WASHINGTON

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that he is ending his campaign for a second term, citing mounting financial and political pressures in a move that reshapes the 2025 mayoral race.

“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” Adams said in an over-eight-minute video address posted on the US social media company X. “The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.”

In his speech on the stairs of the city's mayoral residence Gracie Mansion, Adams, a former police captain elected in 2021, highlighted what he described as achievements in crime reduction, housing construction, education reform, and lowering costs for working families.

“We built more housing in one term than any administration before us, we drove crime down so far that this year, we are on track to have fewer shootings and murders than at any point in our city’s history,” he said, while also acknowledging continuing challenges in affordability and safety.

“I know many New Yorkers have yet to feel the full impact of these historic achievements. I know many are still worried about affordability, about safety, and their future here,” Adams said.

He also warned of growing political “extremism,” without directly naming any of the remaining candidates: leading candidate and Democratic State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, former Mayor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican hopeful Curtis Sliwa.

"Our children are being radicalized to hate our city and our country. Political anger is turning into political violence. Too often, insidious forces use local government to advance divisive agendas with little regard for how it hurts everyday New Yorkers," he said.

“Major change is welcome and necessary. But beware of those who claim the answer is to destroy the very system we built together over generations; that is not change, that is chaos,” added Adams.

Adams stressed that, while his campaign was ending, his commitment to public service would continue. “Although this is the end of my reelection campaign, it is not the end of my public service,” he said. “Until the end of my term, I will fight to make this city safer, fairer, and more affordable.”

Mamdani is currently leading the polls with a double-digit lead over Cuomo, his nearest rival. Adams has recently faced calls from the Trump administration to drop out of the race to boost Cuomo’s chances against Mamdani, who the US president has called a "communist" on multiple occasions, a characterization that Mamdani rejects.