Adrienne Adams, the City Council Speaker who recently entered the 2025 NYC mayor’s race, said on Wednesday that she is “confident” her campaign can quickly fundraise and amass support despite her late entrance into the crowded field.
The speaker is under pressure to raise money speedily and build momentum for her campaign just over three months before the June 24 Democratic primary.
“I’m really confident that my campaign is going to be able to raise money to have a strong operation that helps reach New Yorkers and win the race,” Speaker Adams told reporters during an unrelated March 12 news conference.
The moderate Black lawmaker launched her campaign last week with early support from elected officials, including Deputy Council Speaker Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan), state Sen. James Sanders Jr. (D-Queens), and Assembly Member Andrew Hevesi (D-Queens), among others. While she waved away the notion of building alliances with other Democratic candidates to take advantage of the city’s ranked-choice voting system, she insisted she can drum up support across the city.
“My candidacy stands alone. I have a clear path and a clear way that I want to get to this win,” she said. “Mine is going to be building a strong coalition between all of the boroughs.”
Speaker Adams is leaning heavily on her experience as a seasoned legislator who has represented a portion of voter-rich southeast Queens since 2017. She has served as council speaker since early 2022 and is term-limited at the end of this year.
The speaker is pitching herself as a competent leader who is not saddled by immense baggage like the current mayor, Eric Adams, or former Gov. Andrew Cuomo—the frontrunner in the race.
“There is a desire for steady leadership that works for New Yorkers and doesn’t come with the distractions or scandal,” she said. “I keep saying no distractions, no scandal, no nonsense.”
Speaker Adams has led the council for several years, during which time she and the mayor have clashed over a slew of issues. These include the mayor’s deep budget cuts, legislation requiring the NYPD to report on more low-level pedestrian stops, and the balance of power in City Hall.
When it comes to fundraising, the speaker said she expects to receive matching funds “in time” but expressed uncertainty about qualifying for public dollars by next Monday’s Campaign Finance Board filing deadline.
According to CFB records, she currently has $211,000 in her campaign account and will have to raise an additional $250,000 in small-dollar donations from 1,000 New York City residents to qualify for matching funds.
“As far as the Monday deadline is concerned, we’re not going to make any predictions, we’re not taking anything for granted either,” she said. “We’ve been aggressively fundraising for less than a week. So put that together.”
After showing virtually no interest in running for mayor during much of her tenure, Speaker Adams jumped into the race at the urging of Democratic heavyweights like state Attorney General Letitia James and the municipal employees’ District Council 37, amNewYork previously reported. They enlisted the speaker in the hope that her candidacy could block the mayor from winning re-election and, perhaps more realistically, Cuomo from taking his place.
