Eric Adams calls mayoral rival Andrew Yang’s campaign a ‘joke’

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The two leading New York City mayoral candidates got down and dirty Tuesday hurling personal insults at one another with just 21 days until the June 22 primary.

Eric Adams called rival Andrew Yang’s campaign a “joke” and said he should drop out of the race — prompting the entrepreneur and 2020 presidential candidate to fire back by calling the ex-cop Brooklyn borough president “business as usual.”

“Why’s he still in the race?” Adams wondered aloud at a press conference.

“It’s a joke, and it’s not funny anymore. I think that these are serious issues that we are facing and we are looking at,” Adams added.

“This is not a game. New York doesn’t need a cheerleader. They need a leader.” 

Adams also dismissed Yang’s view that much of the criticism of him not being a true New Yorker is driven by anti-Asian sentiment.

“He must understand that New Yorkers are saying, ‘Why didn’t you participate in any of the municipal elections? Why did you flee this city during our darkest hour?’” Adams said, referring to Yang’s move his family to upstate New Paltz during much of the pandemic.

“We don’t need a person that will run from the city. We need a person that’s going to run the city,” Adams said at Spofford Juvenile Justice in The Bronx, kicking off the final three weeks of campaigning and with early voting starting in just 11 days, on June 12.

“I don’t even know what he’s talking about,” Adams sniffed. “To try to make this into something that is not, that is a distraction.”

Yang, at a campaign event in Bensonhurst minutes later, shot back that Adams, a former state senator, would bring more of the failed status quo if elected.

“Everyone knows that I have not been climbing the greasy ladder of the city’s bureaucracy over the past years,” said Yang.

“Eric Adams is business as usual.”

Yang also tied the former NYPD captain to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has said positive things about Adams.

“Eric Adams knows that Mayor de Blasio is making calls for him right now trying to keep things the same,” he said.

“New Yorkers know we need something different,” Yang went on. “And think about all the favors Eric had to trade to get to this point, climbing the ladder over these last number of years, scheming about his run thinking like, ‘Oh this is going to be my big chance.’ Eric, your moment has passed.” 

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