New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Sunday that was ending his re-election bid, officially leaving the race to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo. Debate over New York’s next leader has grown from local to national news, now implicating President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withdraw the city’s funding if Mamdani wins.
The campaign’s closure marks the end of a corrupt administration, plagued with rampant controversy and political scandal. Adams was indicted last September on five counts, including bribery and fraud, concerning allegations that he received over $100,000 in illegal campaign donations and travel benefits. Close aides in his administration have similarly faced intense legal scrutiny for political wrongdoing: Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams’ former chief adviser, was charged with bribery along with her son for accepting $100,000 in exchange for official favors. These allegations, among countless others, dogged his campaign at every turn until its anticlimactic end.
While Adams continued to suffer in the polls, his allies crafted a now-defunct plan with Steve Witkoff, aide to President Trump, to make Adams ambassador to Saudi Arabia. As word of these deliberations leaked out, Adams insisted the media was intentionally smearing his campaign by broadcasting news of his illicit backroom agreements for political relevance. Regardless, Trump has made it very clear he thinks Cuomo “might have a chance of winning if it was a one-on-one.”
The pressure Adams was facing seemed to stem from the establishment’s desire to clear the way for a candidate who could stop democratic socialist front-runner Mamdani. Intense political pressure — from the Trump administration, business leaders and the other assembled opponents of anti-establishment Mamdani — was the largest factor in Adams’ ultimate decision. Adams dropped out to cooperate with Trump in hope of some sort of political retribution, and his departure from the race will almost certainly benefit Cuomo.
Adams’s supporters overwhelmingly favor Cuomo over Mamdani. According to Politico, Adam’s departure from the race has led to more funding for Cuomo’s campaign and Super PACS. Sliwa is facing calls to drop out as well, with Cuomo’s team hoping the move will sway the conservative mass it needs to beat the democratic socialist upstart.
While Mamdani still holds a clear lead in the polls, Cuomo will certainly benefit as Adams’ constituents flow to his voter base. Support is swarming around Cuomo as the experienced candidate, deeming him inoffensive enough to business and political interests that he can become the ultimate sock puppet — ironic, considering he’s just as handsy. But it’s unclear whether the consolidated aid will be enough to defeat Mamdani.
Though Adams and independent candidate Jim Walden have already dropped out, their names will still appear on the ballot and could still conceivably draw votes from Cuomo in the final election. Even if all of Adams’s supporters gravitated to Cuomo, he would still be lagging substantially behind Mamdani. According to a poll by Tulchin Research, if all candidates remain in the race, Mamdani still has the lead with 42%, followed by Cuomo with 26%, Sliwa with 17%, incumbent Adams with 9% and Walden with 3%.
While I do not think Adams’ exit alone is enough to secure Cuomo’s win, it could be a stepping stone on the way there. With a potential seismic shift of support towards Cuomo, Mamdani could stand to lose. While Mamdani maintains a strong possibility of winning, Adams’ sudden exit shows the need to remain engaged as this election constantly changes, and continue to support Mamdani — not by donating money, but instead your time and effort.
Mamdani has urged his base to take five actions that could help him win, such as registering to vote, signing up to phone banks and downloading the REACH app to spread the word — because hundreds of volunteers donating just five minutes of their time could be what secures a victory. The extraordinary developments from this mayoral election have proven that we must stay vigilant as the ever-changing political environment continues to shift, and that nothing is guaranteed until the polls close on Nov. 4 at 9 p.m.
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Contact Amelia Burnett at [email protected].
