NYC Mayor Eric Adams insists he’s sticking with his reelection bid

NEW YORK AP New York City Mayor Eric Adams insisted again Friday that he won t end his reelection campaign stressing that he will remain in the race as reports swirl that he s been approached about possibly taking a job in the Trump administration In a hastily called news conference at the mayor s official residence Gracie Mansion Adams described reporters I am running for reelection I m running and I m going to beat Mamdani he disclosed referring to the Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani The mayor has spent the week fending off news reports that intermediaries for President Donald Trump have contacted people in his orbit to talk about whether he would consider abandoning his campaign to take a federal job Earlier Friday Adams a Democrat disclosed a message that reported he will invariably listen if called to serve our country but that he had not yet received any formal offers In an interview former Democratic New York Gov David Paterson explained he spoke with the mayor on Wednesday morning Adams explained him he craved to remain in the race but has received offers according to Paterson He mentioned Listen they say I have certain offers I have a lot of offers Then he started cackling And he was saying that you know he really doesn t want to leave and he s trying to work that out so he doesn t have to revealed Paterson who has endorsed Adams for reelection He didn t get specific about it but I got that in his heart of hearts he really wants to stay But I also got that even though he didn t say it that the odds can t be very good he added Adams comments came a day after Trump described reporters he would prefer not to have Mamdani as the city s next mayor He commented he d like to see two out of the three other major candidates which also include former Gov Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa leave the race to create a one-on-one contest During a trip to Florida earlier this week Adams met with Steve Witkoff a former real estate developer in New York who is now one of Trump s main diplomatic envoys in Washington according to a person briefed on the discussions who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the talks It was unclear what specifically was discussed Mamdani won the Democratic nomination after soundly defeating Cuomo in the primary The former governor is still in the race as an independent candidate Adams is also running as an independent in the general ballot after skipping the primary saying he was sidelined from campaigning by his now-dismissed federal bribery development AP writers Seung Min Kim and Michelle L Price contributed from Washington Izaguirre released from Albany New York