Eric Adams

Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician. Adams is the Mayor of New York City since 2022. He was the Borough President of Brooklyn, New York City. Before, he was a Democratic State Senator in the New York Senate, representing the 20th Senate District. On November 5, 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President, the first African-American to hold the position. Before becoming a politician, he was a police officer for the New York City Police Department for 22 years.
Early life
Adams was born in Brooklyn, on September 1, 1960. He graduated from Bayside High School in Queens in 1978. He worked as a mechanic and a mailroom clerk at the Brooklyn District Attorney's office. He studied at New York City College of Technology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Marist College. Adams was diagnosed with dyslexia while in college.
Police career
Before entering politics, Adams was a police officer in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for 22 years. He started in the New York City Transit Police. He co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an advocacy group for black police officers, and often spoke out against police brutality and racial profiling.
Brooklyn Borough President (2013-2021)
On November 5, 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President with 90.8 percent of the vote, more than any other candidate for borough president in New York City that year. In 2017, he was elected with 83.0 percent of the vote. In both of his campaigns, he was unopposed in the Democratic primaries.
Mayor of New York City (since 2022)
Campaign
In November 2020, Adams announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York City in the 2021 election. On July 6, Associated Press announced that he won the Democratic primary. Adams was elected mayor on November 2, 2021.
Adams supports cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. On November 4th, 2021, he tweeted that he wants to take his first three paychecks as Mayor in bitcoin, and that New York City would be "the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries." He also believes young students should be taught about cryptocurrency. He said "We must open our schools to teach the technology, to teach this new way of thinking when it comes down to paying for goods and services."
Tenure
Adams took office at midnight in Times Square on 1 January 2022, holding a picture of his late mother, Dorothy, while being sworn in. He became the city's second mayor of color to hold the position and the first since David Dinkins left office in 1993. On his first day in office, Adams rode the New York City Subway to City Hall. On the subway ride, Adams witnessed a street fight and called 9-1-1.
Eight days into Adam's tenure as Mayor, an apartment fire in the Bronx killed 17 people including eight children. New York City had an increase in crime during the first months of Adams's tenure as Mayor. Because of the increase of crime, President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland visited New York City and promised to work with Adams to crack down on homemade firearms, which lack traceable serial numbers and can be acquired without background checks. Adams has criticized the Black Lives Matter movement for not protesting against ongoing gun violence within the black community.
Later in February, Adams created a zero-tolerance policy for homeless people sleeping in subway cars or in subway stations. He told police officers, assisted by mental health professionals, to remove homeless people from the subway system and taking them to homeless shelters or mental health hospitals. This plan was controversial.
On April 11, 2022, Adams was diagnosed with COVID-19. While quarantined, a man shot 10 people on a Subway in Brooklyn.
Personal life
Adams has never been married, but has a son, Jordan Coleman, with former girlfriend Chrisena Coleman. Adams is currently in a relationship with Tracey Collins.
References
Other websites
Government website
Campaign website
New York State Senate profile (archived)
Healthy at Last: The Eric Adams Story, The Exam Room Podcast, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, September 24, 2020.
1960 births
Living people
African American politicians
Brooklyn borough presidents
American police officers
Democratic Party (United States) politicians
Mayors of New York City
People with dyslexia