For Adams' challengers, a tough ask

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a proud, defund-the-police progressive, announced last week his intention to challenge the Democratic incumbent, Eric Adams, for the mayorship. Lander is just the first of many sharks who smell blood in the water. 

Waiting in the wings to declare their candidacy are former Comptroller Scott Stringer; State Senator Zellnor Myrie, a rising star in New York politics; and possibly former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who, for better or worse, has the most name recognition. There are others of course, but they are for the most part lesser known and therefore less likely to find their way onto the ballot.

Defeating an incumbent mayor in New York City is a difficult task. Since the five boroughs merged in 1898, only four incumbents have lost their reelection bids: Seth Low, John P. Mitchel, Abraham Beame and David Dinkins. Since two mayors, Jimmy Walker and William O’Dwyer, were forced to resign from office due to political scandals, the challengers of Adams have nearly the same chance of replacing him if he is removed from office as they do in defeating him at the ballot box.

Seth Low and John P. Mitchel were Republicans in the early 1900s, and actually very good mayors, but in a city that was and still is overwhelmingly Democrat, their efforts were not rewarded. For Low, the problem was the length of his term. Mayoral terms in the 1902 and 1904 elections were just two years. He didn’t have enough time in office for the public to appreciate what he had done. Mitchel, on the other hand, tried to eliminate partisanship in city government by appointing officials based on competency rather than party affiliation. This policy upset one man so much that he tried to assassinate Mitchel. The shooter was angry that the mayor had the audacity to appoint a woman to run the city jails. Both Low and Mitchel were defeated by Tammany Hall Democrats.

Beame and Dinkins were the only Democrats who were not reelected. There was no Tammany Hall to bolster their prospects. Beame’s successor and Dinkins’ predecessor was the very popular Ed Koch. Both Beame and Dinkins served during some of the darkest days in New York City history. 

Under Beame, the city nearly went bankrupt. City services slashed to the bone. Police officers were laid off, while the Son of Sam terrorized the streets. To make matters worse, a major blackout led to widespread looting. Even a Yankees World Series win in 1977 couldn’t help the mayor, but to Beame’s credit, the city had a two-hundred-million-dollar surplus when he left office as opposed to the half-billion-dollar deficit he was saddled with during his tenure. 

Dinkins, the city’s first African-American mayor, faced crises of his own. While he had a vision of New York becoming a grand mosaic, with people of different ethnic backgrounds living in harmony, his four years were remembered for two deadly riots and a record number of homicides. His words did little to comfort the neighborhoods besieged by violence which he was unable to stop. 

In his final months he was able to get the City Safe Streets legislation passed, which led to the hiring of thousands of additional police officers. It was too little too late for him, but his successor, Republican Rudy Giuliani with the help of Police Commissioner William Bratton took advantage of the historic increase in police manpower and stemmed the tide of violence in the city.

While there have been many highly publicized violent crimes in the city transit system, the Adams administration has not been hampered by the ills that befuddled Beame and Dinkins. He is more vulnerable to the same forces that ousted mayors Jimmy Walker and William O’Dwyer — political scandal. Adams and the Walker have something in common. They both enjoy/ed the nightlife and leave/left many of the city’s day-to-day operations to their cronies. One of Adams’ closest advisors, former police inspector Timothy Pearson, is currently under investigation. 

The mayor’s director of Asian affairs, along with several others, have been accused of operating a straw donor scheme to illegally funnel tens of thousands of dollars to his mayoral campaign in 2021. Meanwhile, the feds are investigating donations Adams received from Turkish nationals during that election cycle, allegedly in exchange for giving them preferential treatment. And a former female colleague is suing him in connection with a sexual assault that allegedly took place long ago when they were both members of the NYPD. 

So far, the mayor has managed to skirt these scandals, but investigations take time and he still has some before he’s up for reelection. His opponents can only hope he is removed from office, because if past history is any indication, it is unlikely they can defeat him at the polls.

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