Former police officer Eric Adams, a Democrat, won the race to become New York’s mayor on Tuesday (November 2). Adams made a promise to boost public safety and give voice to working-class residents. He will be city’s second African-American mayor. Adams experienced police brutality as a youth.
Adams has been the Brooklyn borough president since 2014. On his way to become the mayor, he defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels civilian patrol.
In January, the 61-year-old Adams will take over from Democrat Bill de Blasio, who was term-limited after eight years in office.
Adams will face the task of overseeing the largest U.S. city’s nascent recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, as well as confronting wealth inequality, the lack of affordable housing and struggling public schools.
He had been expected to win handily in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.
Adams’ victory could give President Joe Biden’s Democrats some signs of where voters stand as the party strives to maintain a fragile alliance between progressives and centrists in Washington.
Adams prevailed in the party’s primary election with a coalition that resembled, in some ways, the voters who helped elevate Biden to the Democratic nomination in 2020, especially his support among more moderate Black voters.