Eric Adams

Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer, serving as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City Police Department for more than 20 years, retiring at the rank of captain. He served in the New York State Senate from 2006 to 2013, representing the 20th Senate district in Brooklyn. In November 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President, the first African-American to hold the position, and reelected in November 2017. On November 17, 2020, Adams announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City. On July 6, 2021, the Associated Press (AP) declared Adams the winner of the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary. Adams defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election in a landslide victory. Adams was sworn in as mayor shortly after midnight on January 1, 2022. As mayor, he has taken what is seen as a tough-on-crime approach and reintroduced a plain-clothed unit of police officers that had been disbanded by the previous administration. He has also implemented a zero-tolerance policy on unhoused people sleeping in subway cars alongside increased police presence. Early life and education Adams was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on September 1, 1960. His mother, Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter (1938-2021), worked double shifts as a housecleaner and had received only a third-grade education. His father, Leroy Adams, was a butcher who struggled with alcohol abuse. Both of his parents moved to New York City from Alabama in the 1950s. Adams was raised in a rat-infested tenement in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and his family was so poor that he often brought a bag of clothes to school with him in case of a sudden eviction from his home. By 1968, his mother managed to save up enough money to buy a house and move the family to South Jamaica, Queens. He was the fourth of six children and as a young boy he sometimes earned money as a squeegee boy. At age 14, Adams joined a gang, the 7-Crowns, and became known as "a tough little guy". He would hold money for local hustlers. He also ran errands, including purchasing groceries, for a dancer and part-time prostitute named Micki after she became injured. After Micki refused to pay for the groceries he purchased or the work he had done, Adams and his brother stole her TV and a money order. The two were later arrested for criminal trespassing.