‘I have been this racehorse that has been held back,’ says NYC mayor
New York City mayor Eric Adams will leave the Democratic primary and run for reelection as an independent, as internal tensions and a broader identity crisis roil the Democratic Party.
“Though I am still a Democrat, I am announcing that I will forgo the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an independent candidate in the general election,” Adams announced in a video Thursday morning. He argued that New York City needs “truly independent leadership, not leaders pulled at by the extremists on the far-left or the far-right.”
Adams had been weighing an independent bid for weeks, as his high-profile corruption case dragged on in court, sources close to him told the New York Post. A federal judge on Wednesday permanently dismissed Adams’s criminal case.
The mayor, who faced charges of bribery, wire fraud, and soliciting illegal campaign contributions, has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of bringing the charges against him in retaliation for his criticism of former president Joe Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis, according to the New York Times.
Adams said the case had “handcuffed” him politically, and he vowed to be “uninhibited” as an independent on the campaign trail. “I have been this racehorse that has been held back,” he told Politico.
The defection comes as Democrats have struggled to regain their footing after losing the presidency and both chambers of Congress in November. The party’s rank-and-file are “on the verge of a Tea Party-style, intra-party revolt” against their representatives in Congress, including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), Politico reported last month, while polls show Democrats’ favorability ratings are underwater.
Adams will now need to collect at least 3,750 signatures by May 27 to qualify for the November ballot as an independent. The 64-year-old former police officer is expected to face a competitive race, with disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo (D.) and several progressive Democrats having announced bids for City Hall.