Eric Adams Leaving for the Trump Administration?

Well, this would be an interesting development…

According to POLITICO, the Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has been offered a job in the Trump administration as a reward for dropping out of the New York City race. 

It would make a lot of sense, as Adams is the lowest-performing candidate in a crowded race in which it sure looks likely that Zohran Mamdani has the inside track. 

Trump, as we all know, is both emotionally and financially invested in the well-being of New York, and a Mamdani mayoralty could make a Bill de Blasio term look as if the city were well-managed. 

The race would remain too crowded to ensure that former Governor Cuomo or long-shot Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa has a good shot at winning, but the odds of a better outcome would shoot up if Adams dropped out of the ranked-choice-voting election. Sliwa may be offered a position as well, allowing the opposition to coalesce around Cuomo. 

NEWS via Politico:

New York Mayor Eric Adams has been offered a position by the Trump administration at HUD

Full Story: https://t.co/FOguwFSrUb https://t.co/yeHX2UIjbT

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 3, 2025

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been reluctant to abandon his bid for reelection — but an influential post in President Donald Trump’s administration could incentivize him to bow out and make it easier to halt Zohran Mamdani’s rise.

Adams has been offered a position at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a person with direct knowledge of the offer who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about a sensitive matter.

The mayor, who has a friendly working and political relationship with Trump, met with the president’s team during his visit Monday to Florida, the person said.

A White House official would neither confirm nor deny that Trump advisers are talking with Adams.

The Trump administration’s machinations were first reported by The New York Times, which also reported discussions of finding a position for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to get him out of the race. Sliwa has previously rejected the idea of serving in the Trump administration.

Worried about New York City being led by a democratic socialist, Republicans, centrist Democrats and business community leaders have been eager to consolidate anti-Mamdani voters behind one candidate. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat and former governor who’s running as an independent, has been their preferred choice for defeating Mamdani, the Democratic nominee.

It is a measure of how insane New York politics are that coalescing around Cuomo is the best choice, but the world is insane. I would certainly vote for him instead of Mamdani, and would likely throw my support to him even with Sliwa in the race. Stopping Mamdani is the most important goal, after all. 

I fear that Mamdani will be difficult to beat. He is, with all his flaws, an exceptional candidate who appeals to the left as few others do. He has charisma, and as AOC has shown, that will carry you very far in politics. 

Mamdani’s campaign also called an emergency news conference to address the Times report about Trump and Adams.

Cuomo has denied speaking directly with the president about the election in New York City.

Privately though, the former governor has been hopeful for Trump’s involvement in the race. At an August fundraiser in the Hamptons he told supporters that Trump and fellow GOP leaders would minimize Sliwa’s impact by telling Republicans not to waste their vote on him, POLITICO exclusively reported.

In the past, Adams has shot down questions about whether he would drop out of the race or serve in the Trump administration, but on Wednesday he struck a different tone.

“To say, ‘Would you take a job in the administration?’ or would I take it somewhere else — that’s hypothetical,” the mayor told reporters. “I’m running for office. And I’m going to finish doing that. I’ve got work to do. I’ve got more ribbons to cut before I finish up this term.”

In a statement, Adams’ campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro was more firm: “Mayor Adams has not met with Donald Trump — don’t believe the noise. He is not dropping out of the race. The Mayor is fully committed to winning this election, with millions of New Yorkers preparing to cast their votes.”

Sliwa said he hasn’t talked to the White House and wouldn’t want a job anyway.

There are a lot of things you could say about Sliwa, both good and not so good, but among them is not “He is a team player.” I would bet a lot of money he won’t budge. It is not in his nature, for good and ill. 

Mamdani is smart to point to these reports as proof that it is he against the billionaires–especially Trump. That is his political lane, and he is a Formula 1 driver when in it. 

Still, taking Adams out of the race will have a big impact. Mamdani is not going to expand his base much beyond where he is now. Cuomo’s job is to cobble together the rest of the electorate and get them out to vote.