{"id":86002,"date":"2025-12-31T22:09:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T22:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/86002\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T22:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T22:09:06","slug":"eric-adams-ends-term-as-nyc-mayor-with-times-square-new-years-eve-ball-drop-as-insiders-look-back-on-mixed-bag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/86002\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Adams ends term as NYC mayor with Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop \u2014 as insiders look back on ‘mixed bag’"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s having one last ball.<\/p>\n

Eric Adams ended his tumultuous term as New York City\u2019s mayor on Wednesday the same way he started it: celebrating the New Year\u2019s Eve Ball Drop<\/a> in Times Square.<\/p>\n

The last minute of Adams\u2019 tenure and of 2025 will show Hizzoner living up to his \u201cparty mayor<\/a>\u201d reputation by pressing the button to start the Times Square\u2019s ball drop at 11:59 p.m., his final press schedule stated.<\/p>\n

Mayor Eric Adams seen leaving Gracie Mansion on his last day in office on Dec. 31, 2025. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

Preparations being made outside of City Hall on Dec. 31, 2025 for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani\u2019s inauguration ceremony. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n

Hizzoner confirmed he will also attend the inauguration<\/a> of his onetime rival and successor Zohran Mamdani, an unapologetic socialist who arguably has snatched the mantle of the Democratic Party\u2019s standard bearer from moderates like the outgoing mayor.<\/p>\n

The full-circle last hurrah for Adams \u2014 who was sworn in at the New Year\u2019s Eve celebration moments after midnight on Jan. 1, 2022 \u2014 comes amid head-scratching hints about his post-mayoralty future, which he bafflingly vowed would entail using cryptocurrency<\/a> to \u201creally deal with antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The murky plans \u2014 and a poll finding 0% of voters<\/a> said they\u2019d remember Adams as one of the Big Apple\u2019s best mayors \u2014 show how far he\u2019s fallen in the four years since credibly proclaiming himself the new \u201cface of the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Adams, he will be remembered as a one-and-done mayor marred by scandal, said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist University Institute for Public Opinion.<\/p>\n

Adams holding up a photo of his late mother after being sworn in as mayor of New York City in Times Square on Jan. 1, 2022. Robert Mecea<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scandals he had will define his legacy. That\u2019s the first paragraph,\u201d Miringoff said. \u201cAccomplishments won\u2019t be discussed until the second paragraph.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some insiders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, argued accomplishments such as reducing crime and passing the sweeping \u201cCity of Yes\u201d housing plan will make history look more kindly on Adams than his rock-bottom reputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scandals make it a mixed bag,\u201d Sharpton said. \u201cBut Eric will get\u00a0more credit over time for the things he did get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams arriving at Manhattan federal court for his arraignment on Sept. 27, 2024. AP<\/p>\n

Adams holding up a card featuring his administration\u2019s accomplishments during a press conference in City Hall on Dec. 26, 2025. SARAH YENESEL\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The litany of scandals that plagued Adams\u2019 tenure largely stemmed from his habit of packing his administration with shady cronies, many of whom ended up under investigation.<\/p>\n

Adams himself faced a federal probe that resulted in a federal bribery and corruption indictment in part over luxury travel perks \u2014 the first for a New York City mayor.<\/p>\n

The case was controversially dismissed by the Department of Justice<\/a> after Adams conspicuously cozied up to President Trump, drawing accusations of a corrupt \u201cquid pro quo\u201d deal \u2014 which the mayor denied but the affair nonetheless killed his re-election bid.<\/p>\n

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani leaving his Queens apartment building on Dec. 31, 2025. Adams confirmed he will attend Mamdani\u2019s public inauguration ceremony on New Year\u2019s Day. Stephen Yang for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Adams contended that his charges were retribution by former President Biden\u2019s administration for speaking out on the migrant crisis, as well as insinuated racism was to blame.<\/p>\n

State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said it would take time to fairly evaluate Adams\u2019 legacy because of the scandals that made him a one-termer.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a more positive legacy when looking at the state of the city, particularly regarding public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city overall did pretty well.\u00a0 He worked with the governor to bring down crime and bring order to the subways,\u201d said Jacobs, a moderate and also the neighboring Nassau County Democratic Party leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most people things got better. There are more things to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s having one last ball. Eric Adams ended his tumultuous term as New York City\u2019s mayor on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[81,41725,39574,1442,57,9,56,63,65,64,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-86002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-eric-adams","9":"tag-eric-adams-indictment","10":"tag-inauguration","11":"tag-mayors","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-us-news","19":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}