Mayor Eric Adams will endorse Andrew Cuomo to be his successor, a stunning turnaround to back a man he last month called “a snake and a liar.”
With days before early voting begins Saturday, Adams told The New York Times in a story published Thursday that he is seeking to halt the momentum of front-runner Zohran Mamdani, whom every public opinion poll has predicted would win the race.
Election Day is Nov. 4.
“I think that it is imperative to really wake up the Black and brown communities that have suffered from gentrification on how important this race is,” Adams told The Times.
“They have watched their rents increase in terms of gentrification and they have been disregarded in those neighborhoods, and I’m going to go to those neighborhoods and speak one on one with organizers and groups and I’m going to walk with the governor in those neighborhoods and get them engaged,” Adams said.
Adams, a Democrat elected in 2021 whose tenure was beset with scandal, dropped out last month after concluding he was unlikely to win.
At an unrelated event late Thursday morning about child care for children of municipal workers, Adams signaled he wouldn’t yet answer questions about the endorsement.
“I’ll be with Andrew later today,” Adams said.
On Wednesday, less than a half hour after the conclusion of the final mayoral debate of the race, Adams and Cuomo were photographed together at Wednesday night’s Knicks game.
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Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.