New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the Big Apple cannot “go backwards” by electing Zohran Mamdani, who defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, calling the democratic socialist a “snake oil salesman.”
"He would say and do anything to get elected,” the independent mayoral candidate told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday morning.
"You had one candidate that was running away from his record. You had another candidate with no record. And you have Eric Adams with a record," he continued. "I delivered for this city, and we’re not going backwards."
The radical 33-year-old assembly member from Queens has called for policies Adams argues he could have addressed in the state legislature.
"He wants to raise taxes on 1 percent of New Yorkers’ high-income earners. As the mayor, you don't have the authority to do that," Adams said. "You know who has the authority do that? An assemblyman, which he is. He wants to do free buses; he could have done that as an assemblyman. He doesn’t understand the power of government and how you must make sure you improve your economy, raise the standard of living…”
Adams said he looks forward to continuing to show New Yorkers on the campaign trail that “we can’t go backward” by electing Mamdani.
“I’m never going to quit for the city that I love,” Adams said.
🚨NEW — ERIC ADAMS TELLS FOX NEWS: Zohran Mamdani is "a snake oil salesman."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 25, 2025
"He wants to raise taxes on 1% of New Yorkers...As the mayor, you don't have the authority to do that! You know who has the authority to do that? An assemblyman — which he is!"
"I'm looking forward to… pic.twitter.com/6qh0yqqGyl
The NYC mayor later suggested Mamdani may not experience the same level of support in the general election.
"When you look at the total number of Democrats, the primary always brings out the left part of the party, always," he said, according to a transcript from Mediaite. "Well, now you are going into the general election. You are going to get those grandmothers, those granddads, those working-class people who are going to come out because they realize they don’t want to defund their police department. They want the police on their block. They realize that you have to invest in businesses. And small property owners are hurting in this city, when you talk about freeze rent and no rent? Is he part of the freeze rent no-rent movement, that small property owners were losing their homes. Talking about black, brown, caribbean, immigrants who are small property owners, that is the message that we need to get there."
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