Eric Adams, raised in South Jamaica, Queens, is a lifelong New Yorker and the son of a DC 37 member.

At age 15, he was beaten by police in the basement of a precinct house. Instead of giving into anger, Adams steeled himself to reform the NYPD from the inside.

In 1984, after graduating second in his class from the Police Academy Adams served in the New York Transit Police and the NYPD from 1984 until 2006, rising to Captain. He remains an outspoken activist against police brutality and for criminal justice reform. He also was president of the Grand Council of Guardians and co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.

In 2006, Adams was elected to the New York State Senate representing the 20th District in Brooklyn, and then elected Brooklyn Borough President in 2013, where he has served the people of Brooklyn ever since.

With his decades of experience as a progressive activist and his extensive legislative and executive experience, Adams has proven to be the leader who can guide New York City’s recovery from the pandemic and move the city to a stronger, more equitable and dynamic future.

“This is a city made up of workers,” Adams said. “This is not a startup. This is a city where you have to have been a worker. I am you. We need a blue-collar mayor to run a blue-collar city.”

Adams envisions a future of building an inclusive economy to benefit all New Yorkers. His goals as mayor include a fair and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has struck the city’s communities of color the hardest. 

As mayor, Adams seeks government reform, believing that the inefficiency and inequality intertwine, leading to injustice. His plan is to re-envision the way in which the city’s programs and services deliver effectively to those who need help most. 

He believes that the path to recovery begins with introducing policies of direct assistance to communities hardest hit by the pandemic. This agenda includes building a stronger safety net with direct cash assistance to struggling New Yorkers, providing subsidized or free child care, and developing an extensive job placement plan.

His plans to revitalize the city and reduce unemployment include significant investments in “green jobs,” including work in retrofitting the city’s buildings; renewable energy production, such as wind power; and additional incentives to improve infrastructure and change the city’s land use policies.

To ensure success, Adams will work to reform the New York City public school system. His goal is to end the systemic inequality within the system by expanding school and instruction options, providing universal access to online and in-person instruction, and focus on growing a generation of students prepared to take on the challenges of a new, vibrant community.

Essential to this plan is to improve New York City’s health care system. COVID-19 exposed the inequality in the delivery of health care services, particularly in communities of color and new immigrants, that suffered the most during the pandemic.

Adams will fight for a major overhaul of the City’s health care by forming a unified hospital network citywide and expanding and improving preventative care and wellness programs to close the vast racial gaps in health services.

Adams also seeks to expand affordable housing, emphasizing infrastructure and jobs to support communities where new developments are built.

As a veteran of the NYPD and activist against police brutality, Adams believes in reforming the city’s police force, including civilianization of more positions, and training police officers to balance community relations while fighting rising crime.

As a longtime friend of the union, DC 37 counted on Adams for his support during the pandemic when many DC 37 essential workers were unable, and in some cases not allowed by managers, to have PPE while on the job. Adams worked tirelessly, meeting with union officials and activists to help coordinate and meet their immediate needs for help to protect the city’s essential public workers in the early weeks of the crisis.

Adams has proven time and again that he’s not only the first choice, but also the best choice for the job. DC 37 is proud to endorse Eric Adams for mayor.