Mayor Eric Adams, reeling from a criminal investigation into his campaign and with historically low approval ratings, now has a serious primary challenger.

Scott Stringer, the former city comptroller who ran against Adams in 2021, announced this morning he would run for mayor again, setting up a direct clash with a political rival who has seen his standing erode in recent months.

“This ship is heading toward an iceberg if we don’t take concrete action,” Stringer told me. “We either have to smash through it or we gotta work around it, but we can’t just let the ship sail into the night, wandering, wondering where we’re all going to end up.”

Stringer, 63, brings notable strengths and obvious weaknesses to the Democratic primary that would be held in June 2025. He has won tough citywide races, attracted support from large labor unions, and still boasts a vote-rich base on Manhattan’s West Side that would, in a campaign against Adams, stay loyal to him. He would be a formidable fundraiser, able to potentially reach the public-matching-funds limit and spend millions against Adams, who has seen his fundraising slow as he focuses on rounding up cash for his legal defense fund.

Thanks to his prior campaign, one weakness is already clear. In 2021, Stringer was accused of sexual misconduct by two different women, including Jean Kim, a lobbyist who said he repeatedly groped her in 2001, when she worked for one of his campaigns. Stringer strenuously denied the allegations and later sued Kim for defamation. (The suit was eventually dismissed owing to the statute of limitations.)

Kim had come forward in April 2021, just as Stringer, then one of the top contenders for mayor, appeared to be gaining momentum. Shortly after Kim leveled her accusations, prominent endorsers fled and Stringer plummeted in the polls. Kathryn Garcia, then a long-shot candidate, vaulted past him, gobbling up votes from many of the same Manhattanites........

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