For Eric Adams, Steady Wins the Race

Eric Adams, now a front-runner in the New York mayor’s race, has called himself “the poster child of endurance.” He is not nearly as flamboyant as his predecessor as Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, who installed “Fuhgeddaboudit” signs on highways and stood on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge during the 2003 blackout yelling into a megaphone, “Welcome home to Brooklyn!”

But in his nearly eight years as Brooklyn’s chief promoter, Eric Adams, 60, has been there with the community. Adams has tirelessly attended lavish fundraisers and rebbishe chasunahs, hosted Chanukah parties and thank-you press conferences, distributed food before Pesach, purchased a shofar before Rosh Hashanah, and extended Purim greetings.

In all, Adams courted New York City’s Orthodox community more than perhaps any of the other candidates for mayor. He was therefore mystified when a group representing every major yeshivah in Boro Park, as well as Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, threw support behind Andrew Yang, a newcomer to city politics.

An NYPD cop for 22 years, Adams has gone through more than one metamorphosis in his public life. Thirty years ago he was a flamethrower who said things that were borderline anti-Semitic and black supremacist. During the Giuliani years, he registered as a Republican, then became a mainstream Democrat. He worked his way up through the political system, starting off as a state senator faithful to the party line; his loyalty was rewarded in 2013 when the field was cleared for him to become borough president with nary an opponent.