The two women running to unseat Eric Adams in the 2025 NYC mayor’s race stirred the crowd at the National Action Network‘s annual convention on Thursday, drawing thunderous applause for their pledges to take New York in a new direction and fight President Trump at every turn.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and state Sen. Jessica Ramos, both representing opposite sides of Queens, stood out among the group of roughly a dozen candidates who spoke at the convention’s candidates’ forum. The conference is convened each year at the Midtown Manhattan Sheraton hotel by Rev. Al Sharpton.
Both Speaker Adams and Ramos roused the audience in a way that none of their male counterparts seemed to, even though both are lagging far in the polls behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, and the current mayor.
Speaker Adams spoke forcefully about why she made a late entry into the mayor’s race after previously showing little interest in running for the position. She said it was ultimately the departure of four of the mayor’s top deputies last month that pushed her into the race, along with nudges from other elected officials.
“The city needs a leader,” she said. “The city needs something different. The city needs to go without trauma, without drama, without scandal, without corruption. The city needs something different. And so I took a deep breath and believed in my God, and I jumped into this race.”
The speaker said she felt momentum for her candidacy that was a continuation of the enthusiasm among Black women for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign.
Speaker Adams also clearly distinguished between how she would approach Trump’s targeting of the city and how Mayor Adams has handled it thus far. She slammed the mayor for promoting a book written by Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, during remarks he gave after a judge dismissed his federal indictment on Wednesday.
Speaker Adams said we need “somebody who’s not afraid of Donald Trump, nor hawk his books.”
“We need somebody that’s not going to cower in a corner but will speak truth to power, real truth to power,” she added.
Ramos said that she also wants to take a strong stance against Trump by bringing a “gun to a gunfight.”
The state Senator first fired up the crowd by explaining her recently introduced legislation that would allow Gov. Kathy Hochul to withhold state and local taxes from Washington in retaliation for looming Trump administration funding cuts.
“If he is going to say that he’s not going to give us the money for transit, for infrastructure, Title One funding for our children with disabilities in public schools, if he’s not going to fully fund SNAP benefits, then you don’t need our money,” Ramos said, to applause and shouts of approval. “We should keep our money, re-appropriate it, and fill those holes that he thinks he’s gonna leave.”
Ramos said she would defend immigrants, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from attacks by the Trump administration.
She said she wants to “make sure we are playing hardball with the worst of Queens,” referring to Trump.
“That’s why I want you guys to lead with the best of Queens,” she said. “So that our children are proud of who’s occupying the halls of power because we have to get it together.”
