Fresh off of getting his federal corruption case dropped, Mayor Adams plans to face off against his challengers in a candidates forum Thursday — one of his first major campaign appearances of the 2025 cycle.
Seven of the mayor’s opponents will also be in attendance at the National Action Network forum in Manhattan, including ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
Adams campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro confirmed the mayor’s planned attendance in a text message Wednesday after a Manhattan Federal Court judge agreed to permanently drop Adams’ corruption indictment in a manner that has still left the mayor severely politically vulnerable.
“He looks forward to engaging with fellow candidates and community leaders to discuss the future of our great city,” Shapiro texted.
At the forum, Adams and the other candidates will be pressed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, the National Action Network’s leader, on how their policies would improve the lives of Black and Brown New Yorkers.
It marks Adams’ first mayoral forum this cycle. He’s skipped out on dozens of other forums attended by his competitors, and he has neither hosted nor attended many campaign events.
At a rare campaign event in February, he caught flak for contending that calls for his resignation were a “modern-day ‘Mein Kampf.’”
Adams previously committed, and then pulled out of, a February debate between the Democratic candidates hosted by the city’s largest municipal union, DC 37.
Adams said at the time that his criminal defense attorney advised him to hold off on participating in debates until the judge ruled on his case: “My counsel stated, ‘Eric, there’s a decision coming down … Let’s allow the court to do its process. There’s time for debates.”
The mayor attended a Wednesday morning ribbon-cutting, speaking alongside Sharpton and Speaker Adams.
The mayor last month acknowledged he had not done much in the way of campaigning, and vowed that he’d get back out on the campaign trail “soon — and very soon.”
Adams has said that he’s gathering signatures to get on the ballot for the Democratic Party, although he’s also expressed some openness to running as an independent.
After Adams wrapped up a speech Wednesday afternoon at Gracie Mansion railing against the case that had been lodged against him, as he was walking up the steps of the building, he turned around to emphasize that he was not dropping out of the race.
“I’m running for reelection,” he said, “and you know what? I’m going to win.”
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