By Christian Martinez
(Reuters) -New York City’s incumbent Mayor Eric Adams launched his reelection campaign on Thursday following the surprise upset of progressive candidate Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary earlier this week.
The mayor did not name Mamdani during the event held on the steps of New York City Hall, but he alluded to some of the self-described Democratic socialist’s positions and background.
“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a silver spoon,” Adams said. “A choice between someone who delivered lower crime, the most jobs in history and the most houses built in decades and an assembly member who did not pass a bill.”
Adams, who ran and won as a Democrat in his first mayoral bid in 2021, saw his popularity plummet following his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent decision by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to drop the case. In April, he announced that he would run for reelection as an independent, avoiding the Democratic primary that included Mamdani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Since Mamdani’s win, Adams has criticized the 33-year-old state assemblyman from Queens, saying he lacked experience and was campaigning on policy proposals he could not deliver.
“He’s a snake oil salesman,” Adams said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News.
Mamdani’s victory in the primary and potential win in the general election has prompted strong reactions from progressives, who have cheered his campaign’s upbeat tone and focus on economic issues, as well as conservatives and some in the business community, who have criticized his democratic socialist policies.
Trump, a native New Yorker, called Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” in a post Wednesday on social media.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who supported Trump in the 2024 election, offered to financially back a challenger.
“New York City under Mamdani is about to become much more dangerous and economically unviable,” Ackman said Wednesday in a post on X.
Ackman, a major shareholder in real estate development company Howard Hughes Holdings, said he has “a superb candidate who I can believe can win” but added “if I were to say his name or even reach out to him, it would have a negative effect on his candidacy, as I am a supporter of President Trump…”
Ackman instead offered to crowdsource “the best centrist candidate.”
“If someone is ready to raise their hand, I will take care of the fundraising,” Ackman said.
The Republican candidate this fall will be Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels. Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor, is running as an independent, as well. Cuomo also retains the ability to run as an independent, though he has not yet decided whether to do so.
(Reporting by Christian Martinez; editing by Paul Thomasch and Diane Craft)
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