Eric Adams Says He's 'The Face Of The New Democratic Party,' But Fellow Candidates Remind Him The Race Isn't Over
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - New York's Democratic mayoral primary may still be up in the air, but Eric Adams has already proclaimed himself the new face of the party.
But others say not so fast, ranked choice voting hasn't kicked in yet.
As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reports, there are still tens of thousands of votes to be counted, but Eric Adams is talking like his victory in the Democratic mayoral primary is in the bag.
"I am the face of the new Democratic party," Adams said.
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With no small amount of bravado, Adams said that he did well in all five boroughs because his life story - a blue collar guy who has faced adversity and made mistakes - resonated here, and across the country.
He said if Democrats don't follow his example, they will lose the midterms and the presidency.
"America is saying we want to have justice and safety and end inequalities," Adams said.
Maya Wiley and Kathryn Garcia, the second and third place finishers, say they still have a path to victory. Garcia put out a long memo showing how she can prevail.
"The math is definitely there. Just to start with, we have more than 100,000 absentee ballots that we don't even know their first choice yet. That's 10%," Garcia said.
George Fontas, whose firm did polling in the race, points out that, according to research into ranked choice voting, Adams' current lead of nearly 10 points is hard to beat.
"When a candidate is leading by more than 5%, that candidate wins 98% of the time," Fontas said.
Which may be why Adams was talking about the NYPD and picking a woman commissioner. Although he didn't say who, he admitted he's already reached out to three with ideas of how to change the role of beat cops.
The top three women in the department are Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes, Brooklyn North Commanding Officer Judith Harrison, and Transportation Bureau Chief Kim Royster.
"I want to judge that beat cop on how many crimes they prevented, and I need a police commissioner that buys into that," Adams said.
If he wins the Democratic nomination, Adams has already defused one of the key issues of Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa.
Sliwa wants to make sure the city has no-kill animal shelters. Adams says he'll do the same.
