New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended his record and positioned himself as the working-class candidate in this year’s mayoral race during a Fox News interview Monday.
Adams, a former Democrat-turned-independent candidate, called out his former party of ahead of the Democrats’ June 24 primary. Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden are also challenging the incumbent mayor. The general election is Nov. 4.
The top contenders in the Democrat primary are former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who has the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Adams discussed the mayoral race with “Fox & Friends,” casting himself as a champion of blue-collar New Yorkers. The interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Brian Kilmeade: [Mayoral candidate Zahrin] Mamdani is who [Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, D-New York] supports. What’s your reaction?
Eric Adams: I equate this to basketball. This is the season, and the playoff is going to happen after the primary. …
The New York Times came out today and said, “Don’t do Mamdani, don’t do Cuomo.”
I turned this city around. If they don’t want to admit it, that’s fine, but the voters are going to acknowledge that.
You can’t defund police, you can’t be anti-business, you can’t just start raising taxes when you don’t have the authority to do so. Having a clear message is going to be an interesting campaign season.
Lawrence Jones: The Democratic Party tried to crush you. Are you going to expose what they tried to do to you?
Adams: What they tried to do is very clear. Then to hold up the dismissal until the day before the submission of my petition. I had 25,000 petitions. [District Judge Dale] Ho held up dismissal that his independent person stated until the day before.
That is why we had to run on independent line and raise more petitions in the street. It cost us a lot of money.
It’s about sharing what happened, why I fought for New Yorkers. I’ll say it over and over again: They weren’t coming for me, they were coming for the people of the city, and I was in the way.?
Kilmeade: It was your party that turned on you?
Adams: Yes. In all of our parties, you find that there are diverse levels of opinion.
The overwhelming number of Democrats in this city believe with me: 79% stated that if you commit a crime and are undocumented, after you serve your time, you should be deported.
They believe in me supporting our police. They believe in pro-business. They believe in not having a revolving door criminal justice system. The numerical minority, like [Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez] and others allow this, but they are not majority.
These are working-class people in this city who want a working-class mayor.
Ainsley Earhardt: What separates you from Curtis [Sliwa, the Republican candidate in the mayoral race]?
Adams: A lot.
First of all, the ability to manage a city this complex. I navigated this city through COVID, through 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers.
We have more businesses in our city. Broadway had the best 12 months in the recorded history of the city.
More housing in individual years in the history of the city. Our children are outpacing the state in reading and math.
In the last five months, we had the lowest number of homicides and shooters in recorded history. [We got] 20,000 illegal guns off the street.
Kilmeade: You said Cuomo is really the nexus of all bad decisions—defunding the police, nursing homes, no cash bail—that was him.
Adams: I fixed his mess. 15,000 people died in nursing homes. Cuomo closed psychiatric beds, and that’s how we have many people on our streets right now.
Cuomo put in place cannabis legislation, where I had to close 1,400 illegal cannabis shops that he opened.
Cuomo did a cash bail, revolving-door criminal justice system.
I can go down the list, and then he comes now and says, “I made a mistake and would have done it differently.”
That’s not how this is done. [Cuomo’s] error almost hurt this city.?
Earhardt: What is your biggest challenge as mayor? Why do you want to have this job again?
Adams: I have to continue with the success.
There’s a reason [that] bond raisers—who are the outside, independent observers—looked at this city and said, “We’re going to raise the bond for Eric Adams, and we’re going to keep that raised bond in place.”
They know I turned this city around. What I inherited in 2021 was unbelievable where we are now.
This city is in a much better place, and we are going to continue the success that we are doing.
Jones: Do you regret being a part of your former party? Did the [Democrat] party go too far Left, and do you think it’s repairable?
Adams: The extreme arm of the party did go too far.
I say it all the time, “I didn’t leave the party; the party left me.”
The party left working-class people when [the party] started calling President [Trump] “Hitler” and “fascist.”
I said, “That’s not what working class people are concerned about.” We need to talk about affordability, housing, public safety, these bread-and-butter issues.
It has gone too far Left—an arm of the party—and far too many working-class people are saying, “Start talking about my issues.”
Kilmeade: Is Cuomo going to win the primary?
Adams: I’m not concerned with which one of them will win it. I’m ready for whoever comes.
He is on the independent line also, so he would be in the general election no matter what.
Mamdani will also be in the general election no matter what. He’s in the Working Families Party.
They are following what I did. People say, “Eric, you can’t win [as an] independent,” so why is everyone following what I did?
I’m a sitting mayor running on the independent line. That’s a different scenario.
Historically, independents are individuals who are unknown. This is a different race.
