Donovan Richards (left) and Eric Adams (twitter)
May 3, 2021 By Ryan Songalia
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has endorsed Eric Adams in the race to be mayor—backing the only candidate in the mayoral contest who is a borough president.
Richards, who is deep in his own reelection campaign, gave a vote of confidence to Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President, calling him the “steady hand we need” to run the city.
“The only way to bounce back properly is to have leadership we can trust. Eric is consistent and his positions don’t change for political convenience,” Richards said.
Though Adams has represented Brooklyn as Borough President and in the State Senate, he grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, and graduated from Bayside High School.
Adams has now racked up 21 endorsements from Queens elected officials. He has earned the support of Queens City Council members Francisco Moya, Daneek Miller, Adrienne Adams, Selvena Brooks-Powers and Peter Koo, plus State Senators Joseph Addabbo and James Sanders and Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato, among others.
The endorsement comes as Adams has closed the gap on front-runner Andrew Yang in the latest Democratic primary poll. Adams pulled in 20 percent of support in the first round of the ranked-choice simulation, six points behind Yang.
The poll, conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group from April 16-21, came before a sexual assault allegation was made against City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who placed third at 12 percent.
Stringer has denied the allegation, but the backlash has cost him many endorsements from Queens officials, including State Senator Jessica Ramos, Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz and City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer. They rescinded their endorsements of Stringer late last week.
Adams has now earned the support of two borough presidents, with the other coming from the Ruben Diaz Jr. from the Bronx.
“Brooklyn is where I live, but Queens will always be home to me — so this endorsement from Borough President Richards is very meaningful,” Adams said.
