Opponents of New York Mayor Eric Adams eye 2025 election

Democratic challengers to Eric Adams’ reelection bid are exploring runs for mayor next year, capitalizing on his near record-low popularity and a public corruption investigation of him and his circle.

"Want a new mayor? Me too," one of the challengers, State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, of Brooklyn, posted July 2 in a fundraising appeal on social media.

"Stop Eric Adams," read an email solicitation sent a week later by Scott Stringer, another challenger and the former city comptroller, who ran — and lost — against Adams in 2021 and is trying again. "New Yorkers can’t afford another 4 years of Eric Adams and shouldn’t have to."

The current city comptroller, Brad Lander, is also poised to announce a bid, The New York Daily News, citing unnamed sources, reported earlier this month. His spokeswoman Chloe Bristow declined to comment.

Last Monday was the first public filing deadline of the 2025 race. According to the disclosures, Adams leads the pack, raising about $1.1 million in the first half of 2024. Stringer raised about $425,000, and Myrie, about $326,000. Lander raised about $198,000. 

The would-be challengers are to the political left of Adams.

New York City mayors who run for reelection rarely lose — buoyed by the inertia of incumbency, the bully pulpit of office, and the peril faced by those who have business before the city and support a challenger who then loses.

Adams’ approval rating has fallen to the lowest for a New York City mayor since Quinnipiac University began polling the public nearly three decades ago: Just 28% support him, according to the poll.

For his part, Adams, a former NYPD captain who ran on a law-and-order platform, says he is proud of what his administration has done since taking office on Jan. 1, 2022.

He says he and his team have been key in helping resuscitate the city’s economy from the doldrums of the COVID-19 pandemic, improving the city's bond rating, deploying more police and navigating an unprecedented crisis created when over 200,000 foreign migrants arrived in the city starting months after he took office.

"When you read how this administration is covered, you think you're living in a different city," he said earlier this month.

Adams questions whether his race — he is the city’s second Black mayor — is a factor.

"Coded words ‘incompetence.’ We know what that means," Adams said. "We have turned around this city in two-and-a-half years."

Early voting in the primary election begins June 14, 2025, and in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 7 to 1, whoever clinches the Democratic nomination is almost certain to win the race.

Myrie, who if elected would become the city’s third Black mayor, says New York has not been functioning well under Adams. He says Adams lacks a larger vision, such as how to make the city more affordable, for steering it into a fairer future.

"I think most New Yorkers want a city that is well run, and that at minimum has a handle on the nuts and bolts of governing, and what we’ve seen on issues that are really important to families across the city," Myrie said. "This administration has fumbled on that."

Stringer believes that one of Adams’ signature policies — "City of Yes," a plan that includes cutting red tape and loosening the city's decades-old, and Adams argues, outdated zoning rules — is underwhelming. 

"I wanted him to succeed. But I quickly realized, unfortunately, that the ‘City of Yes’ is actually the ‘City of No Can Do,’" Stringer said. "We are not building the housing that we need to build. We are not addressing the post-COVID needs of children in the public school system, and the continuing crime problems, both underneath [in] the subway and above ground, continue to plague New York."

Cecilia Airaldi, of Bayside, Queens, said she doesn’t see enough police officers on the street, and too many of those who are out are using their personal cellphones.

"If there was a way for them to leave their phones at home," Airaldi said, "that would be great because I don't feel very protected."

In the spring of 2022, Adams said that the public should send him photos of cops lollygagging on their phones. The City, a nonprofit news outlet, reported several months later that those who did complain to the mayor never heard back.

Edward Leather, of Kips Bay, Manhattan, said he’s "disturbed" about the allegations raised in federal investigations of Adams and his team, and won’t be voting for Adams.

"I don’t know a lot of the details, but I find that when you make it clear that your essence or your ‘mayoral aroma’ is steeped in swag and then you're investigated for shady details, it’s just concerning," Leather said.

Naykeeda Vielot, of Canarsie, Brooklyn, said her top concerns are crime and the migrant crisis. Adams, she said, hasn’t done enough.

"The new mayor doesn’t necessarily have to look like me or be a person of color," she said. "I think it should be someone who understands our issues and gets out there to put themselves forward as a mayor for the people."

Ronald Pauling, a food service worker and lifelong resident of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, said he likes Adams and would vote for him again.

"He’s on top of crime. Policing, he stays on top of the police also and makes sure they’re doing their duty," Pauling said.

Stanley Brown of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, said he appreciates how Adams is ever-present at events around the city and shows up to his community and beyond — parades, carnivals, galas and more.

"I support him because he’s a good mayor. He does everything for New York City," said Brown, who is on disability. "He does a lot. He does a lot for us."