Zohran Mamdani has become the Democratic nominee for the next New York City mayoral race, becoming a prime candidate to serve as the city’s first Muslim and South Asian-American mayor. Mamdani won the nomination after beating out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. With NYC’s Democratic bias, Mamdani is a likely favorite but his toughest opponent is still current Mayor Eric Adams.
In the general election this November, Mamdani will go up against both Adams—now running as an independent—and Republican candidate Curtis Silwa. While Mamdani is identified as a Democratic Socialist, Adams is viewed as a political moderate.
Who is Eric Adams, Mamdani’s Key Opponent?
Eric Adams was born on September 1, 1960, in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was the fourth of six children born to Leroy Adams and Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter. Eric grew up in poverty in Brunswick and then moved with his family to South Jamaica.
Adams had a rough adolescence, he joined a neighborhood gang and was arrested for criminal trespassing at 14. He turned his life around, joining the New York City Police Department and serving for 22 years.
In the 1990s, he headed the Grand Council of Guardians, a group of African American patrol officers. In 1995, he temporarily made headlines for escorting boxer Mike Tyson upon his release from prison.
In the same year, Adams co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an activist organization advocating for criminal justice reform and increased Black representation among officers. He went on to retire as a captain in 2006.
Adams entered politics in the 1990s, running for Congress in 1994 without winning. In 2006, he was elected to the New York State Senate. In 2013, he became the Brooklyn Borough President, a position he maintained until 2021.
Adams won the 2022 snap mayoral election, succeeding Bill de Blasio in 2022. However, under pressure from a downturn in popularity in Democratic circles and federal indictment, Adams decided to run for the 2025 mayoral election as an independent candidate instead of being re-nominated by the Democratic Party.
