Adams on Cuomo independent bid chatter: ‘I don't focus on what other candidates are doing'

The Hill

a day ago

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) on Friday brushed off talks of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo launching an independent bid, saying he's only focused on 'what I am doing.'
'I don't focus on what other candidates are doing. I focus on what I am doing,' Adams said during an appearance on CNN's 'The Lead' with Jake Tapper.
'I came from behind when I ran in 2021, I was head of 13-point deficit from the leading opponent in the race,' he told Tapper. 'And as you see, we were successful. I know I did campaign, I know how to speak to voters.'
The mayor added, 'I'm a working class mayor. I'm a blue collar mayor, and I would resonate in the residents of this city. They see I'm one of them.'
His comments come days after New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani seemed to edge out Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary — though results in the city's ranked-choice voting system are not final. Cuomo conceded to Mamdani, 33, after Tuesday's ballots were counted.
Adams launched his own independent bid following the election.
When asked if he's considered following in the mayor's footsteps, Cuomo told CBS News on Wednesday that he is 'assessing that landscape.'
Mamdani also dismissed the chatter, saying he's 'not at all' concerned about that possibility.
Asked about the self-proclaimed democratic socialist's perceived victory and what it means for the general election, Adams slammed the state lawmaker — who has lobbied for Palestine to become its own U.S.-recognized state — for being a 'pro-Hamas' candidate.
'I'm not competing against him only for what he's done and praising Hamas,' he told Tapper, a after highlighting the ways he believes Mamdani has backed the U.S.-designated terrorist organization amid its war with Israel. 'I'm competing against him because this is not a socialist city, and that much of what he's promising to people, which I think is really deplorable, people that are struggling like my family did of living without the means that we needed.'
Adams earlier in the week also accused his opponent of being disingenuous.
'He's a snake oil salesman,' Adams told 'Fox & Friends' on Wednesday. 'He would say and do anything to get elected.'
Tapper questioned the incumbent mayor on reports that he made a deal with the Trump administration to ramp up immigration enforcement in the Big Apple, following the Justice Department's decision to drop federal corruption charges against him.
'I never met the president prior to him running for office, never met in my life. He talked about the unfairness of the charges while he was on the campaign trail. And the first time we met, he also articulated the unfairness and the Justice Department used the same system that determines if someone should be indicted,' Adams said.
'They use that system to determine that I should not have been indicted, and the charges were dropped with prejudice,' he added.
The mayor has denied the allegations in the past, even after several DOJ officials resigned following the Trump administration's move to drop the corruption charges.