Mayor Eric Adams withdrew from a campaign forum hosted by a major union and expressed frustration with candidates “in the shadows” who were not participating.
Mayor Eric Adams withdrew from a campaign forum hosted by a major union and expressed frustration with candidates “in the shadows” who were not participating.
Mayor Eric Adams withdrew from a campaign forum hosted by a major union and expressed frustration with candidates “in the shadows” who were not participating.
After months of shunning his rivals at political candidate forums, Mayor Eric Adams was finally going to make his debut at a gathering on Wednesday night run by a major New York City union.
It didn’t happen.
Mr. Adams withdrew at the last minute from the forum, telling reporters on Wednesday afternoon that his defense lawyer recommended he skip such events at least until his next federal court case hearing on March 14.
He also expressed frustration that there were other candidates who were “in the shadows” and were not participating in the forums.
“Everyone that’s running should be in the room,” the mayor said before an appearance at a senior center in Brooklyn. “No candidate should be able to stay on the sideline and just send out innuendo.”
Mr. Adams mentioned no names, but former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the putative front-runner in the race, has been taking steps to announce his entry as early as this weekend.
The mayor told allies that he did not want to participate if Mr. Cuomo and another potential candidate, Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, were not there, according to a person familiar with his thinking.