Mayor Adams Keeps Folks Guessing: Will He? Won’t He?

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large
The Crown Heights-based Vulcan Society and the Grand Council of Guardians endorsed NYC Mayor Eric Adams last Saturday. The firefighters and law enforcement organizations also pledged their support for the incumbent mayor, even as he said he was still considering pulling out of the race if his independent polling showed that he had no path to success.

Charles Billups, chair of the Grand Council of Guardians, told Our Time Press that this “is the direction they wanted to go, they still believe in him. Personally, I would stick with what we have got. I would want to play it safe with what I have, versus what is coming in.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s New York Times opinion page surprise New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani endorsement on Sunday morning, had some political news hounds calling the race a slam dunk, and perhaps opening the door for the thus so far hesitant and dithering fellow Dems Brooklyn’s House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to finally vocalize their perhaps reluctant support for their party’s nominee.

A recent Marist poll showed that leading the mayoral candidate pack by 21% is Mamdani at 45%, and former NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo is at 24%, Republican Curtis Sliwa at 17%, with Adams stalling at 9%.
“We have not done one TV ad, not one mailing,” Adams said. “We have just started knocking on doors.”

Mamdani stunned former governor Cuomo in June, when he beat him by landslide in the Democratic primary. Even though he is now running on the Independent line, Cuomo said, “They know that you have a socialist and you have a Democrat, and that’s apples and oranges, and it’s a very clear choice.”

Hochul wrote that even though she and Mamdani have “had our disagreements,” in their conversations, “I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family.”

As she gears up for her own gubernatorial race next year, facing her current Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, Hochul noted that she differs on several issues with Mamdani, but, “I’ve had frank conversations with him,” she stated. “I heard of a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable – a goal I enthusiastically support.”

However, on Tuesday, Mamdani declined to endorse Hochul in return. He said, “My focus is on November, and I’m excited to have the governor’s support in that fight for November.”
As of press time Adams was still straddling the fence in terms of will he or won’t he stay in the race? This past Sunday, News 12 reported that sources stated that Adams “has made a decision and will likely drop out of the NYC Mayor’s race by the end of this week.”

“Let me be perfectly clear: any rumor or tweet suggesting Mayor Adams is stepping down this week is complete bullsh*t,” said Todd Shapiro, his spokesman. “These lies are being spread by desperate opponents who can’t match the mayor’s record, his campaign energy, or his support across this city…Eric Adams is in this race to win it, and no amount of fake chatter or political spin will change that.”

As he touts his affordable city, and tax-the-rich campaign talking points, Mamdani said he would now apologize privately for his 2020 remarks slamming the NYPD as racist.
Despite noticeable tweaks of previous narrative, Brooklyn student, and Mamdani supporter Olive Uche told Our Time Press, “ I think the real question should be why not Zohran Mamdani? In a time like right now—post-COVID, post [presidential] election, seeing and experiencing the city as it has been –why wouldn’t anyone want change?

New York City has been in a destitute state for some time and the reality is if we do not demand change—vote for change, it will continue to get worse. It is not that New York City is not capable of change. It is simply that we have individuals, entities, and parties committed to preventing it from being the great city it can and should be—affordable and sustainable for everyone.”

Indeed the Marist poll had merely 12% of potential voters stating that NYC is “affordable or very affordable,” versus 88% declaring that the city is “not very affordable or not affordable at all.”

Asked why young people such as herself are choosing such fundamental change, Uche said, “Everything. I don’t think there’s one issue over the other that attracts me more because I think they are all equally good and necessary.

As a person born and raised in New York City, I think it’s extremely important that New York City remains a place that we can all call home, live comfortably without the constant fear of being displaced or out priced by those who see the city as a monetary playground, with the luxury to opt out of the very real experiences and hardships of everyday New Yorkers, who are making the city the alluring, lucrative, vibrant, culturally diverse place that it is.”

Answering why an Adams’ second term is not an option for youth like her, Uche replied, “I mean just look around. Is this a New York City one should be proud of? The current state of the city answers the question precisely. It speaks volumes to the extent of how bad things have become.”

Billups said that Adams the–retired police captain, is part of the Guardians organization, and,
“admitted that he made mistakes, and we talked about those things. We had to hear him out, and weigh it appropriately, and the membership decided to support him.”

Asked if he thought Adams would leave the race soon, Billups told Our Time Press, “Based on my conversations with him, he’s not going anywhere. Based on what we’ve been hearing, the other parties are putting out the information that he’s leaving, and they are putting out false information about the polls and everything else.

We all know polls can’t govern you. Trump proved that twice, and both times we didn’t want him, but we ended up getting him.”
The paper asked if the retired corrections officer was led to believe that the New York Times, Siena College, and Marist polls were all wrong?

“I am not saying if they are fake or not, but it all depends on who they are questioning and asking? I would ask the readers, ‘How many of y’all have gotten the calls about who y’all would wanna see for mayor? ’Are they calling the Black community? Or are they being selective in calling whom they choose? Hilary and Kamala were up in the polls, but Trump won. So, based on those things, it’s not over until it is over.”

Published reports have Adams telling some business community members that he would consider pulling out, if his own commissioned independent poll does not give him the numbers.
“We’re going to do our analysis, we’re going to find out what’s the right message for our voters.”