New York City Mayor Eric Adams is ditching the Democratic Party as he seeks a second term.
Adams, who was a Republican before he became a Democrat, formally announced his mayoral reelection campaign in a video Thursday, saying he plans to run as an independent.
“Though I am still a Democrat, I am announcing that I will forego the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an Independent candidate in the general election,” Adams said in the video.
The move, which comes less than 24 hours after a judge permanently dismissed a federal corruption case against the mayor, sets up what is likely to be a frenzied, fast-paced race toward the general election in November. The charges were first dropped a few weeks into President Donald Trump’s second term in part because the case would impede Adams’ ability to do his job as mayor, including cooperating with Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Justice Department’s new acting deputy attorney general wrote.
Several Democrats are seeking the party’s nomination, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo currently leading in most polls.
The Democratic primary in New York, which is held in June, is considered the determining race ahead of the November election. Democrats outnumber Republicans by large margins in the city; whoever wins the primary is seen as the likely victor in the general election. Michael Bloomberg, a once and now again Democrat, won mayoral races in the nation’s most populous city as an independent and as a Republican, spending millions of his personal fortune to do
Facing calls to step aside from some in the Democratic Party, Adams has largely stayed out of the daily campaigning his opponents are already doing. He has sat out several forums hosted by many of the city’s unions and other institutions.
Adams is on track to submit the 3,750 signatures he’ll need by the end of May to secure a spot on the November ballot, a campaign aide told CNN.
Adams’ campaign secured 25,000 signatures for the Democratic ballot line but said his recent legal troubles had kept him from mounting a proper campaign, he said in the video that dropped Thursday.
“The dismissal of the bogus case against me dragged on too long, making it impossible to mount a primary campaign while these false accusations were held over me,” Adams said.
