It’s a million-to-one shot.
Mayor Eric Adams wants to register 1 million new voters in his uphill re-election battle against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
In an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday, Adams suggested that the polls leading up to November’s mayoral election might be overlooking unregistered voters who could be critical of democratic socialist Mamdani’s progressive agenda.
“We are going to register a million new voters,” Adams boasted, without providing details as to how he would do that.
The incumbent mayor, seeking re-election as an independent following his withdrawal from last month’s Democratic Party primary, later incorrectly cited the number of voters in New York City.
“We are going to encourage the 91% of New Yorkers to come out and express their preferences at the polls. Only 9% of New Yorkers participated in the primary,” he added.
Roughly 1.1 million New Yorkers voted in June’s primary, out of nearly 8.3 million city dwellers, records show.
Mamdani snagged roughly 545,000 votes in his lopsided, upset win over a crowded field of candidates including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the most in a Democratic mayoral primary since 1989, data shows.
By contrast, Adams won 2021’s Democratic primary by only 7,000 after eight rounds of ranked-choice voting. Only 942,000 votes were tallied in that year’s primary.
The city has roughly 4 million registered voters.
Adams’ goal to reach a million new registered voters also faces another problem: his rock-bottom popularity and approval.
Even a pro-Adams poll aimed at drumming up support for his independent re-election bid saw him trailing both Mamdani and Cuomo by double-digits.
Mamdani would win the matchup with 41% of the vote, followed by Cuomo at 26% and Adams at 16%, the poll found.
Cuomo will be on November’s ballot as an independent, but he has yet to decide whether he’ll actively campaign.
Adams, in his Fox Business interview, kept beating the drum for Cuomo to drop out of the race.
The ex-governor blew a 32-point polling lead, with $25 million funneled into the race, Adams argued.
“You give me an opportunity,” Hizzoner said. “I’m going to win this race.”
