The National Action Network (NAN), with founder Rev. Al Sharpton playing host, held a mayoral forum last week that drew big-name candidates such as former Governor Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams.
The forum was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan from April 2 to 6, during NAN’s annual convention. The forum’s panel included Sharpton, former Congressmember Max Rose, and CEO and Executive Director at Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) Jennifer Jones Austin.
There were short Q&As with Cuomo, Adams, and other leading mayoral candidates, such as State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, City Comptroller Brad Lander, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, State Senator Jessica Ramos, State Senator Zellnor Myrie, and former Assemblymember Michael Blake on the main stage.
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“My administration would be about [what] my administration has always been about: diversity representing all New Yorkers and getting things done,” said Cuomo. “Remember what we did: raised the minimum wage to the highest in the United States of America, put money in people’s pockets, passed the best-paid family leave program in the [USA], passed marriage equality that said everybody’s love is the same and it went all across the nation.”
Cuomo scored a key endorsement from Reverend Dr. Kevin R. Johnson of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem over the weekend. Johnson is among about 50 other clergy endorsements Cuomo has received so far.
Former Congressmember Max Rose, Mayor Eric Adams, National Action Network (NAN) Founder Rev. Al Sharpton, and CEO and Executive Director at Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) Jennifer Jones Austin (l to r). Credit: (PHOTO CREDIT: Ariama C. Long) 
Former Congressmember Max Rose, City Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams, National Action Network (NAN) Founder Rev. Al Sharpton, and CEO and Executive Director at Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) Jennifer Jones Austin (l to r). Credit: (PHOTO CREDIT: Ariama C. Long) 
State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, a mayoral candidate, took questions from press before NAN’s mayoral forum on Thursday, April 3. Credit: (PHOTO CREDIT: Ariama C. Long) 
State Senator Jessica Ramos, a mayoral candidate, takes questions from press before NAN’s mayoral forum on Thursday, April 3. Credit: Ariama C. Long photo 
Former State Assemblymember Michael Blake, a mayoral candidate, takes questions from press before NAN’s mayoral forum on Thursday, April 3. Credit: (PHOTO CREDIT: Ariama C. Long)
For Mayor Adams, the forum was his first real campaign event since his federal charges were dismissed and he announced he’s running as an Independent and dropping out of the Democratic primary. He pushed back on the plan to “Close Rikers” as “flawed.” Instead, he proposed to create a state-of-the-art psychiatric facility to help people who are dealing with mental health issues.
“There isn’t a level of inconsistency in who I’ve always been, and we cannot allow the media to distort the record of who I’ve been. I fought against policing that was improper while a police officer. I navigated the crisis in Albany while I was in Albany,” said Adams. “I have been consistent. If you do an analysis of my commentary throughout the last 40 years, you’re not going to find anything that I’m saying now that I didn’t say then. I’m going to fight any White House that is not going to benefit our city.”
Speaker Adams spoke about protecting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the city level, pushing back against President Donald Trump; and highlighting issues like Black maternal mortality, expanding pre-K and 3-K childcare, and housing affordability.
“I prayed about it, because you all know I’m a woman of faith and I also got, as we say in the business, ‘incoming’ from a lot of elected officials and some non-elected officials and I was encouraged by my family as well to get out there and do something,” she said about why she is running. “The city needs a leader. The city needs something different. The city needs to go without trauma, without drama, without scandal, without corruption. The city needs something different.”
Lander recounted his record of growing pension funds that are managed by Black, Latino, Asian and women asset managers, and pushing the city to sue the federal government for taking $80 million in immigration funds out of the city’s bank account during his time as comptroller. He also said that he would convert four of the city’s municipally owned golf courses to 50,000 affordable housing units.
“I really love the job as comptroller — helping make sure we’re investing with more diverse asset managers, [creating] affordable housing, and auditing every city agency, but the city is broken right now,” said Lander about why he’s running. “It is not working for working people.”
Mamdani drilled down on making the city more affordable and safer by raising corporate tax rates and creating a new Department of Community Safety. “As the next leader of this city, I will make it clear to Donald Trump and the White House that New Yorkers are non-negotiable. I’m not willing to give up a single New Yorker,” Mamdani said. “I say that as we have ICE [immigration] agents pulling New Yorkers out of their own apartment buildings, pulling people off of the subway.”
Ramos spoke about quality of life issues in her community, homelessness, low wages and inflation, childcare, getting promised healthcare to retirees, affordability, and supporting Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs). “All I’ve done is fight poverty because I’m tired of my communities being so poor,” she said. “We work, we work, we work, but it doesn’t really amount to much in this economy, and City Hall plays a really big role in bridging that gap in income and inequality.”
Stringer also recounted his record as comptroller dealing with diversity in pension funds and advocating to end stop-and-frisk. His platform is focused on making the city more affordable by cutting childcare costs for working families. “The rent is too high, inflation is too high, and if we don’t start electing mayors who know what the hell they’re doing, we are all going to have to leave because the city needs real leadership that knows the city government.”
Myrie spoke from his recently released Black Agenda, which focuses on legislation he’s passed while in office, closing the racial wealth gap, public health and safety, economic development; universal 3-K/pre-K education, and afterschool for all programs.
“I plan to be a mayor that doesn’t just talk about it,” said Myrie, “but a mayor that’s actually about action.”
Wrapping up the forum, Blake passionately called out rampant anti-Blackness nationwide and vowed to combat it on a city level. His platform focused on building more affordable housing, making repairs to New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) infrastructure, changing the Area Median Income (AMI), and implementing a vacant apartment tax.
“We need a new generation of leadership,” said Blake. “We need to have someone who is serious about helping our people. As the only person in this race who can actually say that I have defeated Donald Trump, when I was the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee; as the only person in this race who can say that I have White House, state house, and local experience; as the only person in this race who can say right now that I have been a public servant and and I run my own small businesses, I am uniquely qualified for this moment.”