Ex-cop Eric Adams, who fought racial discrimination within the police, is poised to become New York’s second Black mayor, tasked with leading the city’s post-pandemic recovery amid a rise in gun violence.
The 60-year-old, born in poverty in Brooklyn before rising to become the borough’s president, is set to be confirmed winner of the Democratic primary after his nearest challenger conceded Wednesday.
Adams, who ran on a public safety platform, claimed victory late Tuesday after the city’s Board of Elections released figures showing him ahead of fellow moderate Kathryn Garcia by a whisker, 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent.
Since New York is a Democratic stronghold, Adams is all but guaranteed to defeat Republican candidate and 67-year-old volunteer crime fighter Curtis Sliwa in November’s mayoral election.
Adams, who became a vegan after being diagnosed with diabetes in 2016, said in a tweet that he was “honored to be the Democratic nominee to be the mayor of the city I’ve always called home.”
The former police captain will succeed the largely unpopular Bill de Blasio, who has been mayor since 2014.
Adams will become the Big Apple’s second Black mayor after the late David Dinkins led America’s largest city from 1990 to 1993.
Adams presented himself as the champion of New York’s working class, particularly in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, while largely avoiding the richer, white areas of Manhattan.
Adams said in his statement late Tuesday that a “diverse, five-borough coalition led by working-class New Yorkers” had led him to victory.
The former police captain was raised in a large family in a working class neighborhood in Queens. His mother was a cleaner and his father was a butcher.
He says he wanted to join the police after being beaten by two NYPD officers when he was 15.
Adams joined the force in the mid-1980s when crime was rife in New York City, serving 22 years and rising to become a captain.
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In 1995, he co-founded “100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care,” an advocacy group designed to fight against racism in the police and which still exists today.
Adams entered the New York State Senate in 2006, serving until 2013, when he was elected Brooklyn borough president, providing a springboard for his mayoral ambitions.
During the campaign, the moderate candidate vowed to fight racial injustice but he also put law enforcement front and center of his pitch to become mayor.
Shooting incidents are up almost 38 percent compared to last summer in New York, a city that has long prided itself on being one of America’s safest.
Adams opposed defunding the police, a policy that became a rallying cry for many on the American left.
Progressives’ favorite Maya Wiley, who received the endorsement of left-wing star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks set to finish third behind Adams and Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner.
Adams will also face the challenge of steering a traumatized New York out of the pandemic, which has killed 33,000 residents.
While life has largely returned to normal thanks to an aggressive vaccination drive and a positivity rate of less than one percent, reigniting the economy and tourism will be a priority for Adams.
“Eric is a person of strong character who will not be bullied by special interests or ideologues,” the Partnership for New York City business group said Wednesday.
“If he is elected mayor in November, the business community stands ready to help him achieve these objectives,” it added.
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