The plan, according to reports by The New York Times and Politico on Friday, is aimed at convincing Adams to drop out of the mayoral race in November to help defeat left-leaning Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. Adams, who was first elected as a Democrat, has been running in the mayoral race as an independent. His popularity has tanked amid allegations that he coordinated with the Trump administration to alleviate his legal woes. Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, took a surprise victory in the city’s Democratic primary in July, defeating favorite Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor of New York. A victory in the Democratic primary is considered the clearest path to victory in the race to lead the left-leaning city.

Cuomo has stayed in the race and is running as an independent, but his support base is seen as overlapping with Adams’s. While President Donald Trump has had a contentious relationship with Cuomo in the past, he is considered the preferred candidate by his administration. The New York Times reported on Friday that Adams has been meeting regularly with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has been pushing the possible diplomatic position. It remained unclear how involved Trump has been in the process, the newspaper reported. Adams has publicly said that he plans to stay in the race. The mayor of the US’s largest city, with a population of nearly 8.5 million people, has been accused of cooperating with Trump’s deportation drive in exchange for the Justice Department dropping a corruption and bribery case against him. He has denied the quid pro quo.

Mamdani has run on an array of left-leaning policies, including saying city authorities would not cooperate with federal immigration agents. Last Thursday, he called the reported Trump administration meddling in the race an “affront to our democracy”. The campaign has taken on an international scope, with Mamdani a vocal supporter of Palestine and critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. Critics have said his positions have led top members of the Democratic Party to keep him at arm’s length. (Al Jazeera/Reuters)