Eric Adams Has Warm Words for Mamdani — Recalls ‘Great Conversation’ With Rival at Dinner

New York City mayor Eric Adams had some kind words for his opponent Zohran Mamdani on Friday, telling an interviewer he had dinner with Mamdani and his father and had “a great conversation.”

The current mayor and candidate for the 2025 New York City mayoral election sat down with Nayeema Raza on her podcast Smart Girl Dumb Questions to discuss, among other topics, Adams’s feelings towards his campaign opponents.

When asked by Raza if he would rather be stuck in an elevator with Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo, or Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, Adams answered, “Probably Mamdani.”

“We had dinner together. We had a good conversation,” he said.

“When did you have dinner,” asked Raza.

“I met him in Albany while he was in the assembly and I was always interested in what Africa was like under Idi Amin and how Idi Amin purged many of the Indians who were there,” said Adams. “And it always fascinated me when I read the stories growing up. And there was a movie about Idi Amin. And when I learned that he was from Uganda and who his dad was, I said, you know, ‘I would love to have dinner with you and your dad and just, you know.'”

When asked if Mamdani actually brought his father, Adams said, “Yeah he did. His dad came. He came. We had a great conversation. You know, you could disagree without being disagreeable. You know, we just philosophically disagree. I think his policies are hurtful. I think they’re not fully flushed out and they don’t understand ramification. But I’m not saying that I dislike a person.”

“Would you have a drink with Mamdani again?” Raza asked later on.

“Definitely, definitely,” said Adams.

Further into the interview, Adams told Raza that his own staff is attempting to use Mamdani’s social media campaigning strategies in Adams’s general election run.

“He was never a candidate. He was the social media influencer. He wasn’t a candidate. When I ran and won in 2021, at my victory speech I said ‘social media does not win an election. People on Social Security win elections,'” said Adams. “That was flipped upside down. He did an amazing job of the– this time that we’re in. People don’t look at, really read full body. They read headlines.”

“But he goes out, he meets with communities. He’s doing the thing. I mean, isn’t that was campaigning is and like social media is just part of it?” asked Raza.

Adams said, “Everybody went out and meet with people. What made his name seem to be almost omnipresent? It was a well-run social media campaign.”

“Are you trying to do that?” asked Raza.

“This is what I’m trying to do: I’m trying to utilize that mechanism that my experts are now assisting me with to get my story out,” said the mayor.

Adams, who has served as the Democratic mayor of New York City since 2022, will run in the general election this November as an independent following his indictment on federal corruption charges, which were later dropped by President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice. He faces Mamdani, who is running as a Democratic nominee, as well as  Cuomo — who’s also running as an independent– and Sliwa, the GOP nominee.