Adrienne Adams, the first Black woman to lead the New York City Council, said on Wednesday that she would join the already crowded race for mayor with less than four months before the June primary.
She is hoping to position herself as a principled and scandal-free alternative to the incumbent, Eric Adams, and the race’s presumptive favorite, the former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
With little name recognition outside of New York’s political circles and an unproven ability to raise large sums of money quickly, Ms. Adams is already at a disadvantage.
But numerous Democratic leaders, including the state attorney general, Letitia James, urged Ms. Adams to run. The pressure from the group of Black women, labor and civic leaders grew as Mr. Adams’s legal and ethical troubles mounted and it became clear that Mr. Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace after a series of sexual harassment allegations, was about to enter the race.
“New Yorkers can’t afford to live here, City Hall is in chaos, and Donald Trump is corrupting our city’s independence. It’s time to stand up,” Ms. Adams said in a statement announcing her candidacy. “I never planned to run for mayor, but I’m not giving up on New York City. Our city deserves a leader that serves its people first and always, not someone focused on themselves and their own political interests.”
Ms. Adams, who represents a section of southeast Queens, will kick her candidacy off Saturday afternoon at Rochdale Village, a sprawling middle-class co-op complex in Jamaica, Queens. The choice of locale is representative of how Ms. Adams will try to build her base, hoping to target Black and Latino women.
If she were to win, Ms. Adams would make history not only as the first female mayor, but also as the first person to successfully make the transition from Council speaker — leading the city’s legislative branch — to becoming its chief executive. Her entry into the race was reported by Politico.
During her time leading the Council, Ms. Adams, who is considered a moderate Democrat, gained a reputation for being able to work with what was the most ideologically diverse ideation of the body in recent memory.
“I’m a public servant, mother, Queens girl and I’m running for mayor,” she said. “No drama, no nonsense. Just my commitment to leading with competence and integrity.”
Ms. Adams, who often mentions that she is the first mother and grandmother to be speaker, said she was headed to retirement and more time with her family until the mayor’s legal troubles made her reconsider.
The deciding factor was when four top deputy mayors announced their resignations after the Justice Department moved to dismiss Mr. Adams’s five-count federal indictment. Mr. Adams was accused of offering to use his position to aid President Trump’s immigration agenda in exchange for a dismissal of his case.
Ms. Adams, who is not related to the mayor, is one of nine major Democratic candidates to challenge Mr. Adams in the June primary.
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