Eric Adams is out—and New York City’s mayoral race just got messier

With just 36 days before voters could have kicked him out themselves, New York City Mayor Eric Adams spared himself the humiliation. On Sunday, he announced he’s abandoning his campaign for a second term—a race he never stood a chance at winning.

In a nearly nine-minute video set to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” Adams admitted there was no path to reelection and said he’d wrap up his rocky tenure at year’s end.

“Despite all we’ve achieved,” he said, “I cannot continue my reelection campaign.”

Rather than own his scandals—bribery allegations federal prosecutors dropped earlier this year after what looked like a quid pro quo with President Donald Trump, or the adviser caught trying to bribe a reporter last month—Adams blamed “continued media speculation” and the city’s Campaign Finance Board for denying him matching funds as the final nails in the coffin.

Adams’ campaign had been stuck in the single digits for months, with democratic socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani running away with the race—even without fully consolidating support among New York’s establishment Democrats. But the mayor didn’t endorse Mamdani—or anyone else—on his way out. Instead, he issued a warning about what he called “insidious forces” pushing “divisive agendas” and radicalizing young people to “hate our city and our country.”

“Major change is welcome and necessary,” Adams said. “But beware of those who claim the answer is to destroy the very system we built together over generations.”

He also dialed back some attacks. According to remarks he had prepared for The New York Times, Adams originally planned to blast Andrew Cuomo—who resigned as governor in 2021 after numerous sexual harassment allegations and is now running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary—calling him “a snake and a liar.” The cut lines could mean Adams might end up backing Cuomo before the November election.

The decision to quit ends weeks of behind-the-scenes scrambling. Publicly, Adams insisted he’d stay in the race. Privately, he was looking for an exit ramp—including a possible ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia. Adams even flew to Florida in early September to meet with billionaire Trump adviser Steve Witkoff about the role, but Trump’s team killed the talks after they leaked to the press. Trump never extended an offer.

Adams had also courted business leaders about possible jobs in the private sector to ease his way out. It’s unclear whether any formal deals were struck. Through it all, he vowed to keep running—until, in recent days, he began workshopping a narrative that shifted the blame for his failing campaign onto outside forces.

His departure doesn’t just clear the field—it could reshape the race. Trump has been openly agitating for Adams and GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa to drop out, in an effort to consolidate opposition to Mamdani, even threatening (again, on Monday morning) to withhold federal funding from New York City if Mamdani wins.

Now, Cuomo sees an opening. According to the Times, he’s banking on peeling away support from Black and Orthodox Jewish voters who had backed Adams, while unlocking six- and seven-figure donations from business leaders who had stayed on the sidelines. But with so little time left, catching Mamdani won’t be easy. Polls show Adams’ supporters are too few to shift the race radically.

Cuomo, who is polling second, could gain ground if he convinces Sliwa to drop out as well. But Sliwa has refused all entreaties—even from Trump, who dismissed him as an unserious candidate.

Mamdani, meanwhile, is ready for November. In a Sunday video, he mocked both Adams and Cuomo.

“To Andrew Cuomo, you got your wish: You wanted Trump and your billionaire friends to help you clear the field,” he said. “But don’t forget, you wanted me as your opponent in the primary, too, and we beat you by 13 points. Looking forward to doing it again on November 4th.”

Cuomo struck a more sober tone, praising Adams’s decision and insisting it “changes the entire dynamic of the race.”

“We are facing an existential threat in an extreme radicalism that threatens the existence of this city as we know it,” he said.

Then there was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who hasn’t endorsed Mamdani but took a moment on Sunday to praise Adams for his long service.

“Eric Adams has served courageously and authentically for decades as a Member of the NYPD, the New York State Senate, in Brooklyn Borough Hall, and as our 110th Mayor,” Jeffries said, according to multiple media reports.

Adams, a former police captain who once seemed poised to restore order to post-COVID New York, leaves behind a mixed legacy: falling crime rates and a resurgent economy, but also relentless scandal and a city that had grown weary of his bluster.

Even in his farewell, Adams tried to sound upbeat. Sitting on the steps of Gracie Mansion next to a photo of his mother, he ticked off accomplishments and insisted he’d been “wrongfully charged because I fought for this city.”

“I hope that, over time, New Yorkers will see that this city thrived under our leadership,” he said.

We saw this coming. Adams may be gone, but that doesn’t make the path to victory any easier for Mamdani’s rivals. So long, Eric.