In a fierce clash, New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticized mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for his support of decriminalizing prostitution.
Mamdani, 33, a democratic socialist, has been a vocal supporter of decriminalizing prostitution since his time in the state assembly.
He has taken up the issue multiple times since he ran for state assembly in 2020, and co-sponsored bills that would legalize prostitution across New York.
Highlights
- New Tork Mayor Eric Adams strongly criticized Zohran Mamdani for supporting prostitution decriminalization, linking it to increased sex trafficking and crime.
- Zohran Mamdani, a progressive Democrat, leads the NYC mayoral race with 44% support, far ahead of Cuomo, Sliwa, and Adams.
- Mamdani faces backlash over living in a rent-stabilized apartment despite a $142K salary.
- Mamdani endured xenophobic attacks on Staten Island but vowed to keep engaging with all New Yorkers regardless of opposition.
Eric Adams criticized Zohran Mamdani for his support of decriminalizing prostitution
Image credits: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
While Mamdani has been silent on this issue during his mayoral run, critics are apprehensive that he will make a push for legalized prostitution if he wins the mayoral race.
“I’m a man of God, just as Mamdani says he’s a Muslim. I don’t know where in his Quran it states that it’s okay for a woman to be on the streets selling their body,” Adams told reporters on Sunday. “I don’t know what Quran he is reading. It’s not in my Bible,” he added.
“As a man who said he is of faith, I don’t quite understand what religion supports prostitution.”
Adams, who is running for re-election this fall, said legalizing sex work also brings in more crime related to sex trafficking.
“We are trying to bring down crime and he is talking about legalizing sex work,” he said.
“You’re not doing any service to a woman who is on the street who is forced to sell her body for whatever reason. No one should be on our streets selling their bodies. No one.”
Image credits: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
A representative for Mamdani responded to these claims in The New York Post, saying, “Mayor Adams’ reckless budget cut over $3 million in funding from Safe Horizon, putting thousands of victims of crimes related to sex trafficking and prostitution in harm’s way.”
“As Mayor, Zohran will prioritize genuine public safety for all, including investing $40M through his Department of Community Safety towards victims services.”
Tension between the two men comes at a time when New York City’s political landscape is heating up ahead of the November mayoral election.
Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary by a large margin, currently leads former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by 19 points, according to a recent poll by Siena University.
Adams is running independently and lagging in the polls. Mamdani led with support from 44% of surveyed voters, followed by Cuomo with 25%, Republican Curtis Sliwa with 12%, and Adams with 7%.
Mamdani strongly led in a recent poll, followed by Cuomo, Sliwa, and Adams
Cuomo recently attacked Mamdani for his affordable housing plan, highlighting that Mamdani lives in a $2,300-a-month rent-stabilized apartment despite earning $142,000 as an assemblyman.
Mamdani plans to borrow $70 billion from the city on top of the $25 billion it already plans to use to build affordable housing to tackle the housing crisis.
He has pledged to freeze rents on rent-stabilized units and build 200,000 permanently affordable apartments over the next decade.
Cuomo unveiled a proposal dubbed ‘Zohran’s Law,’ where apartments would only be leased to New Yorkers who pay at least 30 percent of their income a year in rent.
Mamdani dismissed Cuomo’s criticism as “petty vindictiveness.”
“I believe that government’s job is to guarantee dignity for each and every New Yorker, not determine which ones are worthy of it,” he said during a news conference at an affordable housing development in Brooklyn earlier this month.
As the housing fight played out, Mamdani launched his ‘Five Boroughs Against Trump’ tour, aiming to rally Democrats against U.S. President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.
Mamdani is joined by Rep. Jerry Nadler in rejecting Trump’s policies affecting New Yorkers, especially immigration and health-care reform.
“There is no borough that will be free from Trump’s cruelty,” he declared.
Calling Trump a “narcissistic, wannabe dictator,” Nadler said the U.S. president was “waging a full-scale assault on American democracy, dismantling our institutions, attacking our universities and our scientific research base using government power to serve himself and his donors...”
Image credits: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The White House called Mamdani a “communist” and “the American people’s worst nightmare.”
“His communist policies will crater our economy, increase crime, crowd out Americans with free health care for illegal immigrants, and defund the brave men and women of law enforcement who keep us safe,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital.
Trump himself has spoken about intervening in the race to stop Mamdani from becoming mayor. He has reportedly discussed the race with businessmen and Republicans in New York to get a sense of whom, between Cuomo and Adams, has the best chance of beating Mamdani.
Image credits: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Trump’s dislike for Mamdani is no secret. In early July, Trump repeatedly claimed that Mamdani was an illegal immigrant in the U.S.—a false claim.
He also threatened to arrest him if he blocked immigration arrests in New York City.
“I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
But he also told reporters during a Cabinet meeting last month that he would not be getting involved in the mayoral race.
“But I can tell you this. I used to say we will not ever be a socialist country. Well, I’ll say it again. We’re not gonna have it,” Trump said.
“If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places where we have to.”
Trump has reportedly discussed intervening in the race to stop Mamdani from becoming New York mayor
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
Billionaire GOP donor John Catsimatidis urged Trump to wait until September before acting. “The only thing I’ve said to the president is, ‘See you in September,’” Catsimatidis said. “In other words, let things sort themselves out.”
Last week, Adams pushed the Compassionate Interventions Act, a proposal allowing the city to involuntarily hospitalize addicts for treatment.
“Public drug use is still a problem on our streets, across our city,” Adams said. “This cannot be allowed to continue. We must help those struggling to finally get treatment, whether they recognize the need for it or not.”
Meanwhile, Cuomo has attacked Mamdani’s economic vision, warning that taxing the rich would drive jobs away.
“This anti-business rhetoric, this anti-capitalist rhetoric is very destructive and dangerous, especially at this point in time, because they [the rich] have options. They don’t have to be here,” Cuomo said.
Image credits: Lev Radin/Getty Images
Mamdani has previously said he does not think New York should have billionaires. He has also proposed taxing the “richer and whiter” neighborhoods, arguing the city’s property tax system is unfair. He denied that his policy was driven by race, but said that he was only “naming things as they are.”
“I don't think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality,” he had said last month.
Last week, he responded to Cuomo, saying, “My policy would be to ensure that government lives up to its responsibility of ensuring dignity for each and every New Yorker, not simply determining which one is worthy of it.”
Mamdani has faced much criticism for his left-wing ideology. Last week, he was heckled, booed, and subjected to xenophobic insults while campaigning in Staten Island.
Comments included people saying, “You are not welcome in this f*****g island”, You f*****g Jew-hating piece of s**t” and “Go back to where you came from. We don’t want you on Staten Island.”
Mamdani responded by saying: “I will not let it dissuade me from continuing to come to Staten Island, from continuing to speak to New Yorkers, no matter where they live, no matter what politics they have. Because I know that just as there are Republicans who feel that way, there are others who are sincere in their questions.”
Despite his challenges, polls indicate that Mamdani commands a sizable base of supporters.
He has remained steadfast in his campaign principles. “We need a mayor who will fight for every single New Yorker every single day—not conspire with a demagogue in Washington who attacks our rights and steals from the working class to enrich his billionaire friends,” he wrote on X.
With three high-profile figures battling for voters and Trump looming in the background, the November election is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable in decades.