Eric Adams, the first mayor in modern New York City history to run for re-election while under federal indictment, will step onstage at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Thursday and make his best case for a second term.
It may not be an easy task.
Mr. Adams, a showman who relishes a political fight, will use his final State of the City speech before the June primary to highlight his accomplishments and the allies who have stuck by his side.
The annual address is typically a mixture of political stagecraft and rhetoric that puts a sheen on the mayor’s record and lays out a vision for the future.00
But for Mr. Adams, accomplishing those goals will be difficult. He i00s scheduled to go on trial in April on federal corruption charges; his approval rating has fallen to record lows; nine top city officials have resigned amid a swirl of investigations; violence on the subway and scandal at the Police Department have undermined his agenda.
Mr. Adams acknowledged his myriad challenges at a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday, dodging questions about the state-run transit system by referring to a Jay-Z song.
“I got 99 problems, brother, and I’m not looking to take on new ones,” he said.
The mayor has focused on two themes to get his mayoralty back on track: public safety and affordability. He previewed some of his talking points at the news conference, boasting about declining crime numbers, pledging to remove mentally ill people from the streets and referring all questions about his indictment to his criminal lawyer, who Mr. Adams noted also represented Jay-Z and the billionaire Elon Musk.
When Mr. Adams was asked about prosecutors saying in court documents that they had uncovered additional criminal conduct by him, the mayor referenced another renowned artist. He joked that “even Ray Charles can see what’s going on” — a reference to Charles’s blindness and to his often-stated belief that prosecutors were out to get him.
Mr. Adams said in a statement ahead of the speech that the city had recovered from the pandemic and was “better than ever.” He said that his administration had “fought every day to create a safer, more affordable city for working-class New Yorkers.”
“But as we look to the future, we know there is even more we can do to uplift working-class families across the five boroughs, protect our streets and subways, tackle the cost of rent, create more housing and put even more money back into New Yorkers’ pockets,” he said.
Mr. Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, often highlights his biography as the son of a house cleaner who grew up poor in Queens. The choice of the Apollo Theater in Harlem, a venue that opened in 1934 as a mecca for Black culture, could appeal to the mayor’s base of Black voters who seem more likely to keep supporting him.
The mayor says that his record shows success: Shootings fell 7 percent last year compared with 2023, to 903; police officers have taken nearly 20,000 guns off the streets since January 2022; the city set a record of having more than 4.7 million jobs and moved forward on 26 affordable housing projects on public sites last year.
The truth about the city’s challenges is more complicated. While murders were down last year, they were still higher than before the pandemic. Felony assaults have risen. Rents have soared. Poverty has risen in recent years; roughly one in eight public school students was homeless during the last school year.
Mr. Adams has increasingly focused on the city’s affordability crisis — a key issue in the crowded Democratic primary. The mayor announced a plan last month to eliminate New York City income taxes for more than 400,000 of the lowest wage earners. Households who qualify would save an average of $350.
At least eight challengers are running for mayor, and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is considering entering the race. Mr. Adams said at the news conference that he had a better record than Mr. Cuomo.
“Anyone that tells you they batted .400 while they were in office is just — they’re just lying,” he said, noting that he had some Aaron Judge moments, referring to the star Yankees player who won the Most Valuable Player Award in 2024 but also stumbled in the World Series.
The idea that Mr. Adams plans to paint a rosy picture of the city frustrated some Democrats, including Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn who is running for mayor. He said that the mayor “must be living in a different New York” and that he “can keep calling mediocrity success — but no one is buying it.”
“Stop telling us the city is safer than ever when New Yorkers are nervous to get on the subway,” he said. “Stop claiming our city is more livable when no one can find an apartment.”
Mr. Adams, a former police captain and a Democrat who once was a Republican, has surprised some in his party by embracing President-elect Donald J. Trump, a Republican. Mr. Trump has said that he and Mr. Adams were both “persecuted” by prosecutors and that he would consider pardoning Mr. Adams.
Jumaane Williams, the city’s left-leaning public advocate, said in a statement on Wednesday that he was disappointed by many of the mayor’s decisions and was hoping for an “honest assessment and solutions that match the complexity of our challenges.”
“This administration has a long way to go toward earning New Yorkers’ trust, and that work will take more than one speech,” he said. “Trust will be essential as all of us in city government must collaborate to prevent the worst harm of the coming Trump years.”
