Mayor Eric Adams threw his support behind Letitia James on Sunday in her reelection bid for State Attorney General.
Adams’ support for James comes after the mayor dined with disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was rumored to be considering a run for AG, but the former head-of-state’s team said he isn’t interested in the state’s top prosecutor’s office.
“Attorney General Letitia James has distinguished herself nationally through her successful fights for justice, but she never lost the get stuff done attitude that embodies her hometown Brooklyn,” said Adams in a statement on Feb. 13.
Hizzoner cited James’s fight against pharmaceutical giants over the state’s opioid epidemic and her prosecutions against gun makers as reasons for his support of the fellow Democrat from Brooklyn.
“She has the courage and experience to stand up to anyone who breaks the law and harms vulnerable people, no matter how powerful they may be,” so Adams. “I am proud to endorse Attorney General James for re-election and urge all New Yorkers to join me supporting our champion for justice.”
James decided to run again for her current seat after dropping out of the governor’s race in December.
Cuomo has been eyeing a political comeback after he resigned in August due to mounting sexual harassment allegations by 11 women detailed in an explosive investigation by James’s office.
The former governor denied any wrongdoing.
He told Bloomberg that he felt “vindicated” after five district attorneys in the state decided not to prosecute him, even though four of them said in public statements that the allegations were credible.
Adams was caught having dinner with Cuomo at a Midtown restaurant on Feb. 1, reported Page Six, and the mayor defended the meeting saying they talked about “governance not politics.”
Longtime Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told the Daily News Thursday that the former governor did not intend to run for AG, a seat he previously held before he was elected governor in 2010.
Cuomo is still sitting on more than $16 million in campaign cash, but James has been consolidating critical supporters in New York’s political scene, including most recently getting the endorsements from two influential unions last week, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and 32BJ SEIU.
