What Adams’s Exit Means for Black Political Power in New York

When Eric Adams took office nearly four years ago, many New Yorkers welcomed the ascension of the city’s second Black mayor.

It was a milestone that had taken nearly three decades to reach: The first Black mayor, David N. Dinkins, had lost his re-election campaign in 1993. Mr. Adams’s rise was important symbolically and practically for many Black voters who were eager to see life improve for communities that had often been overlooked.

Now, with Mr. Adams’s decision on Sunday to end his campaign for re-election amid sagging poll numbers — and the confirmation that New York City will have had two single-term Black mayors — some worry that his rocky tenure could undermine Black political power in New York.

For years, the city’s Black electorate has served as a make-or-break base of support for Democratic mayors. But Zohran Mamdani, the party’s mayoral nominee, won the June primary with a coalition that did not include many majority Black precincts. (Since his victory, Mr. Mamdani has focused on reaching out to Black voters and secured endorsements from prominent Black leaders; a New York Times/Siena poll this month shows he now leads his rivals among likely Black voters.)

Donovan Richards, the Queens borough president who is viewed as a possible future contender for City Hall, said despite Mr. Adams’s downfall, he did not doubt that there would be another Black mayor.

“But is this a setback?” he said. “Yes.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader who has been both an ally and a critic of Mr. Adams, said that said that there was a “widespread feeling of sadness” over the mayor’s fate. He also expressed concern that promising Black leaders could face a higher bar in the future to prove they are “squeaky clean.”