NYC mayor set to run for reelection as independent
By: Kinsey Crowley
USA Today
..... New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Thursday [04/03/2025] morning that he will run for reelection as an independent after a scandal-plagued term.
....
The announcement comes the day after the Trump administration's Department of Justice formally dropped corruption charges against him. Adams blamed the criminal case for delaying his reelection campaign.
..... "There isn't a liberal way or conservative way to fix New York, but there is a right way and a wrong way," Adams said in video posted on X. "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.
..... The embattled mayor's 11th-hour decision means he will not face a crowded fiend of nine candidates, including former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in June's [2025] Democratic primary.
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The primary election for the mayoral seat is June 24 [2025] and the general election is November 4. [2025]
..... In September 2024, Adams was indicted on federal charges over allegations he accepted free travel and political donations from Turkish officials as bribes.
..... In February, [2025] the DOJ intervened in the case, directing the prosecutors to drop it on the grounds that it improperly interfered with Adams' reelection campaign.
..... But when the judge dismissed the case Wednesday, [04/02/2025] he did so with prejudice, meaning charges cannot be refiled in the future.
.... Adams has been in the public eye for decades, serving as New York Police Department captain, a state senator and Brooklyn borough president.
..... Adams leads an overwhelmingly Democratic city and once aligned himself with former President Jo Biden. But Adams became critical of Biden when the city received a wave of migrants, and he has suggested his indictment was retribution for falling out with the Biden administration.
..... Trump, who has argued that his own criminal charges were politicized, previous said he would consider pardoning the mayor.
..... Contributing: John Bacon and N'dea Yancey-Braggs, USA Today; Reuters