During a press briefing on Monday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D-NY) spoke about his campaigning strategies compared to other mayoral candidates.
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00:00So last week you had made comments to Jewish leaders that there is an anti-semitic candidate in the mayoral race.
00:06Who are you referring to and why do you believe they're an anti-semi?
00:09And then secondly, yesterday, I know you're not out on the campaign trail yet,
00:13but a lot of the candidates for mayor stood together.
00:15Even Republican Carlos Silva stood with the Democratic potential nominees
00:20and they called out former Governor Cuomo for his handling of the nursing homes.
00:24Do you believe that Governor Cuomo handled the nursing homes properly during the pandemic?
00:29Okay, so first we need to get—we need to be clear on the record.
00:33You keep saying you're not on the campaign trail.
00:38Like, where do I get this definition from?
00:40Is there a Webster definition of what being on the campaign trail is?
00:44I was in the church yesterday talking to voters.
00:47I'm out in the streets all the time talking to voters.
00:51And so I'm going to continue.
00:53I know what I'm doing.
00:56I ran for Senate in one.
00:58I ran for board president in one.
01:00I ran for mayor in one.
01:01I know what I'm doing.
01:03And so let's get this off the conversation before Fabian goes crazy.
01:08I'm on the trail.
01:10I know how to campaign.
01:12And I know how to also run the city.
01:14I still got to run the city.
01:16A lot of those other folks who are running, they don't have day jobs.
01:19And, you know, when you look at how Governor Cuomo is running,
01:23former Governor Cuomo is running, he's in this bubble.
01:25You can't even get near him.
01:27He's not doing this.
01:28You can't even get near him.
01:30He controls walking in.
01:32He controls walking out.
01:34He's not answering questions from you.
01:36And does that make him on the campaign trail?
01:39Is he on the campaign trail?
01:41When was the last time you did a campaign event that wasn't involved with the city?
01:46I know you're using the bully pulpit, you're the mayor, you're obviously incumbent.
01:49But when is the last time you did an actual campaign?
01:52Every day that I'm in the street, I'm the incumbent, folks.
01:56I mean, why aren't we understanding that?
01:58When you're an incumbent, you want to reserve your resources.
02:03You want to stay focused on your job.
02:05Because my victory is going to be showing my record of how I brought this city back.
02:11That's a whole different scenario.
02:13I didn't have a record to run under.
02:15I have a record to run under.
02:17Those other guys don't have a record to run under.
02:19I have a solid record of housing, public safety, affordability.
02:24And so we're going to, you know, stay focused on that.
02:28And, again, I'm, like, bursting with excitement.
02:33Do you guys miss me out there?
02:35Like, what's the story?
02:38Do y'all miss me out there?
02:40But, listen, let's hold everybody to the same standard.
02:43How come you guys are not critiquing the fact that a governor who's supposed to be the front-runner in this race is having this controlled environment?
02:53OK.
02:54Well, you know, I don't read the papers.
02:57No, but, listen, we know what we're doing.
03:00This is strategic, and we need to be focused on that.
03:05Look at the other candidates, you know.
03:08How they run their race is up to them.
03:10I have a good, solid, strategic team who got me here, and we know what we're doing.
03:17You have to reserve your strength, and the excitement is going to happen.
03:21This is going to have so many twists and turns.
03:23I keep telling y'all it's going to be so many twists and turns to this race that I think this is going to be one of the most exciting races we had in the history of this city, you know.
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