NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams got a lifeline from President Donald Trump on Monday when federal prosecutors moved to dismiss a sweeping corruption case against the Democrat. But in New York City, where Trump remains a toxic figure, the legal reprieve comes at a high cost.
Adams is asking New York Democrats to nominate him for another term against the backdrop of low approval ratings, cash problems and a field of aggressive rivals. The Trump administration’s latest move only emboldens those opponents, who immediately attacked the mayor as beholden to the Republican.
Their reasoning is that the legal mercy appears to come with conditions as it leaves open the possibility of resuming the case against Adams. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove cited one of Trump’s executive orders in his dismissal memo Monday night, writing that the White House is “particularly concerned” with the prosecution’s impact on Adams’ “ability to support ongoing, critical federal efforts ‘to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement.’”
On Tuesday, Adams delivered a brief speech focused on his personal biography and policy accomplishments, but almost totally devoid of reference to the federal corruption case that’s weighed him down for the past five months. During those six minutes, he made clear — without saying it directly — that he’s charging forth with his reelection plans.
Behind the scenes, though, his team is aware his ties to Trump pose a political risk and is strategizing how to minimize the downside as the mayor prepares to begin campaigning.
“Once the shock of all this and the drama has subsided and his opponents are all screamed out, what’s going to matter is: Did he deliver and did he stay true to his promise, and if he did, then he’ll be reelected,” said a person close to the mayor, granted anonymity to freely discuss internal strategy. “Almost everybody else who is in this race right now, at some point in the near past or currently, has a major policy position that is the opposite of what New Yorkers say they want on police, crime, immigrants and generally the way that New York City government should be run.”
Adams’ team has begun activating his surrogates and plans to begin circulating petitions to get on the ballot once that process commences on Feb. 25.
But he’s still in a precarious position.
Though Adams leans to the right, his strongest supporters — church-going, older Black New Yorkers — are among the Democratic Party’s most loyal voters. And despite playing footsie over the years with local Republicans around their common antipathy toward far-left Democrats, New York’s GOP stands against much of what the mayor has prioritized. So now, Adams, the city’s second Black mayor who swept into office with a lot of promise and raw political talent, is increasingly a politician without a home.
“He is just a man who is happy he won’t be going to jail,” said Curtis Sliwa, who is running in the GOP mayoral primary. “A Jehovah’s Witness would have a better chance of getting a convert going door-to-door than Eric Adams would have getting Republicans to sign a petition for him.”
Billionaire John Catsimatidis, an active political donor and commentator, said Monday night Adams is considering running as a Republican.
But the chances are unlikely, save for a direct intervention from Trump himself.
To run on the GOP line, Adams would need to change his voter registration by midnight Friday. Alternatively, he could be given the line as a registered Democrat if three of the five New York City county Republican chairs approve. But two have already held votes backing Sliwa, and another two have votes coming up within days.
The mayor would also face a structural disadvantage running as a Republican. Many of his top issues are nonstarters for the average GOP voter: a rezoning plan to build more housing in low-rise neighborhoods, the proliferation of migrant and homeless shelters and Adams’ tepid support for congestion pricing.
And even if Adams were to win a GOP primary, he would face steep odds in a general election. Democrats outnumber Republicans six to one in the city — though unaffiliated voters make up the second-largest share of voters — and the mayor would likely lose many die-hard Democrats who comprise his base by defecting.
“Can a Republican win in New York? Yes. But it takes a single issue and it takes a groundswell of support and people needing absolute change. And it’s not just change — it’s absolute change,” former GOP mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, a deputy mayor to Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s, said.
General election results underscore New York City’s partisan divide: Former Vice President Kamala Harris beat Trump by 38 points.
And the mayor’s own supporters were at the vanguard of Trump’s rejection.
“I’m Eric’s friend, but I stand on my principles that what Trump is doing is wrong,” Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader and MSNBC host, said in a recent interview.
Sharpton is planning to convene Black political leaders this week to discuss Adams’ predicament, and on Tuesday called the dismissal memo “political blackmail.”
“If the Mayor were to disagree with the President, does that mean they have the right to call a trial on him at any time? It certainly sounds like President Trump is holding the Mayor hostage,” Sharpton said in a statement.
The pitfalls of balancing an alliance with Trump and the concerns of New Yorkers are already manifest.
On Monday, the head of 32BJ SEIU lambasted Adams’ recent directive on how to handle immigration agents who show up to municipal shelters and hospitals. The president of the union, which endorsed Adams in 2021, said the since-revised policy provides too much leeway for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to enter city-run facilities staffed by the labor group’s members.
In the lead-up to Monday’s deal, Adams spent months currying favor with Trump.
The mayor studiously avoided criticizing the GOP leader during the presidential campaign even as he bashed national Democrats. He praised White House cabinet pick Elon Musk and went out of his way to greet Trump at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Manhattan.
In December, Adams hosted Trump border czar Tom Homan in Gracie Mansion and suggested Homan’s team would have a hand in rewriting the city’s “sanctuary city” rules. The mayor then pledged to never publicly criticize Trump — a deference he said he initially offered former President Joe Biden as well.
And then last month, Adams dined with Trump near the president’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida days before skipping several Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in Manhattan to attend Trump’s inauguration. He also sat for an interview with Tucker Carlson and offered little pushback against the conservative provocateur’s attacks on sanctuary cities, immigrants and New York City.
Adams’ team says those events and the conditional dismissal — which must be approved by a judge — will be distant memories by the June Democratic primary. But Trump is sure to produce a stream of local headlines throughout the campaign that will force Adams to take a position or stay conspicuously mum. Case in point: Homan, the border czar, is set for another sit-down with the mayor Thursday.
Adding to the mayor’s Trump troubles is the specter of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The Democrat is inching closer to entering the race and would compete for the same voters.
But despite his mountain of problems, Adams has found receptive audiences at several recent faith events and has the unwavering support of the Brooklyn Democratic Party chair, one barometer of Adams’ base.
State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn said in a statement: “We hope to move on from what seemed to have been a politically motivated case and allow the Mayor to keep delivering for the people of New York.”
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