Mayor Eric Adams left the door open to dropping his re-election campaign in a new interview — just weeks after definitely insisting that he was staying in the race.
In a sit-down on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” host the Rev. Al Sharpton asked Adams if he’d confirm there was “no circumstance” under which he’d withdraw from the crowded November election.
“No, I can’t say that,” Adams replied during the Saturday interview.
Adams, who is struggling with high public disapproval ratings and placing fourth in polls, said he was conferring with his staff and vowed that he’ll make the “right decision” for New York City.
The incumbent mayor, who is running as an independent, expressed frustration over the difficulty of raising campaign funds with rumors swirling about him dropping his re-election bid and taking a job, including in the Trump administration.
He has swatted down the rumors.
“I’ve been sitting down with my team, having our pathways, finding out how we get the money into the coffers to do the commercials, to do the mailers, to pay for our team and staff,” he told Sharpton.
“We’ve got to make the right decision,” Adams said. “I’ll make the right decision for the city of New York, a city I love.”
Adams’ answers contrasted with the defiant tone he took a few weeks ago, when he called rival and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo “a snake and a liar” who was maneuvering to force the city’s second black mayor out of the race.
“I am in this race, and I’m the only one who can beat Mamdani. Andrew has had a career of pushing black candidates out of races,” he said outside Gracie Mansion on Sept. 5.
Sharpton, assessing Adams’ answers, said the fate of his campaign was up in the air.
“He was not all in and he was not all out,” Sharpton told The Post Sunday.
“It’s up in the air. He has not closed the door to staying or leaving. A lot of is dependent on he is able to raise the money”
Adams, during the interview, blamed the media for his predicament.
“If someone constantly reports, even when you say otherwise, that you’re leaving the race the next day, you’re leaving the race the next day, you lose your funders and your donors. And so it’s been a real challenge for me to raise the money that I need to run for office,” he said.
“Is the real agenda to cover me the same way you are covering the other candidates or to undermine my campaign?”
President Trump said he’d like to see two candidates drop out of the race to have the best one-on-one shot to defeat socialist Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. He believes Cuomo would have a better shot.
Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa said he is not leaving the race.
Adams campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro claimed the mayor didn’t say anything new on the Sharpton show that he hadn’t said before.
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