After weeks of anticipation, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams officially launched her campaign for mayor on International Women’s Day.
To celebrate the launch of her campaign, Adams held a press conference on Saturday, March 8, outside of her city council office, which is smack dab in the middle of Rochdale Village Shopping Center in Southeast Jamaica, Queens. Her campaign supporters were joined by locals and sorors from Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority, Inc.
The news about her decision to run was initially broken late Wednesday night on March 5. She is running for mayor against incumbent Eric Adams (no relation), former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and a slew of diverse candidates.
“I never planned to run for mayor, but I’m not giving up on New York City. Our city deserves a leader who serves its people first and always, not someone focused on themselves and their own political interests,” said Adams. “I’m a public servant, mother, Queens girl, and I’m running for mayor. No drama, no nonsense — just my commitment to leading with competence and integrity.”
The surrounding neighborhood of Rochdale Village, aka the “Jewel of Jamaica,” was developed under the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program to provide affordable housing for low- and middle-income families. It operates like a small town within the borough with its own malls, playgrounds, public safety department, power plant, daycare centers, schools, community center, senior center; and is run by a board of directors.
Southeast Jamaica is a sure voter base that Adams will lean on heavily to catch up on petitioning and fundraising in the mayoral race. This weekend, Adams began collecting petition signatures to get on the Democratic ballot. Green sheets for residents to sign were seen during the event and throughout the shopping center. To appear on the June ballot, candidates must collect 3,750 signatures from registered Democratic voters by April 3.
Councilmember Yusef Salaam hugged Speaker Adrienne Adams after officially endorsing her for Mayor on Saturday, March 8. 
Harlem Councilmember Yusef Salaam signed a petition while at a campaign launch for Speaker Adrienne Adams this past weekend. 
Supporters for City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams waved signs at her campaign launch in Rochdale Village on Saturday, March 8. Credit: PHOTO CREDIT: Ariama C. Long.
She also hopes to collect enough donations to participate in the city’s matching funds program.
Other challenges her campaign has to contend with will be name recognition, considering she and Mayor Adams have similar names, and the fact that New York City has never elected a woman for mayor despite many valiant attempts. But above all, the federal administration and President Donald Trump loom heavy over every mayoral candidate.
“The neighborhoods that New Yorkers call home may vary, but the problems and possibilities New Yorkers face are the same,” said Adams. “The trust in city hall and the focus on public service to New Yorkers has been weakened. Donald Trump’s corruption of our city’s independence is growing and every single day he is spreading chaos that is harmful to our city and families. New Yorkers are fed up, so it’s time for us to stand up.”
Adams was endorsed by a bevy of her colleagues, including Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, Majority Leader Amanda Farias, Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, Senator James Sanders, former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, former Councilmember I. Daneek Miller, and councilmembers Kevin Riley, Althea Stevens, Sandy Nurse, Chris Banks, and Yusef Salaam.
“The last time a Black woman ran a couple of months ago, we didn’t listen, and now we’re dealing with the consequences,” said Stevens at the conference. “If you’re ready for a leader that’s going to lead with integrity, that’s gonna lead with love, with compassion, that’s going to build bridges. That’s going to change this city. You want to vote for a Black woman.”
Salaam added that he was deeply moved to be working with Adams as a first time councilmember. Two of his Harlem colleagues, Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs and first-timer Jordan Wright, opted to endorse Cuomo in the mayoral race.
“Right now we’re at a critical moment in our city,” said Salaam. “We deserve to have a mayor who is completely dedicated to making New Yorkers’ lives better. Adrienne is that person, proving that she gets results and addresses the issues of importance to our communities. From confronting maternal mortality to increasing affordable housing, our city and its people are always her north star. I truly believe she will continue that path as our next mayor.”
Adams was born and raised in Hollis, Queens by union-working parents. She attended Bayside High School, and briefly York College at the same time as her father before transferring to Spelman College in Atlanta. She said her career has included being a flight attendant and a corporate trainer. She joined Community Board 12 and became an advocate later in life, fighting for equity in education and more resources for schools.
“Where I’m from is who I am; Adrienne, from Queens,” she said to a packed crowd.
She reiterated that she didn’t intend to run for elected office, but ran and won in 2017. She became the first woman to represent District 28 in Queens. In 2022, she was elected by city council to be the first Black speaker and lead the most diverse and first-ever, women-majority council in city history.
Adrienne Adams has totally abandoned NYC Municipal retirees. As City Council speaker she has been willing to sit back and let our long established right to health care be taken from us.
She will never get my vote!!
Adrianne Adams has totally turned her back on NYC RETIREES in keeping their traditional Medicare and supplement ins They worked for and was promised to keep in their retirement She has blocked legislation that would help insurance them keeping their health care insurance in retirement and has strongly told other council members not to back retirees legislation either
She has turn her back on NYC RETIREES WHO HELPED BUILD THIS CITY She will never get their vote or support Because Council SPEACKER doesn’t care about elderly or dosabled retirees of the city of New York
She has refused to help retirees keep traditional Medicare. Remember, retirees vote in large numbers, we don’t forget
Adrianne Adams is owned by DC37 Gariddo who sold out NYC Medicare Retirees Healthcare.She has blocked intro bill 1096 Protection of NYC Medicare Retirees earned promised healthcare.She has also led a NYC Council that has given illegal immigrant’s a NYCID card to get benefits she is denying NYC Medicare Retirees.
Adrienne Adams is a supporter of Project2025. She is allowing 250,000 elderly and disabled NYC retirees to be pushed into a for profit Medicare advantage plan rather than support a bill (intro 1096) which would prevent that from happening. I thought Democrats were against Project2025?
Beware!
” Adrienne from Queens” is catchy but a signal of being the recognizable girl from the block ? Maybe not so much. Certainly, many NYC Municipal Retirees, girls and boys from Queens, all the City boroughs, and beyond know that the Council Speaker is no supporter of traditional Medicare protections through Intro 1096, will not allow discussion in Council, seemingly will not respond when questioned or solicited for a meeting on this issue and is no friend of the people who worked this city and the contracts under which they worked. Instead of helping preserve quality living for NYC Retirees, the Speaker with her like minded partners sends us into repeated and expensive court battles to protect ourselves.
She dropped her last name to separate herself from the current mayor, but in truth, she is as dirty as he is. She is in the pocket of powerful unions who turned against their own members by trying to push us into an inferior Medicare Advantage Plan. There’s a reason we retirees call them the Adams Twins. Since old people are the largest demographic who actually go out and vote…. look out!