Photo courtesy of The New Yorker.
Eric Adams is now the second Black man to be mayor of New York City. The newly-elected leader of the city won against his opponent, Curtis Silwa.
As a former NYPD captain and current Brooklyn borough president, Adams became well-known during the summer for his issues surrounding law enforcement – which led his campaign to soar in the Democratic primaries.
During his victory speech, Adams took the stage chanting rapper Jadakiss’ infamous song “The Champ is here” while thanking the city members for guiding him towards the win.
“It’s official — our five-borough, knock-every-door, reach-every-voter campaign was successful: We have won the race for Mayor of New York City,” Adams tweeted. “This is my dream come true, and I couldn’t be more proud to represent the City that we all love as your Mayor-elect.”
He received multiple attacks regarding his message on crime and his experience as a 22-year police veteran from Republican opponent, Silwa, who is the founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol.
Silwa congratulated Adams during his concession speech and vowed to set political parties aside to do what’s best for New York City.
“We have to coalesce to save this city,” Sliwa said after Adams was officially declared the winner.
New York senators, house representatives, and assembly members took to social media to congratulate the newly elected mayor of New York.
As Adams celebrates his victory, it’s important to keep in mind– the shoulders he stands on. David Dinkins was the city’s first Black mayor. He was elected in 1989 beating three-term incumbent Ed Koch. The former mayor even won against the disgraced politician and attorney Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani defeated the former mayor four years later.
Dinkins passed away last year in November at 93.
One of the most important issues Adams will tackle as mayor of New York is the ongoing fight against COVID-19. He vowed to lead the city in recovery efforts by keeping the city’s mask mandate in place along with mandatory vaccination procedures. Adams said he is an advocate of the vaccine mandate for city workers. “He also backs a vaccine mandate for school children if there’s full FDA approval and a recommendation from city health professionals.”
Adams will also focus on increasing public safety, improving the economy by creating additional city jobs, and implementing changes to the NYC schools to give black and brown children better resources for education.