While vowing to still run for reelection, Mayor Adams didn’t dismiss the possibility of joining President Trump’s administration on Wednesday as sources said conversations are underway about a potential job opportunity for the mayor in Washington.
The talks, which would include Adams dropping out of the mayoral race, are part of a convoluted effort by Trump to try and stop Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani, a social democrat, sources told the Daily News. Mamdani blasted the effort, saying Trump is engaging in an “affront to democracy.”
During an unrelated event in the Bronx on Wednesday afternoon, Adams, who’s running as an independent in November and consistently placing third or fourth in polls of the race, called the prospect of working for Trump a “hypothetical.” He said he has received many job offers over the last year.
“All that’s hypothetical,” Adams said when asked specifically about whether he’d take a Trump job. “Last year and a half, people saw what I’ve done in the city and they saw my resiliency. I have been getting calls from private industries, from boards, from educational institutions, I have been getting offers for the last year and a half: ‘Would I come and join their corporation?’ So people are always asking.”
Adams’ comments came as sources familiar with the matter told the Daily News that key Trump advisers, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, have been engaged in the discussions with Adams’ team about him taking a post in the federal administration in order to drop out of the mayoral race.
Politico reported Adams has been presented with a role at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
As reported by the New York Times earlier Wednesday, such conversations have been playing out for weeks as Adams remains dogged in his re-election efforts by low approval ratings and accusations that he’s beholden to Trump, whose Justice Department quashed the mayor’s corruption indictment this spring in a controversial move.
Citing sources, The Times reported the push to get Adams a job is aimed at culling the mayoral race field in order to maximize chances of stopping Mamdani, who is polling as the favorite to win November’s contest.
The Times also reported Trump advisers have approached Curtis Sliwa, the Republican mayoral nominee, about a potential administration job — all as part of an apparent effort to boost the chances of Andrew Cuomo, who is, like Adams, running as an independent against Mamdani.
Both to the right of the progressive Mamdani, it is widely believed Adams and Cuomo would split the moderate vote and ease the path for a Mamdani victory if they both stay in the race.
The White House declined to comment on any discussions about getting Adams or Sliwa Trump administration jobs.
Asked whether any talks were underway, Adams campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro said the mayor hasn’t himself spoken with Trump about the matter. Shapiro affirmed Adams is committed to running for reelection to build on his record of having “consistently stood up for working families.”
“Mayor Adams is focused on building on that progress and earning four more years to continue delivering for the people of New York,” Shapiro said.
Sliwa has said only death would prevent him from staying in the race.
Cuomo has consistently polled as the strongest contender against Mamdani, whose pro-Palestinian stance and tax-the-rich agenda has unnerved many moderates and the city’s business community. Trump has claimed Mamdani is a “communist.”
Mamdani, at a news conference convened on short notice to address the report about Trump and Adams, said the potential arrangement shows Cuomo is banking on the president’s help.
“The issue is a former governor, a Democrat in name only, calling the president of this country, having a conversation with the intent of how to stop the Democratic nominee’s success in the November election,” he said before adding that the Trump-Adams talks show “just how disconnected these people are from the crisis at hand.”
“New Yorkers are fed up with politics as they know it is because of news like this, backroom deals, corrupt agreements, all of which serve to increase the sense of disaffection and despair,” he added.
Cuomo’s campaign didn’t immediately return a request for comment Wednesday, but he has denied a New York Times report in early August he had a phone call with to Trump.
““I’ve never spoken to him about the mayor’s race,” Cuomo said at the time. He also said he would not “seek” or “accept” Trump’s endorsement.
Rumors about Adams’ future began swirling Tuesday after his office announced he had traveled to Florida for a visit that involved meetings with political operatives.
At his Bronx press conference, Adams said the trip had nothing to do with the mayoral race, adding he went to celebrate his 65th birthday with friends while pledging he isn’t looking to suspend his reelection campaign.
“I went for personal [reasons] to see friends,” he said. “I hung out with them for one day, came back to New York, so all these other rumors I don’t know about. I have a job, I’m running for my reelection, I’m still doing that.”
In a television appearance earlier Wednesday on PIX11, Adams confirmed he met with “political figures” during his Florida visit, but declined to say if any of them are members of Trump’s administration.
Adams did confirm one of the people he met with was Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a Trump ally who was at one point under consideration to be the Republican president’s running mate in the 2024 election. And Politico reported the individuals he met with in Florida included at least some members of Trump’s team.
A spokeswoman for Suarez didn’t return a request for comment.
Sid Rosenberg, a conservative radio personality and Trump supporter who speaks regularly to the president, told The News he believes the Queens-born commander-in-chief sees Cuomo as having the best shot at defeating Mamdani and may be trying to do what he can to clear the field for the former governor.
“Those two guys get along and I think those guys talk more than people think they do. Even though they curse the shit out of each other, there’s a mutual Queens respect,” Rosenberg said, referring to the various public feuds then-Gov. Cuomo had with Trump before resigning in 2021 amid sexual misconduct accusations he denies.
Adams is facing tough electoral odds running as an independent amid continued fallout from his corruption indictment and controversy surrounding his ties to Trump. A survey by American Pulse Research from mid-August projected Adams would only clinch about 11% support, putting him fourth in the race behind Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa.
The news of Adams’ potential Trump job came after Jim Walden, a lawyer who has campaigned as an independent in the mayoral race, pulled the plug on his campaign Tuesday and urged all candidates in the running to drop out if they aren’t polling as the strongest contender against Mamdani.
“For those still trailing in the polls by month’s end, I implore each to consider how history will judge them if they allow vanity or stubborn ambition to usher in Mr. Mamdani,” Walden said in a statement about his decision to drop out.
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