Trump Admin Discussing Job For Adams If He Drops Out Of NYC Mayor's Race

NEW YORK CITY — Advisers to President Donald Trump are in talks about possibly giving Eric Adams a job in his administration if he drops out of the crowded race for New York City mayor, according to a New York Times report citing three people with knowledge of the discussions.

The conversations have also involved finding a place in the Trump administration for Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, the Times reported.

While it's unclear what positions Adams and Sliwa would be given or if the talks will amount to anything, the goal is to give former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a better chance to defeat Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani, according to the Times.

As of Wednesday, several polls show Mamdani maintaining a significant lead over his fellow candidates. The most recent by American Pulse Research & Polling shows Mamdani with a 12-point lead over Cuomo, with 37 percent saying they would vote for Mamdani compared to 25 percent for Cuomo.

Sliwa was in third at 17 percent, followed by Adams with 11 percent, according to the poll.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker and democratic socialist, is the Democratic nominee after upsetting former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary. Cuomo, who resigned as governor four years ago after sexual harassment allegations, is running as an independent.

Meanwhile, Adams, wounded by a federal bribery case and the Trump administration’s extraordinary intervention to drop the charges, skipped the primary altogether and is instead campaigning for a second term as an independent.

Sliwa, the colorful creator of New York City's Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol group, ran for mayor four years ago and wound up losing to Adams by almost 40 percentage points.

“Zohran obviously is very unique. He's way to the left, but then again, Cuomo and Adams, listen to the way they talk. They're Zohran-lite," Sliwa told The Associated Press. “I will be the alternative.”

While the city’s Democratic primary race used ranked choice voting — allowing voters’ second, third, fourth and even fifth preferences to be counted if their favorite candidate doesn’t secure enough votes — that’s not the case in the general election. That means the person with the most votes on Election Day will be the new mayor.

When contacted by The New York Times, the White House declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Adams told the Times that he had not spoken with the president about a position.

“Mayor Adams is a lifelong New Yorker who has dedicated his entire career to this city, and he intends to continue that work for another four years as mayor,” Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.