Jessica Ramos, a progressive New York State senator from Queens, announced early Friday that she was entering the race to unseat Mayor Eric Adams in next year’s Democratic primary.
Ms. Ramos is the fourth prominent Democrat to challenge Mr. Adams, whose administration faces numerous federal investigations, including one that led to the resignation on Thursday of New York City’s police commissioner.
Ms. Ramos said in an interview that the investigations of the mayor and his inner circle were troubling, and she used her campaign kickoff video to focus on Mr. Adams’s credibility.
“You’ll never have to wonder who I’m working for or who is paying me,” Ms. Ramos said in the video, as news footage of the investigation into Mr. Adams’s campaign is displayed. “We need to bring that trust back to City Hall.”
Ms. Ramos said she would center her campaign on improving life in the city and making it more affordable, pointing to her efforts in Albany on issues like raising the minimum wage.
“I feel that we are at a critical juncture where New Yorkers more than ever before can’t afford to live here and don’t see New York City as the vehicle to realize their American dream, and that’s a problem,” she said in the interview.
Ms. Ramos, 39, whose parents are from Colombia and whose two sons attend public schools, added: “I think that’s been particularly frustrating for me as the daughter of immigrants, but also as a mom — I want my kids to have a fighting chance to grow up in an amazing city that lends every economic opportunity to them.”
Mr. Adams, a moderate whose approval rating has fallen to a record low, remains a formidable opponent. He has a huge campaign war chest, strong relationships with labor leaders and the use of the bully pulpit provided by incumbency.
Yet the investigations, along with questions of his management of the city, have opened a window for challengers in the primary next June. The city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, is running, along with Scott M. Stringer, a former comptroller, and Zellnor Myrie, a state senator. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, are also considering entering the race.
Ms. Ramos, who is seeking to become the first female mayor of New York City and the first person of Latino background to hold the job, could face considerable challenges. She will have to move quickly to raise money, set up a citywide campaign apparatus and introduce herself to voters across the city.
She is perhaps best known for challenging Steven A. Cohen, the owner of the New York Mets, by refusing to endorse his casino proposal in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, arguing that it would not benefit residents in her district.
“I have no problem telling a billionaire no,” she said in the interview.
She is part of a new generation of leaders who ousted moderate Democratic incumbents in Albany in 2018. Her district in Jackson Heights is one of the most diverse in the city, and she said she would speak Spanish frequently on the campaign trail to reach Latino voters.
Eli Valentin, a Democratic political strategist, said that Mr. Adams’s support among Latino voters had weakened considerably, and Ms. Ramos could take advantage of that.
“She’s charismatic, she’s smart, and she has an ability to connect with different groups and to create coalitions,” he said.
The mayor’s approval rating with Latino voters — once a key part of his coalition — has fallen to 20 percent, according to a Quinnipiac poll. More than 60 percent of Latino voters said that crime was a very serious problem, the highest level of any demographic group.
Ms. Ramos has criticized the mayor’s response to an influx of migrants coming from the southern border and his budget cuts to libraries. She said she was open to working with other left-leaning candidates on a ranked-choice voting strategy to make the most of the city’s relatively new system that allows voters to rank several candidates. Some candidates could cross-endorse each other or run on an “Anybody but Adams” slate.
“It is very early, but I think the field already says, ‘Anybody but Adams,’” Ms. Ramos said.
Her campaign video highlights her biography as a lifelong New Yorker. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father worked at a printing press. She boasts of not having a driver’s license and often rides the subway, and said that New Yorkers would soon learn that “I’m a really good salsa dancer.”
The greatest challenge for Ms. Ramos, Mr. Valentin said, will be raising enough money to qualify for public matching funds.
And although Ms. Ramos, who leads the State Senate Labor Committee, is friendly with unions, prominent labor leaders might be reluctant to abandon Mr. Adams unless the mayor is personally accused of wrongdoing.
Allen Roskoff, a prominent gay rights activist who runs the progressive Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, said he would consider endorsing Ms. Ramos and trusted her judgment.
“She’s effective, she’s progressive, and she’s been able to accomplish a lot,” he said. “I think she could add a lot to the well being of the city, and I think she’s a good manager.”
Ms. Ramos has made a name for herself in Albany on food policy and worker issues. She has also drawn attention for being outspoken, including when she publicly criticized Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for not spending enough time in her congressional district.
Ms. Ramos said that she had been told at times that she was too aggressive and that she had been called a “bitch” — a word that has been used before to describe a previous female mayoral candidate.
“I’ve been called all sorts of things that are usually akin to leadership skills when you’re talking about a man,” she said.
But Ms. Ramos said her forceful delivery came from having a sense of urgency over helping New Yorkers who are struggling.
“Some people in office seem to feel that they have all of the time in the world to get to a place where we can deliver on a certain thing,” she said. “No. People are homeless now. People are sick now. People are poor now. People are lacking child care now.”
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