Dem
47
GOP
53
NYC Mayor Eric Adams finally noticed that he has roughly zero chance of keeping his job and that even trying to keep it is completely pointless, so yesterday he dropped out of the NYC mayoral race. Donald Trump has been trying to get him to drop out for weeks, and is hoping to get the official Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, to also drop out. That would make it a head-to-head race between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, which Cuomo could conceivably win. In his announcement, Adams didn't mention any goodies Trump had offered him to get out of the way. Sliwa has said he's not going anywhere except Gracie Mansion. Trump will now do everything he can to get Sliwa out. It is likely to be more carrot than stick, though. Sliwa doesn't threaten easily, but might be tempted by a good job in Trump's administration. His background is radio broadcasting, so Trump could fire Kari Lake and install Sliwa as head of the almost-dead-anyway Voice of America.
Not surprisingly, Cuomo praised Adams for his wise decision. The former governor said: "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." That is technically true since no other child raised in Bushwick has become a mayor of a big city. However, the first Black mayor of NYC, David Dinkins, grew up poor in Harlem and also became mayor. Andrew Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee, FL, was also raised in poverty.
If Sliwa stays in the race, he will probably draw enough votes to keep Cuomo from winning. Then Mamdani will be elected mayor. Trump will then try to make Mamdani the face of the Democratic Party. That could be good or bad, depending on how well Mamdani performs. If he cuts out the Palestinian stuff and focuses exclusively on running New York City and is effective, he could potentially become popular with all New Yorkers. Then Trump's campaign to smear him could backfire. (V)