Hi everyone,
Eric Adams made it official on Sunday. He dropped out of the New York City mayoral race. The man who grew up in Queens, was a New York City Transit cop, then with the NYPD for 20 years, earning the rank of captain, before serving in the New York State Senate, Brooklyn Borough President, and then as the city's 110th mayor, succumbed to pressure and a refusal from the Campaign Finance Board to match campaign contributions.
In his farewell address, Adams said that "The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board's decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.".
That decision from the Campaign Finance Board has to do with the allegations leveled at Adams under the Biden administration's Department of Justice, which prosecuted Adams for what they said were illegal campaign contributions during his 2021 mayoral campaign. These donations, they alleged, came from Turkey, which is not legal in NYC, and this was not disclosed by the Adams campaign, which took the matching funds from the Campaign Finance Board for those donations anyway.
But for Adams, the real issue is who is going to lead the city, and while he didn't name Zohran Mamdani directly, his farewell speech asked New Yorkers not to lean into extremism. Mamdani is a socialist. He's part of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has a bunch of completely bat sh*t crazy ideas as to how to give New Yorkers a bunch of free services and very little plan—other than taxing the rich even more than they are already taxed—to pay for it all.
And also he seems to really hate America. He only became a citizen about 7 years ago and has a globalist view after being raised by an international filmmaker and a Columbia University anti-colonialism professor.
"I must also sound a warning, extremism is growing in our politics," Adams said. "Our children are being radicalized to aid our city and our country. Political anger is turning into political violence too often, insidious forces use local government to advance divisive agendas with little regard for how it hurts everyday New Yorkers.
"Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer to destroy the very system we built together over generations. That is not change, that is chaos. Instead, I urge New Yorkers to choose leaders not by what they promised, but by what they have delivered."
Mamdani has delivered nothing. In his response to Adams' resignation, he said "Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Adams and Cuomo’s actions. But they won't decide this election." He touted his campaign workers, built upon his rhetoric, and offered nothing but empty promises.
Andrew Cuomo, who needed Adams to drop out to have a shot, and who really needs Curtis Sliwa to follow suit, was more magnanimous about Adams' decision. He praised Adams and said "We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them."
I pray the city doesn't bring a socialist and all his bogus promises into Gracie Mansion. But I fear that Cuomo is wrong and it is, in fact, too late.
Libby