Eric Adams, the New York City mayor who has been a strong supporter of Jews in the city and of Israel and an outspoken opponent of antisemitism, announced on Sunday that he is dropping out of the city mayoral race.
The mayor said in a video, which he posted on social media, that it has been a source of “immense pride” to serve city residents. “Only in America. Only in New York,” he stated. “Thank you for making my story a reality.”
Among the achievements that he listed in the video were appointing Rebecca Weiner, “first Jewish woman to head the NYPD intelligence division.” (He did not mention Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the New York City Police Department, who is Jewish.)
“We built leadership that looks like New York,” he said.
Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor who is running as an independent for mayor, stated that Adams made a tough decision, “but I believe he is sincere in putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition.”
“We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them,” Cuomo stated. “Mayor Adams has much to be proud of in his accomplishments. Only in New York can a child raised in a tenement in Bushwick, who once worked as a squeegee boy and a mailroom clerk, rise to become mayor.”
Daniel Kurzyna, a spokesman for Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and the Republican nominee for mayor, stated that Sliwa is the only candidate who can defeat Zohran Mamdani.
A state representative who identifies as a socialist, Mamdani secured the Democratic nomination for mayor. He has denounced the Jewish state repeatedly and has said that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the Jewish premier visits the Big Apple.
“Our team, our resources, and our funding are unmatched,” Kurzyna stated. “Most importantly, we have the best solutions to help working people afford to stay in New York City and feel safe.”
Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, social-media editor at Chabad.org, thanked Adams “for his years of public service.”
“I can’t stress enough how having a mayor who is ‘one of us'—who gets Crown Heights—has been,” Lightstone stated. “I don’t think there has ever been a mayor that understood—that respected—the Jewish diversity of New York City, who looked to include not just the Zabar’s or Park Slope pluralities, but the Jewish majority—Hungarian Chassidic and Chabad, Bukharians, Syrians, survivors from the Former Soviet Union, and just regular ‘Jews.’”
“I hope this legacy continues,” the rabbi added.
‘I’m stunned by his arrogance’
Ellie Cohanim, a former U.S. deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, said Adams was right for dropping out of the race.
“This election is not just about the future of New York City, with a Jewish population greater than any country outside of Israel, but also about the future of America,” she wrote. “We can not let Zohran Mamdani become the next mayor of New York. That would be an affront to the memory of every soul we lost on Sept. 11.” (Cohanim used to host a JNS podcast.)
“A Mamdani win would also put New York’s Jewish population at physical risk for even greater violence by the ‘globalize the intifada’ mobs—the people Mamdani refuses to denounce,” she stated. “Thank you, Eric Adams, for bowing out. Now it’s time for Curtis Sliwa to put our city before his political aspirations.”
On Sept. 26, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, stated that he is “absolutely blown away by the sheer brazen audacity of Zohran Mamdani telling all of us in the Jewish community who does and doesn’t represent us.”
“We don’t need anyone, a political candidate or any non-Jewish person, to tell us who should speak for the Jewish people. Obviously, no marginalized group is a monolith, but I’m stunned by his arrogance in telling a minority community who should or should not speak for them,” Greenblatt stated. “The vast majority of American Jews consider themselves Zionists and have strong ties to the State of Israel.”
