Eric Adams, New York City’s recently elected Democratic Mayor, may be considering a presidential run if President Joe Biden does not seek a second term.
A person close to Adams said, “Eric has told me repeatedly that he thinks that he has a platform to run for national office, for president in 2024. He has said that repeatedly. He thinks New York is a national platform. He thinks the national party has gotten too far to the left, and he thinks he has a platform to win.”
The New York Post reported that a Democratic elected official in Brooklyn who frequently speaks with Adams said that the mayor was “considering a White House run in 2024 if Biden doesn’t seek re-election” and that Adams’ advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin was “running point” on the issue.
Adams’ interest in pursuing a presidential run is reportedly due to the “growing chatter” that Biden — who is currently 79-years-old — may not seek re-election despite Biden’s insistence that he will.
A GOP lawmaker suggested that Adams could be a strong candidate for the presidency if he is successful in his attempt to reign in New York’s out-of-control crime.
The lawmaker said, “I said you really have to consider that you are young enough where you will have a life after the mayoralty and if you solve the crime problem there would be a lot of interest in a big city Democrat, African American with progressive values but who mediated the crime problem in a major city.”
Adams’ “Big Apple Agenda” has put him at odds with many in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as he explicitly campaigned for the mayorship as a pro-police candidate, vowed to dismantle state bail reform, and positioned himself as opposed to the increasing presence of the socialist wing of the Democratic Party.
If Adams were to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, he would continue a long and storied tradition of New York mayors who sought the presidency. Bill de Blasio, Michael Bloomberg, and Rudy Giuliani, the three most recent mayors of New York, have also recently sought the presidency.
During an event in Harlem last week, Adams even joked that had he been screened early for dyslexia, “Right now, we would be not saying just ‘Mr. Mayor,’ you’d probably be saying ‘Mr. President.’”
Chris Coffey, Co-CEO of the political consulting firm Tusk Strategies, said, “[Adams] is one of the best-known black elected officials in the country. The play works if Adams makes progress on crime and the president decides not to run. I think he would [be] crazy not to consider it.”