The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, announced on Thursday that he would forgo the Democratic primary for mayor in June and run as an independent candidate in the general election.
The move comes after the federal corruption indictment against Adams was dismissed this week, on the heels of the Trump administration moving to dismiss the charges in February.
In a post on his X account, Adams wrote: “I have always put New York’s people before politics and party – and I always will. I am running for mayor in the general election because our city needs independent leadership that understands working people.”
Adams, who has a record-low approval rating in his current role as mayor, also shared a six-minute long video of him explaining his decision, telling voters: “There isn’t a liberal or conservative way to fix New York. There is a right way and a wrong way and true leaders don’t just know the right path, they have the guts to take it.”
The Democratic pool for mayoral candidates is currently flooded; had he run as a Democrat, Adams would have seen rivals in Adrienne Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani, Zellnor Myrie, Jessica Ramos, Scott Stringer and potentially others. As an independent, Adams will compete with whomever wins the Democratic primary.
But Adams has a steep battle of unlikability to climb regardless of who he faces. If he qualifies, his pool to draw voters for the November election will be rooted in the city’s 3.3 million registered Democrats, 1.1 million independents and 558,778 Republicans.
Those who identify as independents in New York often lean toward liberal policies, but their views vary widely. While many reject party labels in favor of progressive figures such as the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, others identify as centrists or even lean conservative, particularly in certain boroughs. Many independents are drawn to outsider candidates or political movements that challenge the establishment, a factor that may not bode well for Adams.
The outgoing mayor also has a record low approval rating of 20%, according to Quinnipiac in early March, with a majority of voters calling for him to resign from the post.
His campaign polling hasn’t been much better: Adams lagged behind Cuomo, the New York assembly-member Mamdani and the progressive city comptroller Lander, holding a meager 7% of the vote in the first round, according to Data for Progress in late March. New York runs a ranked-choice voting system, and that poll had Adams eliminated in the seventh round, with Cuomo and Mamdani in the final round.
On his legal battles, Adams addressed them in his video post, telling constituents he knew “that the accusations leveled against me may have shaken your confidence in me, that you may rightly have questions about my conduct.
“And let me be clear, although the charges against me are 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,” he said.
