Eric Adams Abandons Re-election Bid for Mayor of New York City

Mayor Eric Adams of New York City announced on Sunday that he would abandon his foundering campaign for a second term, upending the race to lead the nation’s largest city just five weeks before Election Day.

Mr. Adams had publicly insisted that he would see his campaign through despite dismal poll numbers. But behind the scenes, he was exploring potential exit ramps to avoid an embarrassing finish, with his advisers at one point engaging in negotiations with President Trump’s about an ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia.

Those talks fell apart, and on Sunday, Mr. Adams called it quits in a nearly nine-minute video message posted to social media. He gave no indication that he had a specific job lined up after he leaves office.

Instead, in remarks prepared for delivery, the mayor conceded that despite his best efforts, he could not see a path to a second term. He blamed “repeated rumors of my departure” and a decision by the city’s Campaign Finance Board to deny him public matching funds for throttling his campaign.

Rather than endorsing one of his rivals, Mr. Adams urged voters to view both Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and front-runner, and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-party candidate, with suspicion.

Without naming Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, the mayor warned that “insidious forces” were pushing “radical, divisive agendas” in city politics.

“New Yorkers should be suspicious of any politician or political movement that claims we must wholesale destroy the systems we created together over generations in order to usher in a new, untested order led by self-styled saviors,” he said.

He does not name Mr. Cuomo either, but vented in familiar terms against a man he has repeatedly said tried to push him aside and spent years waffling on key issues, like public safety.

Politicians like that “cannot be trusted,” Mr. Adams said. He added: “They do not value you or your future. They are out for themselves, not you.”

The mayor plans to say he will serve out the remainder of his term. His name will remain on November’s ballot because the deadline to change it has passed.