Eric Adams

Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer who served as the 111th mayor of New York City from 2022 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for more than 20 years, retiring at the rank of captain. He served in the New York State Senate from 2006 to 2013, representing the 20th district in Brooklyn. In 2013, Adams became the first black American to be elected Brooklyn Borough President; he was re-elected in 2017.

In 2021, Adams received the Democratic Party's nomination for mayor of New York City after winning a crowded primary that used ranked-choice voting. In the general election, Adams won a landslide victory over Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. As mayor, he took what is regarded to have been a tough-on-crime approach and reintroduced a plain-clothed NYPD unit that had been disbanded by the previous administration. He also implemented, alongside increased police presence, a zero-tolerance policy on homeless people sleeping in subway cars.

In September 2024, a series of investigations into Adams's administration emerged. Adams was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Adams pleaded not guilty to the charges. He alleged that the charges were retaliation for opposing the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis. In February 2025, the Department of Justice in the Donald Trump administration instructed federal prosecutors to drop charges against Adams. Judge Dale Ho dismissed the case against Adams on April 2, 2025.

In April 2025, Adams announced that he would seek re-election as an independent in the 2025 New York City mayoral election. In September, he withdrew his candidacy following flagging poll numbers, endorsing Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo would go on to lose to Zohran Mamdani, who succeeded Adams as mayor on January 1, 2026.