NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams sets lofty agenda ahead of possible mayoral run

Adrienne Adams isn’t officially running for mayor yet.

But as the City Council speaker weighs her political future, she unveiled a vision for New York City that seemed to transcend her office's typical purview. She laid out a future in which city leaders would stand up to President Donald Trump, expand access to social programs and support the city’s parks and libraries.

And she said Mayor Eric Adams’ administration “cannot shrink from its responsibility.”

Before a packed auditorium at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the southeast Queens native used her final State of the City address as speaker to rebuke the mayor for derailing the Council’s attempts to expand access to housing vouchers through CityFHEPS, while “every day without action is another eviction.” She pledged to push for more parks funding — as Mayor Adams once promised to do — and inch it closer to 1% of the city budget.

And she vowed to serve as a bulwark against Trump’s “cruel crusade against immigrant families,” as the mayor has been politically hobbled by fresh accusations of a quid pro quo with the president in order to escape federal charges.

“The purpose of government is to work through our most pressing challenges,” Speaker Adams said on Tuesday. “Why lead if your default is to insist that something is too hard, or that we just can’t do it?”

The speaker’s potential entry into the mayoral race would be significant, as polling shows voters grow tired of Eric Adams and public comments this week show many Democrats are wary of City Hall under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. All three would be competitive in places like southeast Queens and central Brooklyn, where middle-class Black voters are among the most reliable blocs in the city electorate.

Cuomo has led in public polling among Democratic candidates even before formally joining the race, and is presumed the front-runner as liberals writhe under a second Trump term.

Attorney General Letitia James, whose office released a report in 2021 that accused Cuomo of sexually harassing multiple women, including those in his employ, is supporting Speaker Adams as she explores a run. Cuomo denies having harassed the 11 women mentioned in the Attorney General's report.

Adams has led a defiant Council that has battled with the mayor over policy and budget issues since he took office. She’s expected to announce whether or not she’ll join the mayor’s race after her Tuesday address, in which she repeatedly called for strong leadership.

“We need solutions more than slogans, service rather than saviors, and partnership over patriarchy,” the speaker said to an enthusiastic crowd of elected officials, bureaucrats and supporters.

“The dignity and trust in government leadership has been shaken in our city,” she added, to shouts of affirmation from the crowd. “And it must be restored.”

Among the speaker’s proposals is a bid to expand seven-day library service to 10 additional locations citywide — a $2 million undertaking. She is seeking to create a city-funded voucher for families earning up to $128,000 to assist with half of the cost of child care for ages 2 and younger. She repeated her call for the Adams administration to follow through on a plan to close jails on Rikers Island, a defining crusade of her speakership for which she often recounts her mother’s experience as a correction officer, as Rikers has become “the city’s largest mental health facility.”

The speaker, who has served in the Council since 2018, is term-limited at the end of the year.

“Welcome to my grand finale,” she said.

This story has been updated to note that Cuomo denies having sexually harassed the 11 women referred to in the Attorney General's report.