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All the federal corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams were formally dropped “with prejudice” on Wednesday, meaning he is now in the clear to ramp up his run for a second term in Gracie Mansion. Then, Adams dropped the bombshell on Thursday when he announced he is bypassing the Democratic nomination entirely and will run as an independent. Adams was lagging behind several challengers in the polls, including former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who seemed to be the presumptive front-runner; will the Adams change in affiliation shake up his outlook with the voters? Hank Sheinkopf is a longtime Democratic consultant; he appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to provide his analysis of the race- and it isn’t good news for Cuomo.
Sheinkopf told host Larry Mendte that Cuomo’s campaign takes a serious hit from the news: “Some of the presumptions that the Cuomo operation has that this is a coronation are now false. Number two, he’ll be ripped apart by the left in the primary, which will make his life a lot more difficult. And three, everything that he’s done with respect to criminal justice, when you compare it to the extraordinary crime-reduction numbers that (NYPD) Commissioner Tisch has been able to deliver to the Adams administration, will now become a public discussion, so Andrew Cuomo has got a lot to worry about.”
Mayor Adams, however, can now focus on running his campaign, which Sheinkopf says he can use to remind voters why they voted for him in the first place: “Because now, with the case gone, he can actually talk about things that have occurred. He can do a smart campaign and say, look, I made some mistakes, but here are the things I didn’t make mistakes on… I’ve done the best I could, and I need your help to continue- that’s a pretty good argument.”
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