Absent Adams and Cuomo, mayoral candidates attempt to woo DC 37

New York City Mayor Eric Adams may not have attended District Council 37’s highly-anticipated mayoral forum Wednesday night, but his presence was certainly still felt — just perhaps not in the way he’d have wanted. 

Before inviting the mayor’s challengers on stage, DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido acknowledged the mayor’s absence, reading a statement from Adams to a chorus of boos, which echoed around the crowded BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center amphitheater. Hundreds attended the Wednesday evening forum, several dozen of whom wore green shirts with the words “Adams resign.”

“Mayor Adams who had committed to participate in this debate declined this event and he sent a statement, which I’m going to read to you,” Garrido said, opening the forum. “‘Mayor Adams is respectfully declining the invitation to participate in the union’s debate as he awaits the conclusion of his case at the advice of counsel.” Politico New York was first to report that Adams would be skipping out on the forum. 

Adams’ last minute decision to sit out of DC37’s forum presented the other candidates with an opportunity to garner favor with the city’s largest municipal union, which played a central role in Adams’ 2021 victory, at a time that he faces an increasingly challenging reelection. Proving he can maintain union support is an essential part of keeping that path open for Adams. It also gave the candidates a prime chance to unite around a common enemy – an opportunity Comptroller Brad Lander, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, former comptroller Scott Stringer, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, state Sen. Jessica Ramos, and former Assembly Member Michael Blake readily jumped on. 

Throughout the two-hour forum, they took shot after shot at the mayor, hitting him on everything from his budgetary management to his relationship with President Donald Trump. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose presence has loomed over the mayoral race (and who is widely expected to enter the field this weekend), was also not spared.

“Unlike Mayor Adams who raised your rent or Gov. Cuomo who put you in Tier 6, I have the guts to ask for your endorsement in person,” Mamdani quipped in his introductory remarks, referring to the state’s controversial retirement system. 

“If you can’t come stand before the people who make this city run and answer their questions, then you should not be running for mayor,” Lander said when it was his turn to take the stage.

“We are under attack by corrupt leadership, by a dictator wannabe in the White House, and by some has-beens who want to rehabilitate their reputation,” Myrie said towards the end of the debate. “We must fight.”  

“It’s time to have a City Hall with no nonsense, no corruption or cronyism, and real working class people at the helm so that we can get our economy in order,” Ramos, who arrived late, said after taking her seat.

“The most immediate threat to the budget and what's happening in the city is Vice President Eric Adams,” Blake said at one point.

Even the innocent albeit expensive K5 Autonomous Security Robot was hit in the crossfire when the question of public safety arose. 

"That robot that Adams runs around with, what’s his name, K5 or whatever?” Stringer said. “I'm going to sign an executive order putting that robot in the Museum of the City of New York.”

The debate covered a wide range of topics, including public safety on the city’s transit system, budgeting in the Trump administration era, addressing longstanding funding discrepancies for schools, health care, supporting the New York City Housing Authority and more.

A spokesperson for DC37 said the union will likely be announcing endorsements in the mayoral race towards the end of April. Candidate interviews will be carried out in the weeks to come.