NYC Mayoral Debate 2025: Live Updates, Video and Analysis

Mr. Adams, a Democrat, announced in April that he would drop out of the Democratic primary and run in the general election in November as an independent. His announcement came one day after a judge dismissed his five-count federal corruption indictment after President Trump’s Justice Department abandoned his prosecution.

Mr. Adams said the indictment had made it difficult for him to run in the primary. Political observers noted that the mayor’s embrace of Mr. Trump and his policies would likely put off Democratic voters.

So what will the mayor be doing while his rivals are slugging it out on the debate stage?

“I’m going to be doing what I’ve been doing for three years and five months and three days. I’m going to be running the city of New York,” Mr. Adams said at a news conference on Tuesday. “They are running for my office. I’m running the city.”

Despite record-low approval ratings and nearly standing trial on corruption charges, the mayor has said he is confident in his chances of being re-elected. Tuesday’s news conference was about a drop in crime and the seizure of illegal guns. The mayor has also been trumpeting the plan he pushed through to begin the containerization of trash.

November’s general election is shaping up to be the first competitive one for mayor since 2009, when William C. Thompson Jr., the former comptroller and that year’s Democratic nominee, came surprisingly close to defeating Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Because Democrats greatly outnumber Republicans in New York City, the winner of the Democratic primary often becomes the favorite in the general election.

This year, the winner will face off against Mr. Adams; Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate; and Jim Walden, a lawyer who is running as an independent.

The Working Families Party, which has unveiled an all-out effort to defeat former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in the primary, is also likely to run a candidate on its line if he wins the Democratic nomination. Mr. Cuomo, the front-runner, may also run on an independent ballot line called Fight and Deliver, regardless of whether he wins the primary.

Perhaps in preparation for the November election, Mr. Adams has started frequently criticizing Mr. Cuomo for his policies while governor. “Listen, he was the one that passed bail reform,” Mr. Adams said Wednesday during an interview with the radio personality Miss Jones. “He was the one that passed the cannabis law that was flawed and we had to go back and fix it.”

Miss Jones wanted to know how Mr. Adams would handle having his “opponents on TV basically nit-picking and finding everything wrong” with his policies without being there to defend himself.

“That’s a great question,” Mr. Adams said. “You know, the campaign intensifies for me after the primary.”