NYC Mayor Eric Adams exits mayoral race

NEW YORK CITY (NBC, KYMA) - New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday he's dropping out of the city's mayoral race.

Mayor Adams had been seeking re-election as a third-party candidate, but was running in fourth place in a number of recent public polls.

With his exit, the field narrows for November's election, leaving the race likely between Democrat Zohran Mamdani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Adams announced his decision in a nearly nine minute video posted to X Sunday afternoon.

"Despite all we've achieved, I cannot continue my re-election campaign. 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.

Too often, insidious forces use local government to advance divisive agendas with little regard for how it hurts everyday New Yorkers. Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer [is] to destroy the very system we built together over generations. That is not change, that is chaos.

I will continue to fight for this city as I have for 40 years."

Mayor Eric Adams (D-NY)

Adams enjoyed strong ratings from New Yorkers early in his term, but saw his standing plummet after being indicted on federal corruption charges, which was later dropped.

Adams' name will still be on ballots this fall since he exited the race after a deadline to print them.