NYC Mayor Eric Adams Has Four-Word Message For Successor

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has a message for whoever wins this fall’s mayoral election.

“Don’t f*** it up,” Adams said.

“This city is in good shape, and we need to make sure we don’t go backwards,” Adams said, according to Gothamist.

“And let me say in the words of Bloomberg when I became mayor, ‘Don’t f*** it up,’” he added.

Mayor Adams has a message for NYC’s next mayor: ‘Don’t f— it up’ https://t.co/NpQwNtCZT0

— Gothamist (@Gothamist) October 1, 2025

Gothamist has more:

His remarks suggested a combative mood as he reckons with his final three months in office and the prospect of being succeeded by a left-leaning candidate who is ideologically opposed to him on many issues, particularly the role of police in public safety. The comments were also part of Adams’ larger attempt to redefine his legacy in office, which been plagued by scandal and allegations of corruption.

Adams ticked off several policies where he and Mamdani have differed, like the long-planned closure of Rikers Island and how to handle 911 calls involving people with mental health issues. Criminal justice advocates have repeatedly accused Adams of slow-walking the plan to close the troubled jail complex and replace it with borough-based jails.

Mamdani has publicly supported closing Rikers Island by the end of 2027, even though construction on the city’s new jails isn’t on track to be finished by then. He’s also said he would have mental health workers replace some of the work of police officers, which Adams says could endanger people.

Earlier this week, Adams posted a lengthy video to X announcing that he would abandon his re-election campaign.

“It’s been an honor to be your mayor,” Adams said.

“Only in America. Only in New York. Thank you for making my story a reality,” Adams wrote.

BREAKING: NYC Mayoral Candidate DROPS OUT Of Race

amNewYork shared further info:

The mayor said he is not confident that what he characterized as his strong record of success will be upheld under his likely successor, Democratic nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.

Adams went on to list policy positions that he associates with Mamdani, without actually naming the democratic socialist Assembly member. Among them, Adams named Mamdani’s pledges to reduce the population on Rikers Island, disband the NYPD’s controversial Strategic Response Group, and eliminate its gang database.

“I am not confident that New Yorkers are going to continue [to see] the success that we have witnessed,” Adams warned. “When you talk about safety, you have to be very clear and very focused, and I don’t see that clarity.”

He also took aim at Mamdani’s economic agenda, which calls for raising taxes on millionaires and corporations to fund expanded public programs; as well as the lawmaker’s comments that billionaires shouldn’t exist and that “richer and whiter neighborhoods” should face tax hikes.

“If you don’t have a welcome matt for businesses so that we have employment; if you’re not willing to sit down with billionaires, who pay 50% of our taxes, those who are a million plus; when you talk about taxing white communities; all of these things are hurting what it takes to have a successful city,” Adams said.