Adrienne Adams delivered her final State of the City address as Council speaker on Tuesday — focusing on the kind of leadership she believes the Big Apple needs now as she appears ready to launch a bid for mayor.
The speaker used her roughly 45-minute annual speech, which she delivered at Jazz at Lincoln Center on March 4, to tout her record leading the city legislature since 2022 and tee up her likely mayoral campaign. She insisted the city desperately needs a leader who can take on President Donald Trump, something she has made clear she does not think Mayor Eric Adams is equipped to do.
Speaker Adams, the first Black woman to hold the position, sounded most like a mayoral candidate during the closing moments of her speech, when she spoke to the need for standing up to Trump.
“This is how we show New Yorkers and the nation, what the land of the free and the home of the brave truly, truly looks like,” the speaker said. “We are the land of the free, free to love whom you want to love, and the home of the brave, brave enough to stand up against those that want to steal our democracy.”
During her address, the speaker repeatedly emphasized her governing philosophy: not letting political disagreements stand in the way of working together to find policy solutions for the city’s most pressing issues.
“Throughout my time in office, I’ve been labeled as a ‘moderate’ in people’s attempt to make sense of who I am,” the speaker said. “How we gauge policy solutions should be based on their effectiveness in improving the lives of New Yorkers. We can find common ground if we choose to listen and work towards solutions together. That’s how I’ve led, and how we’ve successfully responded to some of our city’s greatest challenges.”
Mayor no-shows speech
Notably, the mayor did not attend the event, as he had in years past. City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said the mayor skipped the event so he can travel to Washington, DC, to testify before Congress on Wednesday — without explaining why he needs to leave more than a day before.
The mayor’s apparent snub comes after the speaker urged him to resign after Trump’s Justice Department moved to drop his federal corruption case.
Near the end of her speech, the speaker appeared to blast Mayor Adams, without mentioning him by name.
“New York City is bigger than one person, and our city deserves leadership that prioritizes its people over individual glory or interests,” she said. “We need solutions more than slogans, service rather than saviors, and partnership over patriarchy.”
Touting accomplishments
By employing her approach to governing, the speaker argued the council has produced real results without much collaboration from the mayor’s side of City Hall. Those results include greenlighting rezonings that promise to net over 120,000 units of new housing, expanding the number of New Yorkers covered by the city’s Fair Fares half-priced Metro Card program, and advancing a guaranteed income pilot program for low-income New Yorkers.
City Council Member Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), a long-time public official, said Speaker Adams has “superb management skills” and governs “fairly and equitably.”
“[As] this administration has struggled, the City Council, under Speaker Adams’ leadership, has fought for and delivered the funding and services that our communities need,” Brewer said. “That mission envisions a city that listens to its residents, including those whose voices are not heard.”
Over the past three years, the council has repeatedly clashed with the mayor over myriad policy and political disagreements such as legislation to expand access to housing vouchers and to require the NYPD to report more information on low-level pedestrian stops — both of which were advanced over the mayor’s vetoes.
The speaker also pledged to defend the city’s immigrant communities amid Trump’s push to round up and deport undocumented newcomers. Her stance differs from Mayor Adams, who has agreed to work with Trump on immigration enforcement, especially when it comes to those accused of committing violent crimes.
“Now more than ever, we must protect our city’s immigrant families so that New York City can remain a place of opportunity,” she said.
Speaker Adams also made new commitments in the speech.
The speaker unveiled plans for the council to add seven-day service to 10 more library branches across the city. The proposal appeared to respond to the mayor’s repeated budget cuts to the city’s three public library systems in past years — although there are no new proposed library cuts on the table this year.
She also announced legislation that would require the administration to pay nonprofits contracted to provide city services in a more timely fashion. The bill is aimed at addressing chronic months-long delays in the city’s payments to nonprofits, which has reportedly led some organizations to take on debt and others to consider layoffs.
Possible mayoral bid
Although Speaker Adams said she began laying the groundwork for a potential run last week, she still has not made a final decision on whether to jump into the race. She has established a campaign committee with the city Campaign Finance Board, begun collecting petition signatures, and has had endorsement meetings with stakeholders including the building service workers union 32BJ SEIU.
The speaker’s likely candidacy could serve as a powerful counterweight to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the frontrunner in the Democratic mayoral primary — after announcing his own campaign over the weekend.
As a centrist Black politician who represents a high-turnout section of Queens, Speaker Adams’ attributes could make her a formidable challenger to both Cuomo and Mayor Adams.
The speaker was encouraged to jump into the contest by powerful pols and groups, including state Attorney General Letitia James and leaders of the union District Council 37, to be a candidate who could credibly take on Cuomo. The former governor has entered the race leading in several public polls and is quickly amassing a list of notable endorsements.
