Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on WCBS-TV’s “CBS News NY at 5”

June 25, 2025

Dick Brennan: The Democratic primary in New York City often determines who the next mayor is, but this year the incumbent sat out the primary and will be on the ballot as an independent in November.

Jessica Moore: Mayor Adams joins us now live from City Hall. Good to see you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Eric Adams: Good to see you.

Moore: We saw the new Adams for Mayor ad start running online almost immediately after Cuomo said Mamdani had won last night. What's your reaction to last night's results? And I have to ask you if you feel a new momentum in your campaign today.

Mayor Adams: Well, I always have momentum. You know, I love being the mayor of the City of New York. I move around no matter what happens in the city. I have this huge smile because the city is moving forward. We are recovering and I have an opportunity to tell the story and I'm excited about that.

Brennan: Mr. Mayor, I know you've said that the left wing of the party comes out for primaries. Mamdani won the Democratic primary in a Democratic city, though. What does that say about his message and the future of the party?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think the message is affordability. And when people are dealing with affordability in this city, they are feeling it and that message would resonate. I know it personally. I know [what] it was, growing up with mom raising the six of us and every day was a struggle. And, being a working class mayor, I could identify with that.

The problem is when you give false promises, when you start talking about free buses, free supermarkets, free this, free that, and say that you're going to use a one percent increase in taxes for or increase in taxes for the one percent of New Yorkers.

Mayors don't have the authority to do that. Assemblymen have that authority. He is an assemblyman. He didn't do it in Albany. So why does he believe he's going to do it here when he becomes the mayor of the city?

Moore: Is this about a generational change? We know social media played a huge role in his win. Do you think you can win over some of those voters with moves like the one we saw last week where you sat down with Kai Cenat?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think that, you know, you're right. I think you're extremely accurate. And we have a great social media platform and campaign that we're going to produce because campaigning of yesteryears has changed. And any elected official that cannot evolve with the different ways of communication is going to fail.

I evolved in 2021 when there were new methods being used and we're going to continue to evolve. That is what we must do. And we're going to reach those younger voters, those middle aged voters and those extremely dependable older adults who vote.

Brennan: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mamdani is likely to raise questions about the corruption charges that were brought against you and then were dropped. And also maybe to try to link you to President Trump, who, by the way, is already posting about the race and about Mr. Mamdani. How will you respond to that?

Mayor Adams: By being honest to New Yorkers. Listen, I'm 65 years old. I don't know many 65 year old people who have not made bad choices, who have trusted people they should not have trusted. That is what life experience is.

So, you know, no, I'm not 33. I won't have a limited amount of exposure to people who have disappointed you. I never broke any laws. I never did anything inappropriate. And I fought for this city from my days as a cop, state senator, borough president and now the mayor. So whatever questions he has to ask me, I'm going to be transparent with New Yorkers.

The case was dismissed. I couldn't talk about it during the case, but I'm open to talk about it and answer any questions that's associated with it now.

Moore: I do want to go back to the President Trump factor, because it is a factor given the recent ICE raids. You have been criticized for your relationship with the president. But does that make you better suited to work with Washington? And will you seek President Trump's endorsement?

Mayor Adams: I worked so closely with the former administration, bringing President Biden here to the city when we were dealing with an overproliferation of guns. He sat down with the Police Department, appointed an ATF agent, brought money to do this fight. Working with presidents, that is what the mayor of the largest city in America is supposed to do.

So I'm not going to war with the White House. I'm going to work with the White House. We showed the success of that. We had a stop work order on a multi-billion dollar project in Sunset Park. We were able to show why it's important to do [it].

I'm not seeking the president's endorsement. I'm seeking the endorsement of everyday New Yorkers who know me. I'm a working class, familiar face in this city.

Brennan: Mr. Mayor, I have to ask about the race itself right now. It's Mamdani, possibly Cuomo, Walden, a few Democrats, one Republican, Sliwa. Just what is your political lane to victory with all those Democrats and Republicans on the ride already?

Mayor Adams: That's a great question. When you come to my off topics, sometimes you hear me say, this is going to be the most interesting campaign probably in the history of this city. Think about this for a moment. When people said that, Eric, “You're going to the independent line, it's not possible to win on the independent line.” They were using the stats that typically unknowns run on the independent line.

Two times, mayors ran on the independent line, Mayor Bloomberg, Mayor Lindsay. They won. Sitting mayors have the name recognition, the notoriety to get the job done. I said it over and over again. One candidate was running from his record. Another one did not have a record. I have a record and I'm going to share that record with New Yorkers.

Moore: No doubt you have the power of the incumbency. Mayor Eric Adams, thanks so much for spending a few minutes with us.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Take care.

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