He has no known campaign office or website, and few if any staff.
Mayor Eric Adams also hasn’t appeared in any candidate forums, saying he’s too busy.
And he may not qualify for any city-funded matching-funds to help his campaign. In fact, he might have to give $10 million back to the Campaign Finance Board, with his 2021 fundraising under scrutiny by city and federal investigators.
Adams, facing a rough re-election that coincides with his federal corruption trial, seems to be running his campaign effort instead through his day job at City Hall.
His State of the City speech last week was a feel-good rundown of his administration’s wins while he promised to make New York more affordable for families to raise kids in. And he acknowledged the past year — in which multiple staffers were raided by federal authorities and he was indicted on corruption charges — with a show of defiance that wasn’t in his prepared remarks.
Mayor Eric Adams shakes hands at an older adult town hall at the Grand Street Settlement in Manhattan, Jan. 15, 2025. Credit: Ed Reed / Mayoral Photography Office
“Challenging year, difficult year. And many thought we couldn’t get through it as we continue with this amazing team to make it happen,” he said at the Apollo Theater.
“There were some who said, step down. I said, ‘No, I’m going to step up. I’m going to step up.’”
At a press conference this week, Adams answered questions about challengers — including potential contender Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor who polls show would be a frontrunner if he jumped in
“I’m going to connect with people the way I do. No one is going to outwork me. I am so committed authentically to New Yorkers. They connect with me,” Adams said.
His latest campaign filings, released late Wednesday, show he raised more than $270,000 for the 2025 race since October. That brings his fundraising total to more than $4.4 million, with around $3.1 million still unspent.
The new haul is slightly higher than what he raised in the last filing period, where he reported bringing in around $145,000 between July and October. In the previous filing period, which stretched from January to July, however, he’d brought in more than $1 million, CFB records show.
Short-Staffed
Adams’ campaign staff is tiny. Lawyer Vito Pitta confirmed, after a week of texts, that he was working on the campaign, but rarely answers other inquiries from THE CITY.
Adams’s 2021 campaign spokesperson, Evan Thies, did not respond to multiple text messages sent by THE CITY asking if he is resuming that role this year — and has repeatedly denied he’s working on the campaign.
But, Thies, a co-founder of Pythia Public Affairs, still communicates often with reporters on the Adams’ campaign’s behalf.
Meanwhile, former Adams chief of staff Frank Carone — who now has a lobbying and public affairs firm, Oaktree Solutions — answered “of course” when asked if he was working on the 2025 campaign, but wouldn’t say in what capacity.
Adams is also apparently still working with Brianna Suggs, a 2021 campaign fundraiser whose Brooklyn home was raided in November 2023 by federal authorities. That kicked off a year of federal raids and investigations of Adams’ inner circle, culminating in the mayor’s own indictment on federal corruption and fraud charges in September.
Expenditure records the Adams campaign just filed with the Campaign Finance Board reveal Suggs has been paid more than $430,000 by the Adams 2025 campaign, including more than $80,000 in 2024 and another $33,249 in 2023, for consulting.
Mayor Eric Adams attends a Police Benevolent Association Holiday Party in Queens. Dec. 10, 2022. Credit: Diane Bondareff/Mayoral Photography Office
Adams is also raising money for his legal defense fund, which pays for lawyers and other expenses tied to his federal corruption trial.
But he brought in just $2,200 from two donors over the last three months, even as his expenses increase as he prepares for his trial, set to begin in April.
One of the listed donors is Tzvi Odzer, who gave $2,000 and was pardoned by outgoing President Donald Trump on his last day in office in 2021.
Adams was scheduled to meet with the incoming president on Friday in Palm Beach, Florida.
Lupe Todd-Medina, a political consultant not working on any mayoral campaigns yet, said Adams already has the thing some of his opponents may struggle with: name recognition.
“He is the incumbent,” she said. “He doesn’t need to spend on staff when he has the West Wing.”
Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.
The post Being Mayor Is Eric Adams’ Re-Election Campaign Strategy appeared first on THE CITY – NYC News.
