Eric Adams isn\u2019t giving up without a fight. <\/p>\n
The mayor vowed to save New York City from socialist Zohran Mamdani Wednesday \u2014 slamming the socialist City Hall hopeful as a \u201csnake oil salesman\u201d<\/a> who will devastate the Big Apple.<\/p>\n A feisty Adams pointed to The Post\u2019s Wednesday front page headline \u2014 \u201cNYC SOS: Who will save city after radical socialist batters Cuomo in Dem mayoral primary?\u201d \u2014 and argued he was the one to take up the challenge.<\/p>\n Mayor Adams vows to save New York City from Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to take this SOS. Who will save city \u2026 \u2018Eric,\u201d Hizzoner said during a sitdown with The Post\u2019s editorial board.<\/p>\n It came after Mamdani stunningly defeated Andrew Cuomo<\/a> in the Democratic mayoral primary \u2014 with the disgraced ex-governor conceding the race Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Adams \u2014 who is expected to officially launch his re-election bid on the steps of City Hall <\/a>Thursday \u2014 did credit Mamdani for skillfully focusing on and exploiting the affordability issue, calling it a real concern.<\/p>\n But he accused Mamdani, a two-term 33-year-old state Assemblyman from Queens, of selling New Yorkers a rotten bill of goods.<\/p>\n \u201cAffordability is a real issue. You can feed that \u2026 by just being a snake oil salesman and say, \u2018I\u2019m going to give you everything for free. I\u2019m going to give you a free supermarket. I\u2019ll give you no rent. I\u2019ll give you free buses.\u2019<\/p>\n Adams called Mamdani a \u201csnake oil salesman.\u201d Derek French\/SOPA Images\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n \u201cHis whole campaign is saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to give you everything free.’\u201d<\/p>\n Adams slammed Mamdani\u2019s ambitious proposals to jack up taxes on the top 1% of income earners and businesses by $10 billion to pay for free bus service, housing expansion and government-run supermarkets as pie in the sky.<\/p>\n Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the NYC mayoral race<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he\u2019s created is going to devastate the progress in the city,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hizzoner pointed out that the mayor can\u2019t raise city income or corporate taxes without approval from the state Legislature and governor.<\/p>\n Adams blasted the Democratic socialists\u2019 campaign promises. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n He noted Mamdani\u2019s pipe dream proposals \u2014 such as expanding free bus service \u2014 have gone nowhere in the state Assembly.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also the progressive Democrats in Albany who approved laws that have undermined New York City public safety, Adams said, citing the unpopular cashless bail law signed by Cuomo and raising the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18.<\/p>\n Adams also zinged Cuomo for running a lackluster campaign, thinking he could win over voters by campaigning in a few churches instead of hitting the city streets non-stop, as Mamdani did.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Yorkers have five fingers. They love the middle one the most,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew Cuomo wouldn\u2019t beat this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Adams, a Democrat, skipped the party\u2019s primary this year after winning the nomination and general election in 2021.<\/p>\n He is instead running in the November general election on an independent line to be called either \u201cEnd AntiSemitism\u201d or \u201cSafe and Affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n The mayor and his administration have been mired in scandal during his term, sinking his popularity <\/a>among voters.<\/p>\n