Mayor Adams announced Friday he will “listen if called to serve our country” amid news that he is considering ending his longshot re-election campaign in order to become a U.S. ambassador in President Trump’s administration.
Trump, who has spoken out sharply against frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, is considering doling out an ambassadorship in the Middle East to Mayor Adams, with Saudi Arabia among the countries in consideration, sources told the Daily News.
The potential ambassadorship, first reported by the New York Times, would end Adams’ reelection campaign and help clear the mayoral race for a head-to-head competition against Democratic nominee Mamdani.
Adams said in a statement that no “formal” offers have been made, and that he is still currently in the mayoral race.
“My full focus is on the safety and quality of life of every New Yorker,” he said.
Per The Times, White House special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has orchestrated these conversations and sat down with the mayor in Florida earlier this week.
City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The mayor’s only planned public appearance Friday morning was called off last minute.
Adams, whose polling numbers are consistently in the single digits, is facing a push to step out of the race to allow Andrew Cuomo to face off against Mamdani. Both men are running on independent lines.
“I don’t think you can win unless you have one on one, because somehow he’s gotten a little bit of a lead,” President Trump said on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly incorrectly called Mamdani a “communist” and said he does not “like to see a communist become mayor.”
“I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one,” the president added. “I think that’s a race that could be won.”
Adams gained a globe-trotting reputation — and came under harsh scrutiny, including in the form of a federal corruption indictment — for his frequent trips abroad and relationship cultivation with foreign dignitaries.
The mayor’s charges were dropped at the behest of Trump’s Department of Justice. They wrote they needed the mayor to be free of his case in order to aide in the president’s hardline immigration agenda.
Ambassadorships, which are subject to Senate confirmation, would give Adams an extended network in the Middle East.
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