This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and The City.
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Mayor Eric Adams’s campaign on Wednesday denied reports he would take a job in President Donald Trump’s administration as a way of dropping out of his re-election bid, which is facing tepid poll numbers.
“Mayor Adams has not met with Donald Trump — don’t believe the noise,” campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro said. “He is not dropping out of the race.”
But the president may still be looking for gigs for both Adams and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, according to the New York Times, the New York Post and Politico. Adams was offered a job at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Politico reported, after meeting with members of Trump’s team during a sudden trip to Florida on Monday.
Shapiro denied this. “Although Mayor Adams has been the most pro-housing mayor in New York City’s history, at no time did he ask for—nor was he offered—a job at HUD,” he said.
Sliwa also denied he would leave the race or take any other job. Following the reports, he told THE CITY he is “interested in only one job and that is being elected Mayor of NYC on Nov. 4. I am not dropping out period.”
Adams, who has struggled in the polls and has repeatedly been denied matching funds as he runs as an independent, has dodged questions about whether he’d stay in the November election for weeks. The questions surged after more indictments hit current and former administration staffers.
“I’m never going to quit on the City of New York,” Adams said the day after his former top aide, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was named in four new indictments. “We’ve worked too hard to get here, and to those thousands of men and women who serve this city every day, I want to tell them thank you.”
But on Wednesday, he left open the possibility of stepping away from the election, saying in an interview on FOX 5 that “whenever I make a move, I’ll make an announcement.”
Later he said at an unrelated press conference that the question of him taking any other job was “hypothetical.”
“I’m running for office, and I’m going to finish doing that.”
Trump’s involvement in the mayor’s race is a way to clear the field and have a one-on-one matchup between Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate and socialist, and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is also running as an independent.
A recent poll showed Mamdani winning the race to Gracie Mansion in nearly every scenario, except in a head-to-head matchup with Cuomo.
The New York Times reported that intermediaries for the president had been in contact with those working for Adams. Some of the city’s business leaders have also spent the last few weeks trying to mount attacks against Mamdani, who defeated Cuomo in the primary by double-digits. John Catsimitidis, the billionaire owner of Gristedes, told the Times he spoke to Trump on Sunday about the race.
Catsimitidis did not respond to calls and a text message seeking comment.
At a press conference Wednesday, Mamdani said he was “angry” at the president’s reported involvement and said Cuomo was his “handpicked candidate.”
“The reason that so many New Yorkers are fed up with politics as they know it is because of news like this — backroom deals, corrupt agreements,” he said.
A spokesperson for Cuomo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Adams has had a friendly relationship with the president, attending his inauguration in January.
The president’s Department of Justice also ordered prosecutors to drop the five-count federal corruption indictment against the mayor in February, forcing a federal judge to dismiss the case in April.
The next day, the mayor announced that he would drop out of the Democratic primary and mount an independent bid instead. He had until then denied reports of a party-less run, saying just days earlier: “I’m going to run as a Democrat and I’ve said that over and over again.” He had until then denied reports of a party-less run, saying just days earlier: “I’m going to run as a Democrat and I’ve said that over and over again.”
The NYC Board of Elections certifies the general election ballot on September 11, so the mayor would remain on the ballot if he were to announce the end his campaign after that date.
Trump, a native New Yorker, has worked to maintain footholds in New York City with the Trump Organization bidding on running Wollman Rink in Central Park.
The Trump Organization also stands to gain $115 million if a casino is built on the site of a Bronx golf course it once owned. The casino placement is decided by a state-led panel, but Adams recently vetoed the City Council on a necessary land use vote at the site.
The reports of Trump considering Adams and Sliwa for administration jobs were slow to reach Capitol Hill, where several New York Democrats said they hadn’t heard of the possibility.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she wouldn’t be surprised by Trump attempting to meddle in the New York City election.
“We always thought nothing is for free, and when Trump comes to collect the check, what is it going to be for?” Ocasio-Cortez told NOTUS. “It looks like right now, Trump wants to collect what he’s got on Eric Adams in order to defeat the Democratic nominee from New York City. But New Yorkers, I think, are smarter than that. We’re going to support Mamdani for mayor.”
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Editor’s Note: This story was updated with additional reporting.