New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday called Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the winner of Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary in the city, a “snake oil salesman” who was elected while making promises he can’t keep.
“He will say and do anything to get elected,” Adams said in an interview on Fox News, reported the New York Post. “He wants to raise taxes on the 1% of New Yorkers’ high high-income earners. Do you know who has the authority to do that? An assemblyman, which he is.”
Adams said Mamdani, a democratic socialist, “doesn’t understand the power of government and how you must make sure you improve your economy, raise the standard of living, and this is what we have done in this city.”
Adams, a Democrat, opted to run as an independent in this fall’s election rather than participate in Tuesday’s crowded primary, in which almost a dozen candidates were vying for the nomination.
Mamdani and three-term former Gov. Andrew Cuomo were the main contenders in the primary. About two hours after the polls closed, Cuomo told supporters that “tonight was not our night” and said he called Mamdani to congratulate him.
Cuomo told The New York Times shortly after he conceded the race that he is still considering whether he will run in this fall’s general election as an independent.
Mamdani has promised to freeze rents in regulated apartments, subsidize childcare and transportation, and to open grocery stores run by the city, among other campaign promises that he said will be paid for by higher taxes on the city’s ultra-wealthy residents.
But Adams predicted that Mamdani would not do as well in the primary, which will bring out different voters.
“Going into the general election, you are going to get those grandmothers, those granddads, those working class people who are going to come out because they realize they don’t want to defund their police department,” said Adams, a former New York City Police Department officer. “They want the police on their block. They realize that you have to invest in businesses.”
Adams also criticized Cuomo for running for mayor.
“Andrew, at this time, should realize that [his] time has moved on,” Adams said. “He just did not bring the energy of wanting to be mayor. And New Yorkers, they have the smell test … you can’t come out on weekends, go to a Black church, go eat some fried chicken, and all of a sudden say that ‘I have the Black vote. I have the working class people vote.’ It’s just not the reality. People know if you want the job. He didn’t want the job.”
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