Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams is the frontrunner in the election for New York City’s next mayor.  

Voters in the city will head to the polls Tuesday to pick between Adams and a slew of other candidates. But Adams, a former police officer who has received support and endorsements from New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is slated to emerge victoriously.  

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Adams joins Black News Tonight with Marc Lamont Hill to discuss why he should be the next mayor and major concerns affecting New York City he plans to address if elected.  

He has referred to himself as “The People’s Candidate” throughout his campaign. Born and raised in Jamaica, Queens, by a single mother raising six kids, Adams believes his story is like many others. After becoming a police officer, he founded the organization 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care and made efforts to change policing from the inside.  

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Ahead of Election Day, Adams said he’s feeling steady as he has during the campaign trail. “[It’s] the same steadiness I had when I announced the run. It’s the steadiness I feel after the primary going into the general election,” he said.  

When asked about the top three issues facing New Yorkers at the moment, Adams said they are public safety and justice, education and the economy.  

Public Safety 

On the topic of public safety and justice, Adams said it is the “prerequisite to prosperity.” Many residents in the city remain concerned about the New York Police Department and Adams said the ecosystem of public safety has not been “properly defined” in the city. “Public safety must include our young people. It must include those clergy and religious leaders. It must include our crisis management team, our mental health professionals,” he said. “So what I’m going to do is bring a new ecosystem of public safety and ensure that we have a combination where all voices are being heard.”  

Education 

New York City’s school district is the largest in the country, but Adams thinks Black, Brown and poor people have been abandoned by the school system. “When you look at Rykers Island, our jail, 80% of the men and women there don’t have a high school diploma or an equivalency and 55% have a learning disability,” he said. “So the crime is not only what happens on our streets but what’s happening in our educational facilities every day.”  

Economy 

Adams also wants to build the economy and focus on raising employment rates. “We must get people employed and working,” he said. “I must build the economy and really end the inequalities we’re really seeing in this city every day.”  

COVID-19 also remains a huge concern for the city as first responders, including firefighters, protest vaccine mandates. Adams said the vaccine is the “most potent weapon against COVID.” He also said he would have handled it differently than current mayor Bill de Blasio by speaking directly to unions, but he agrees the public needs to be vaccinated to fight the virus.  

Adams believes major cities in the United States have betrayed people and he’s ready to be mayor and prevent tragedies from impacting the city’s Black, Brown and poor communities.