Eric Adams won’t rule out running for reelection as an independent

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams remains a registered Democrat, but on Monday he repeatedly refused to rule out running for reelection as an independent.

“When I’m ready to … do my official re-announcement and my plan, I will do so. And I will make sure all of you are invited,” he told reporters, when asked about a recent New York Post story speculating that he may run on a politically unaffiliated ballot line in November if he loses the Democratic primary.

When asked if a theoretical run as an independent would help someone from the far left win the Democratic primary, the mayor again deflected.

“New Yorkers: Be careful what you wish for,” Adams said during a City Hall press conference. “I know how well we have done. I know how well we will continue to do for the next five years.”

The mayor has done little to build up his campaign ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary: He has a skeleton staff devoid of top aides from his 2021 team, he skipped a candidate screening for a union that endorsed him four years ago and, until recently, he hadn’t reactivated his website. When he did, he made a point of noting he’s a Democrat — an addition necessitated by his embrace of Donald Trump as he continues to fight federal corruption charges the Republican president can effectively disappear.

Petitions bearing his name are hard to come by as candidates scramble to lock in the requisite signatures by the April 3 deadline.

He’s also been set back by external forces feeding on what they see as a political carcass — namely a slew of racially and geographically diverse endorsers central to his 2021 victory who are backing Andrew Cuomo’s bid for mayor instead.

And the city’s Campaign Finance Board has denied Adams over $4 million in public matching funds — money that’s all but essential to run a successful campaign in New York City, where donations and spending are capped, and ad buys are costly.

Despite the setbacks, Adams insisted Monday he is running — he just didn’t commit to doing it as a Democrat, as he has in recent weeks.

“Hypotheticals [are] not what I’m answering,” he said, declining to address a third question on whether he’d run as an independent.

He also took a rare jab at Cuomo — the front-runner whom Adams has avoided pouncing on — criticizing the former governor’s for his record on state employee pension plans and signing into law bail reforms Adams has blamed for an increase in crime.

Looming over Adams’ press conference were reminders of what has distanced him from New York’s dominant political party in the first place — his refusal to join fellow Democrats in criticizing Trump.

On Monday, the mayor declined to take a position on the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. He expressed openness to meeting again with border czar Tom Homan. And he dismissed concerns over potential federal education cuts, saying more people should have criticized former President Joe Biden for inflicting $7 billion worth of asylum-seeker costs onto New York City.

“The real apprehension is not in what may happen,” Adams said. “The real apprehension is what happened.”