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New York
—
The ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia. A post at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A security job inside a major real estate company.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams hasn’t taken any of those opportunities, though it’s open for debate which of them were real and which were rumors spread to undercut him.
The effort by Trump’s allies to get Adams to drop his reelection bid, helping Andrew Cuomo consolidate the opposition to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, appears to have all but collapsed for now. Days after meeting with top Trump adviser Steve Witkoff, Adams accused outsiders of ignoring his position as the incumbent mayor and for good measure labeled Cuomo a “snake and a liar.”
But as Adams publicly digs in, recent public polls have him in fourth place, not just behind Mamdani and Cuomo but also trailing Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Two sources familiar with the mayor’s thinking say despite his public assurances, he knows his time as mayor will likely come to an end this year whether his campaign makes it to November or not. The same sources warn about quickly changing circumstances and emphasize Adams could remain in the race but is open to a clear off-ramp if one emerges soon.
“Life has never been fair, and so we can’t run around and complain about it. We just gotta fight and do what we do best,” Adams said in a recent radio interview.
During a meeting before some of the city’s business leaders this week, Adams appeared resigned to a loss, according to two sources in the meeting who were granted anonymity to speak freely.
The sources said Adams conveyed to members of the Association for Better New York, which hosted the meeting, that he would consider leaving the race if his standing in the polls did not improve.
Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for the Adams campaign, dismissed the characterization of those sources, saying the mayor did not imply to guests that he was leaving the race. Shapiro said the campaign is working on its own internal polling.
“He never alluded to leaving the race. He clearly indicated that he will be spending resources to get his message out and will then look at his own independent poll to make a decision,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Nothing he said should give any indication that he has abandoned the race. He remains fully committed to doing his job and serving the people of this city.”
Gregg Bishop, who formerly served as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s small business commissioner and attended the meeting, said Adams appeared “pragmatic” when he addressed the group.
“What we saw is somebody who understood where he stands now,” Bishop said. “But he is refusing to accept those polls unless there is a survey done that is commissioned by him. He said his people — Black people in the outer boroughs who backed him — might have changed their minds, but he said he wants to get them back.” Bishop said.
Bishop said Adams acknowledged he would be willing to step down from the race if it would mean preventing Mamdani, who he sees as dangerous for the city, from winning the election.
“‘I’m not blind,’ is basically what he was saying,” Bishop added.
Sliwa has said he is not leaving the race either. And Trump, who has called Mamdani a “communist” and suggested two people should drop out of the race, has sounded somewhat resigned to Mamdani’s potential win.
“We’ll get used to a communist, and he’s going to have to go through the White House and get approvals for everything, and we’re going to make sure that New York is not hurt,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Whether Adams stays in the race or not, a crucial deadline expired Thursday.
The city’s Board of Election ballot certification deadline marked the last day for the board to formalize the official list of candidates and parties that will appear on the ballot.
If Adams were to drop out of the race after the ballot is certified and printed, it is likely that his name will appear on the ballot in November but that his votes will not be counted.
The city’s Board of Elections is expected to print ballots by Tuesday and send mail-in ballots to voters by next Friday, as required by state law.
“At some point we run out of runway, and we have to print millions and millions of ballots,” Vincent Ignizio, deputy executive director of the board, told CNN.
Adams’ refusal to leave the race and Mamdani’s strong position in the polls have sent some of the city’s real estate industry leaders into a panic. One of Mamdani’s signature proposals is to freeze rent increases for tenants of the city’s rent-stabilized apartment units, which industry veterans warn would make it harder to maintain and build housing. He has also called for higher taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents.
Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau this week sent an email, first reported by The New York Times and obtained by CNN, urging a set of real estate leaders to gather for a meeting with Cuomo this week. The get-together, the email said, would be a chance to hear directly from the former governor and his “vision for the final ten weeks of this campaign.”
“The reality and the poll numbers are clear: the only viable candidate with the experience, support and gravitas to defeat Zohran Mamdani is Governor Andrew Cuomo,” Blau wrote.
Following the meeting, unconfirmed reports emerged that Adams might be offered a security-related job at Related Companies, but a spokesperson denied any job had ever been in the works.
“Related has never offered Mayor Eric Adams employment or any position – paid or unpaid – at any point in time and has no intention of doing so. Reports to the contrary are categorically false,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Blau declined a request for an interview through the spokesperson.
CNN reached out to several of the other real estate leaders who attended the meeting, but none responded to a request for comment.