Eric Adams kicks off general election mayoral campaign with Bill de Blasio endorsement
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Democratic nominee for mayor Eric Adams kicked off his general election campaign Monday flanked by dozens of elected officials and supporters.
And the launch came with a key endorsement.
Mayor Bill de Blasio made it official and announced his is supporting Adams to succeed him.
The mayor said he is throwing his support behind Adams because he believes in him, adding that he feels no one has been better prepared for the job of mayor.
He also said no one better understands what "working people" go through than Adams, the current Brooklyn Borough President.
"I'm going to work harder, intentional, determined," Adams said. "I'm going to give New Yorkers the spirit, that just as they get up every morning and fight for this city, you're going to have a mayor that's going to fight for you."
Adams said he's going to open a City Hall in every borough so he can get to know the communities in the city and the people who live there.
After the campaign kickoff, Adams said he is already working with de Blasio on the city's growing crime wave.
For example, he pushed for more officers on the subway and the mayor did exactly that.
"The same level of urgency that we showed on September 12 of 2001, we need to show the urgency right now and that is part of the conversation I've been having with him," Adams said.
Meanwhile, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa is laying out his plan to stop gang violence across the city.
"We need an improved, strengthened NYPD gang unit with one chief to operate in all five boroughs," he said.
He also called for 38,000 cops on the streets.
Sliwa said gangs are the enemies of society and that the first and only line of defense against them is the NYPD.
He said he wants to start a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and use its database to track down gang members.
Adams also said Monday that he may well be more aggressive than de Blasio on vaccination mandates. He said we're not there yet, but he could make vaccinations mandatory for certain businesses.
"I would be open, open based on the science and the numbers to tell my businesses you need to put in place a requirement, I am open to do that," Adams said.
Because Democrats outnumber Republicans in NYC, Adams is the odds-on favorite to win in November. If he wins, he will take office Jan. 1.
ALSO READ | NYC issues 'strong recommendation,' stops short of mask mandate
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