New York Mayor Eric Adams will run for re-election as an independent, opting out of the Democratic primary Thursday, just one day after a federal judge dismissed corruption charges against him.
"I have always put New York’s people before politics and party — and I always will. I am running for mayor in the general election because our city needs independent leadership that understands working people," Adams said Thursday morning on X.
A judge permanently dismissed bribery and wire fraud charges against Adams on Wednesday. Adams was indicted in September after prosecutors alleged that he received more than $100,000 worth of plane tickets and luxury hotel stays from Turkish nationals for nearly a decade as he was serving in local government.
"To the extent that the Government may be seeking to extract policy concessions from the Mayor, dismissal with prejudice rather than continuation of the prosecution best addresses that concern," U.S. District Judge Dale Ho wrote in a 78-page order dismissing the charges. "It ensures that going forward, the charges in the Indictment cannot be used as leverage over Mayor Adams or the City of New York."
The Justice Department moved to dismiss the charges in February, saying they would interfere with Adams’ ability to govern and threaten "federal immigration initiatives and policies."
In an interview Thursday with Politico, which first reported the news, Adams said he wants to "mount a real independent campaign" now that he is "uninhibited" by the federal bribery case that "handcuffed him." The independent campaign, he said, would rely on a "solid base of people" outside Manhattan.
"I have been this racehorse that has been held back," he added. "This is so unnatural for me."
In a six-minute video on X, Adams detailed his decision to switch parties for the race, saying that while he is still a Democrat, he will "forgo the Democratic primary for mayor and appeal directly to all New Yorkers as an independent candidate in the general election."
"I know that the accusations leveled against me may have shaken your confidence in me and that you may rightly have questions about my conduct,” he said. “Let me be clear: although the charges against me were false, I trusted people that should not have, and I regret that.”
Nine Democrats, including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, are already in the running for mayor.
"I humbly put my record up against any of these other candidates," Adams said in the video. "While they were playing politics or sitting on a couch, my administration was building record levels of housing, driving down crime, distributing $30 billion in benefits to low and middle-income New Yorkers and creating the most jobs ever in our city’s history."
Independent mayoral candidate Jim Walden said Thursday in a statement: "Make no mistake: Eric Adams decided to follow in my footsteps out of desperation, not principle. Since we won’t have a primary, I challenge him to a debate as soon as possible. Buckle in, people."