If victorious Adrienne Adams would make history as the first woman to be elected mayor of New York City
In March 2025, term-limited New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced she is challenging incumbent Mayor Eric Adams (no relations) in the 2025 NYC mayoral election. She declared her candidacy at the urging of many New York elected officials, most notably Attorney General Letitia James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
“I never planned to run for mayor, but I’m not giving up on New York City. Our city deserves a leader who serves its people first and always, not someone focused on themselves and their own political interests,” said Speaker Adams. “I’m a public servant, mother, Queens girl, and I’m running for mayor. No drama, no nonsense — just my commitment to leading with competence and integrity.”
Her rather late and unexpected entry into the mayoral contest is similar to her underdog and eventually successful bid for City Council speaker in 2021. In that case, she was a popular and respected consensus choice who didn’t get any traction until the very end of the tumultuous race.
Adams is no stranger to making history. Elected in January 2022 by her colleagues, she leads the most diverse and the first women-majority Council in New York City history as the first-ever African American Speaker. Elected to the City Council in November 2017, she is also the first woman to represent District 28, which encompasses the Queens neighborhoods of Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Rochdale Village, and South Ozone Park.
Speaker Adams, who grew up in Southeast Queens with Mayor Eric Adams but is not related to him, is joining an already crowded field. It’s not an open seat, but Speaker Adams has joined the spirited crowd of challengers, which include former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, NY State Senator Jessica Ramos who represents Queens, NY State Senator Zellnor Myrie who represents Brooklyn, NYS Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani who represents Queens, former NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, Founder and CEO of Kairos Democracy Project Michael Blake, Investor and editor at Stansberry Research Whitney Tilson, Corinne Fisher, Deirdre Levy, and Jim Walden a Partner at Walden Macht Haran & Williams, making that twelve candidates in the Democratic Primary. Republican candidate Guardian Angels Founder Curtis Sliwa is also running for the top seat in NYC.
Voters who see two Adamses on the ballot may become confused since she shares a last name with the mayor. A lottery determines the order of names on the ballot. In addition to that, there is the “speaker’s curse,” which is the annoying reality that no previous speaker of the City Council has ever successfully jumped to being elected in another citywide role, including mayor or comptroller.
The first mayor of New York City Thomas Willett was elected in 1665. 360 years later there have been a total of 110 mayors but despite women and Black Women becoming mayors all over the country, there has never been a female mayor in the largest city in the United States. Speaker Adams hopes to change all that and etch her name in the history books as the first female mayor of the city that never sleeps.
