To hear Mayor Eric Adams tell it, the unpopularity of his administration and the implosion of his reelection campaign was all somebody else’s fault. It was rumor-mongering news outlets that scared off his donors, he said in a video statement, and a hostile Campaign Finance Board that refused to approve the millions in matching funds he needed. The fact that he was arrested last year and charged with taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions before the charges got dropped by the Trump administration? “I was wrongfully charged because I fought for this city. And if I had to do it again, I would fight for New York again,” he said.

Nowhere does Adams so much as hint at the cronyism, corruption, and bad decisions — some dating back more than a decade — that plagued his administration, alienated his supporters, attracted a large field of challengers and doomed his reelection chances.

“I predicted all of this. I said that Eric Adams, if you elect him, we would have chaos and corruption, and we had so much of that,” Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor, told me shortly after Adams quit the race. “I did not like this guy. I knew he was corrupt.”

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the candidate who is leading in the polls, was equally dismissive. “What we see today is an illustration of what so many New Yorkers are tired of,” he told me. “They are tired of the politics of backroom deals. They are tired of a politics that has delivered them the most expensive city in the United States of America. And in many ways it doesn’t change the focus of this campaign, which is on working-class New Yorkers and ensuring they can afford the city they call home.”

The kindest words for the mayor came from ex-governor Andrew Cuomo, the third candidate in the race, who is trailing Mamdani by double digits in most polls. “Mayor Adams has much to be proud of in his accomplishments,” Cuomo said in a social-media post. “Whatever differences we may have, Eric Adams’ story is undeniably one of resilience, a testament to the spirit of this city.”

Cuomo’s solicitousness reflects his need to capture as many votes as........

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