Maya Wiley surges to 2nd in NYC mayoral race, takes aim at Eric Adams

EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) -- The former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio has leap frogged into second place in the latest poll in the race for New York mayor, and she's taking aim at frontrunner Eric Adams.

On Thursday afternoon, Maya Wiley called herself the clear progressive in the race for mayor.

And a new poll revealed her surging into second place behind Eric Adams after endorsements like the one Saturday from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Wiley today took aim at Adams, contrasting her message of cutting the police budget to Adams, who has focused so much on law-enforcement and crime-fighting.

"What differentiates me most from Eric Adams is that I have a plan to not go backwards to broken things that didn't work like stop and frisk," Wiley said.

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Adams has said stop, question and frisk can be effective if it's used the right way on someone suspected of carrying a gun.

Today, he attempted to finally put to rest the issue of where he lives, and the mayor helped.

"I just don't see an issue here. Clearly a New Yorker. Clearly a Brooklynite," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

After giving a tour of his home in Bedford Stuyvesant on Wednesday, Adams today released EZ Pass records showing he went to New Jersey to visit his girlfriend only seven times in the last year.

Yet Andrew Yang tried to keep the issue alive, claiming Adams lives mostly in New Jersey.

"And we're only having this conversation now is because no one is sure where Eric Adams lives," Yang said.

"The reason he doesn't know where I am, is because when COVID hit the city, he left the city," Adams said. "I was here. They know where I am."

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Adams has called himself a work-aholic.

During the pandemic, he even moved a mattress into his Borough Hall office.

"I'm a full-time, 7-day-a-week, 5:30 to 1 a.m. in the morning, on the ground for New Yorkers," he said.

Today, Adams also changed his mind and said he would join Thursday night's debate.

He'll need to be ready for plenty of attacks. Adams is the clear frontrunner in the race for mayor.

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