New York Mayor Adams refuses to quit race, blasts Cuomo after Trump nomination talk

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Friday he will remain in the mayoral race, after The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump's advisors were working on a plan to have Adams nominated as ambassador to Saudi Arabia to get him to abandon his campaign.

"I'm running for reelection, and I'm going to tell New Yorkers every day why I believe I should be the Mayor of the City of New York in 2026," said Adams, who recent polls show struggling to break single digits in an effectively four-way race..

Trump wants two candidates to drop out to make it easier for one remaining challenger to defeat Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, the clear frontrunner.

Trump on Friday suggested that former New York governor Andrew Cuomo — a Democrat running as an independent — had the best chance of beating the democratic socialist Mamdani in a head-to-head contest.

Adams angrily disputed that idea in a statement to reporters outside his Gracie Mansion residence on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

"New Yorkers, I want to speak directly to you. There has been so much speculation, communications, announcements of what I'm doing, no matter what I have stated over and over again publicly," Adams said.

"So I want to be clear with you. Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar," Adams said.

"I am in this race, and I'm the only one that can beat Mamdani. Andrew has had a career of pushing black candidates out of races," said the mayor, a Democrat who is running as an independent.

"I committed myself and dedicated myself to a city that I love, and I'm going to continue to do that. This polo shirt that I'm wearing that says Eric Adams, Mayor of the City of New York," he said. "I'm going to wear that for another four years. We can't go backwards."

"I'm running for reelection," Adams said. "I'm going to beat Mamdani."

He walked away from reporters without answering questions.

Trump later told reporters, "I would say that Cuomo might have a chance of winning if it was a one-on-one,"

"If it's not one-on-one, it's going to be a hard race," Trump said.

"I think if you have more than one candidate, we've got ourselves a communist mayor in New York," the president said.

Adams decided not to seek the Democratic nomination after facing falling public approval ratings and after being criminally indicted on federal corruption charges.

That criminal case was dropped in April at the request of the Trump administration.

Mamdani handily defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary.

The Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa, has said he plans to remain in the race.