Adams earned the endorsement of Justin Yu, Chinatown’s district leader.
Photo by Shea Vance
Mayor Eric Adams made a stop at Confucius Plaza in Chinatown Friday afternoon for a campaign rally, where local leaders in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community endorsed the independent candidate and criticized Democratic candidate and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens).
Welcomed to the rally by Chinese dragon dancing, Adams thanked the crowd for their support and urged New Yorkers against voting for Mamdani, who is leading the mayoral race in most polls. Adams opened his remarks by chanting “Four more years” in Chinese with the crowd before quipping that he does not “need anyone to give me directions to come to Confucius Plaza, I’ve been here so many times before.”
“Many people who are running to be your mayor never came here before running to be mayor,” Adams said, continuing to push himself as the most local candidate in the race. “I am not just your mayor, I’m your brother.”
Adams was introduced to the microphone by Chinatown District Leader Justin Yu, who spoke against Mamdani’s democratic socialism and pointed to Adams as the “right choice” for New York City. Yu had endorsed City Comptroller Brad Lander, a political rival of Adams’, in the Democratic primary race against Mamdani and former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Lander cross-endorsed Mamdani, who went on to earn a sweeping victory against Cuomo.
“The people ask, ‘Why you don’t support Democrat primary winner?’ I say, ‘I support Democrats, I do not support socialist Democrats, or democratic socialists,’” Yu said before introducing Adams. “It’s very unfortunate the Democratic party select wrong candidate. And they say, ‘Why don’t you support another Democrat candidate?’ I say, ‘He lost in the primary, so we have only one Democrat candidate in the whole race: Eric Adams.’”
As Adams spoke in English, Yu translated to the crowd in Chinese.
“Your concerns are my concerns, your issues are my issues, your hopes are my hopes,” Adams said. “While others want to defund the police, I want to support the police. While others want criminals to come back on our streets and harm us, I want criminals to remain and serve their time in jail. While others want to take away your funding, I want to support your funding.”
After Adams made his remark about keeping criminals off the street, a passerby shouted, “You’re a criminal! You’re the only criminal here!”
Adams has focused much of his campaign messaging in recent weeks on his opposition to the movement to “defund the police” as he seeks to paint Mamdani as being soft on crime.
“I stood with you during COVID when others wanted to harm you,” Adams said, noting that he “stood with” the Asian community after the on-duty killing of NYPD officer Wenjian Liu in 2014 — the first killing of an Asian American NYPD officer in the city’s history. During the pandemic, cities across the United States saw a spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans. “I know you, you know me, and I want to be your mayor for four more years,” Adams told the crowd.
On his way to the campaign rally, Adams was greeted at his car by Malcolm Smith, a former state senator who was convicted in 2015 of federal corruption charges and sentenced to seven years in prison.
“We have a lot of work to do. The small number of people decided who won the primary, but the large number of New Yorkers will decide who will be the mayor for four more years,” Adams said. “Come out, register to vote, vote, let your voices be heard, and I thank you so much as we stand here in Confucius Plaza, drawing on his wisdom and knowledge to make the knowledgable decision on November of this year.”
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