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Brooklyn State senator Zellnor Myrie is taking steps to challenge Mayor Eric Adams for re-election in 2025, further complicating Adams’ already uncertain hopes for a second term amid sagging approval ratings.
Myrie, a 37-year-old progressive, confirmed in a social media post on Wednesday that he is moving to run against Adams. He joins former comptroller Scott Stringer in eyeing a Democratic primary challenge to the incumbent mayor.
Myrie, who is Afro-Latino and an attorney by training, represents the state Senate district that Adams himself once held, covering Central Brooklyn neighborhoods like Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Park Slope. Myrie won his seat in 2018 as part of a progressive wave that ended Republican control of the state Senate, and has since championed causes including criminal justice reform, including the “clean slate” law that will seal more criminal convictions.
“New Yorkers in all five boroughs are ready for new leadership,” Myrie said in a post on the website X, linking to an interview with the New York Times in which he confirmed plans to form an exploratory committee and start fundraising. “That’s why today I’m taking the first steps to explore a race for Mayor in 2025.”
Myrie told the Times that his campaign would focus on “competence,” and criticized Adams’ cuts to schools, parks and libraries. But he is sure to face his own hurdles: Myrie is not well-known among voters citywide, and lacks Adams’ head-start on fundraising and his connections to powerful labor unions. Mayor Adams has $2.2 million on hand in his re-election campaign account.
But the mayor’s vulnerabilities are obvious: Adams’ approval rating fell to just 28% in a December Quinnipiac University poll, the survey’s worst-ever result for a New York City mayor. Myrie also has the potential to undercut Adams’ historically strong bases of support in Central Brooklyn, and in the Black and Latino communities.
Myrie’s interest in challenging Adams has been known for months, and was a topic of discussion at last year’s Somos conference that drew New York’s political power brokers to Puerto Rico. Others seen as potential challengers include Queens State Sen. Jessica Ramos and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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Nick Garber , 2024-05-08 16:15:56
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