhaps the happiest about the mayor’s switch is Republican frontrunner Curtis Sliwa.
“There’s no doubt that Eric Adams being an independent helps me,” he said.
When asked Thursday, the mayor brushed that theory off.
“He had no chance to win the Democratic primary”
Political experts say Adams made a smart choice because he avoids the slings and arrows that were sure to come his way in the Democratic primary and can use the power of incumbency to make his case directly to the people.
“It’s a tough needle to thread. It is not going to be easy, but you have campaigns in threes. He has a record to run on. He now has a future to plan. He gets to pick the issues he wants to run on and make it the third one. It’s not going to be easy, but he had no chance to win the Democratic primary,” political consultant O’Brien Murray said.
With Adams out of the primary, Murray says Cuomo is expected to become the focus of attacks by the other candidates. If Cuomo navigates that storm successfully, it will set up a possible showdown between him and Adams in November’s general election.
Though Adams’ poll numbers are low, Murray said running as an independent gives the mayor a better shot at keeping his job.
“The Democratic primary is about 80 days away, early voting and so forth. You have 80 days to remake your image and get the message out there after distractions of the court case. Now, you’ve got over 200 days to go between now and November. You also have to get away from the clutter of a very crowded field in a Democratic primary,” Murray said.
Adams supporters say he will bounce back
The mayor certainly has his supporters.
“Regardless of what party he’s affiliated with, he’s got a very good chance of coming ahead,” said Ishmael Sanchez of the Bronx.
“There’s a lot of damage that has been done. It’s a shame because he’s the second African-American mayor and he was set up, but he will bounce back,” Bishop Erick Salgado said.
The mayor later said in an interview on Fox that he has to rebuild trust among a voter base that may be “fatigued” by the political process.
“We’re all fatigued. We’re fatigued about affordability in our city. We’re fatigued about the concerns of raising healthy children. We’re all fatigued with that fatigue. We’re going to turn it into the fighting spirit of New York,” Adams said.
Judge dismisses Adams’ federal corruption case
Judge Dale Ho on Wednesday agreed to the U.S. Department of Justice’s request to drop charges against Adams. The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, which means the charges cannot be brought again at a later time.
“The case against Eric Adams should have never been brought in the first place—and finally today that case is gone forever. From Day 1, the mayor has maintained his innocence and now justice for Eric Adams and New Yorkers has prevailed,” Adams’ attorney Alex Spiro said.
Adams was charged in 2024 with abusing his power for almost a decade. A 57-page indictment accused him of receiving undisclosed gifts — including luxury travel — worth more than $100,000 in return for political favors. He allegedly solicited illegal campaign donations from wealthy foreigners and corporations, including a Turkish government official.
In arguing for the case to be dismissed, DOJ prosecutors said it would have interfered with Adams’ 2025 mayoral campaign and hinder his ability to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The initial request to drop the charges noted it was not based on “the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.”
Adams pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
