Yvette Clarke endorses Adrienne Adams for New York City mayor

Politico

2 days ago

NEW YORK — Rep. Yvette Clarke is endorsing Adrienne Adams as her top choice for New York City mayor, lending the City Council speaker a much-needed boost as she seeks traction in the final weeks of the campaign, POLITICO reports exclusively.
Clarke and her powerbroker mother Una Clarke are influential among Caribbean New Yorkers. They're also closely allied with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who recruited and endorsed Adams in a contentious primary that Andrew Cuomo is dominating.
Adams is a late entry into the race. She qualified only last week for public matching funds. And she's been polling behind Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, the surging Democratic socialist who's closing the gap with the former governor.
'Working families in Brooklyn and across this city deserve a mayor who puts people first — someone who leads with both strength and compassion, and who has the experience to make government work for everyone,' Clarke said in a statement. 'Speaker Adrienne Adams is ready on day one to partner with me and my colleagues in protecting New Yorkers from the harmful policies coming out of the White House.'
Clarke, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, said she will make Adams her No. 1 pick in the ranked choice primary June 24. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, another Brooklyn Democrat, also endorsed Adams but additionally backed Mamdani and progressive city Comptroller Brad Lander in April as a part of her slate. The incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, is forgoing the Democratic primary and will run in the general election as an independent candidate.
Clarke's nod comes as her political club, the Progressive Democrats Political Association, plans to endorse an unranked slate of candidates that includes Cuomo, though many members wanted to make Adrienne Adams their top choice, three people familiar with the decision told POLITICO.
The Brooklyn club, founded by Una Clarke, considered backing Adams first, followed by Lander, Cuomo, club member Zellnor Myrie and Mamdani — in that order. But amid deliberations about whether to rank the candidates and pressure from Cuomo's allies within the club, members instead plan to release a five-candidate slate that shows no preferential order, according to two people familiar with the process who were granted anonymity to speak freely.
Clarke's endorsement is one of the last from New York congressional delegation members in the primary.
She endorsed Maya Wiley in the 2021 primary for mayor.
The chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat of Manhattan and the Bronx, endorsed Cuomo last month. And the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus chair, Rep. Grace Meng of Queens, has yet to make her pick in the crowded primary.
The prized congressional endorsement among the primary's progressives is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has yet to announce her choices.