As Mayor Eric Adams of New York City searched for a new campaign manager, he asked his leading candidate to sit for private interviews with two crusading hedge fund titans he wants to bankroll his re-election effort.
The billionaire financiers, Bill Ackman and Daniel S. Loeb, had both met separately with Mr. Adams as they weighed potential large contributions. But the mayor’s decision to give them a say in who he hired to run his campaign illustrates the remarkable lengths he is willing to go to secure their support.
Mr. Ackman and Mr. Loeb have collectively given millions of dollars to Democratic and Republican candidates over the years and could meaningfully boost the mayor’s flagging candidacy if they were to cut large checks to a pro-Adams super PAC.
Mr. Adams, who is running as an independent, enters the general election contest as a distinct underdog against Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. The mayor’s approval ratings among New Yorkers are dismal after he faced federal corruption charges and then was accused of striking a deal with the Trump administration in order to get them dropped.
Eugene Noh, the candidate interviewed separately by Mr. Ackman and Mr. Loeb, was announced on Tuesday as Mr. Adams’s new campaign manager, part of a slate of hires. The Daily News reported the news of Mr. Noh’s hiring, but the involvement of Mr. Ackman and Mr. Loeb — who vocally oppose Mr. Mamdani — has not been previously disclosed.
Frank Carone, Mr. Adams’s campaign chairman, confirmed that the mayor’s team had asked the businessmen, and other unnamed supporters, to speak with Mr. Noh in recent days to make sure they were comfortable with him. He stressed that they did not have veto power over the hire.
“It’s good for me and good for the mayor to hear feedback,” Mr. Carone said. “We value their judgment very much, Dan and Bill. These guys, they could be doing anything they want, but they’re in the trenches here worrying about the state of New York and understanding affordability is a big issue.”
A spokesman for Mr. Ackman, a supporter of President Trump who has fought against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, declined to comment.
Mr. Ackman, who met with Mr. Adams last week, has called Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, a “socialist/communist” whose “anti-N.Y.P.D. policies would be catastrophic for N.Y.C.”
A spokesman for Mr. Loeb, who dined with Mr. Adams in late June, declined to comment. He has backed Mr. Adams before, donating $1 million to a super PAC supporting his candidacy in 2021.
Mr. Loeb, an outspoken proponent of charter schools, gave $350,000 to a super PAC supporting former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in this year’s mayoral primary and has called Mr. Mamdani a “commie.”
Mr. Cuomo is also still considering a third-party run, and competing with Mr. Adams to lock down the support of anti-Mamdani business leaders and other donors. Curtis Sliwa, a Republican, and Jim Walden, an independent, are also running.
Mr. Mamdani has proposed raising taxes on the wealthy to fund expanded social services and has already made Mr. Adams’s relationship to big-money donors a centerpiece of his campaign. The news of the meetings was likely to add fuel to that message.
“Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo tripping over each other to win the approval of Trump’s favorite billionaires is embarrassing, dangerous, and disqualifying,” said Andrew Epstein, Mr. Mamdani’s spokesman. “While they fight over the support of the very people who put Donald Trump in office, Zohran is focused on earning the votes of working New Yorkers who deserve a city that’s safe and affordable for all.”
The unorthodox decision to bring the potential donors into the fold appeared to be part of an effort to reassure donors who may prefer Mr. Adams’s centrist policies on the economy and public safety but who have privately expressed concern that he is not surrounding himself with professional staff members.
Nearly all the top strategists and aides who ran Mr. Adams’s successful campaign in 2021 have declined to work for him this time around, citing concerns about his refusal to criticize Mr. Trump and objections to working against the Democratic nominee.
They include Evan Thies, the mayor’s longtime spokesman and policy adviser; Katie Moore, who was his campaign manager in 2021; and Red Horse Strategies, the consulting firm that helped propel him to victory that year. Mr. Thies and a representative of Red Horse, where Ms. Moore now works, declined to comment.
In their place, Mr. Adams has relied on a skeleton crew of volunteers and loyalists. Notably, they include at least three scandal-tarred former aides who were pushed out as he fought to survive the corruption case.
Before Tuesday, the mayor’s only paid campaign aide was Brianna Suggs, a fund-raiser who was relieved of some of her duties after the F.B.I. raided her home in 2023 as it built a case that Mr. Adams had traded political favors for campaign contributions. (Ms. Suggs was never charged and Mr. Adams denied wrongdoing.)
Winnie Greco, a former fund-raiser and top adviser to the mayor, has also returned to the campaign as a volunteer just months after resigning in the face of a federal investigation into a possible Chinese government scheme to influence Mr. Adams’s election. Ms. Greco has not been charged; it is unclear if the investigation is ongoing.
“Winnie Greco has been charged with no crime, and she’s free to volunteer for whomever she chooses,” said Ms. Greco’s lawyer, Steven Brill.
And Ingrid-Lewis Martin, who was the mayor’s chief adviser before Manhattan proescutors charged her in December with taking $100,000 in bribes, is also volunteering for Mr. Adams’s re-election. She is said to be working to organize Black voters and leaders behind him.
Ms. Lewis-Martin, who has pleaded not guilty, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for the campaign, played down the aides’ involvement.
“None have an official role in the campaign,” he said. “We have thousands of volunteers who support the mayor, and we don’t restrict individuals from expressing their support.”
At least in part, their return reflects Mr. Adams’s loyalty to a group of supporters who have been with him for decades, a quality that has often harmed his mayoralty.
But it also risks reminding voters of the corruption allegations that have dogged his mayoralty and undermining his campaign.
Mr. Adams’s hiring of Mr. Noh, who has a history of aggressive behavior while on the campaign trail, may come with its own liabilities.
The Daily News reported that Mr. Noh told staff members working to re-elect former Representative Max Rose to take extreme steps to ensure his victory, like “take a lot of Adderall” or even “smoke meth or do cocaine” to keep their energy up.
And in 2013, Mr. Noh’s use of derogatory language about Black people on social media led him to be removed from Twitter, now X.
Mr. Noh said in an interview that he was in his early 20s when he made the social media posts and has since apologized for them, adding that he believes that language is not acceptable.
Regarding his conversations with campaign staffers, Mr. Noh described them as a failed attempt at humor.
“I didn’t mean that they should do any of the things that I said, it was just supposed to be hyperbolic and funny,” he said.
Mr. Noh is married to Julie Won, a member of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus, who has called for Mr. Adams to resign and is supporting Mr. Mamdani this fall.
“My husband is not God, OK? He is no miracle worker. He’s not Moses,” Ms. Won said in an interview. “He’s very good at his craft. He’s amazing at his craft, but you’ve got to give him something to work with.”
Mr. Noh said he met with Mr. Ackman and Mr. Loeb earlier this week. He said he also met with other supporters of Mr. Adams but declined to discuss their private conversations.
“We were just getting to know each other,” Mr. Noh said. “They just want to make sure that I was operating here for the right reasons, and that we were aligned that this campaign has to be about showing the people of New York that Mayor Adams is somebody who can unite people across the city.”
Jay Root contributed reporting.
Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government.
Jeffery C. Mays is a Times reporter covering politics with a focus on New York City Hall.
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