Caribbean-American District Leader Anthony Beckford on Sunday, Sept. 28, welcomed Mayor Eric Adams’ decision not to seek reelection in the forthcoming General Elections.
“Mayor Adams dropping out of the Mayoral race was a smart choice on his part,” Beckford, the son of Jamaican immigrants, who serves as district leader for the 43rd Assembly District in Brooklyn, told Caribbean Life.
“Zohran Mamdani is the frontrunner and the Democratic candidate; that is where the focus must be,” he added. “The remaining Mayoral candidates should follow Mayor Adam’s lead.
“We need further progress, and a city that works for the people of this city,” Beckford continued. “With the constant threats against our democracy, rights, and freedoms coming from the White House, we need to make sure that our focus is on protecting the democracy, rights, and freedoms of all New Yorkers.”
Theo Oshiro, executive director of the New York immigrant advocacy group Make the Road Action, said that, while Adams has dropped out of the race, “the forces that he listens to are still represented.
“Like Adams, Andrew Cuomo is willing to hand our city over to the Trump administration and his billionaire donors – and ignore the urgent need to address affordability,” he said. “Cuomo’s campaign is the latest iteration of the same politics Adams ran on – pandering to the wants of real estate tycoons and billionaires while disregarding the needs of working-class New Yorkers.
“These are the same policies that have done nothing to abate the out-of-control housing and affordability crisis that New Yorkers are forced to bear,” Oshiro added. “Zohran Mamdani is the only candidate who, time and again, has demonstrated that he isn’t tied down to greedy billionaires.
“New Yorkers deserve a champion that puts at the forefront the needs of immigrant and working class families and is willing to stand up for the most vulnerable New Yorkers as they face relentless attacks from the current administration,” he continued.
In a nine-minute video on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, Adams blamed media speculation and financial difficulties, with denial of public matching funds, as the principal reasons for discontinuing his campaign.
“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign,” he said. “The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.
“I will keep fighting for our city no matter what, from City Hall or beyond, because I am a New Yorker,” he added. And fighting for our city is just what I do.”
The mayor said while major change is “welcome and necessary,” he warned that the public must be aware of “those who claim the answer is to destroy the very system we built together over generations. That is not change, that is chaos.”
In reacting to Adams’s exit, Mamdani sought to link Adams to Andrew Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an Independent and who was forced to resign as Governor of New York in a sex harassment scandal four years ago.
“To Andrew Cuomo, you got your wish: You wanted Trump and your billionaire friends to help you clear the field,” he said. “But don’t forget, you wanted me as your opponent in the primary, too, and we beat you by 13 points. Looking forward to doing it again on Nov. 4.”
While lauding Adams for ending his campaign, Cuomo warned New Yorkers of “an existential threat in an extreme radicalism that threatens the existence of this city as we know it.
“This is not an election between two people,” he said. “This is an election between different philosophies.”
