The New York City mayor race is heating up as the list of candidates on the ballot in November comes into focus. 

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani appears to have scored a stunning upset over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. Now, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is launching his reelection campaign. 

With the results of the primary all but certain, attention turns to the November general election, where Mamdani is expected to face Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and Adams, who previously announced he planned to run as an independent, as well as independent Jim Walden, a former prosecutor. 

Adams made the announcement at a raucous rally at City Hall. A crowd of supporters chanted "Eric" and "four more years." 

A heckler attempted to disrupt the gathering, shouting "criminal."

Adams then led his supporters in a chant of "focus, no distractions, and grind."

"I want to thank all of you. Look at this beautiful display of diversity that's here," Adams said. "I am so proud to be here to say to the people of the city of New York I am seeking reelection to be your mayor of the city of New York." 

Adams said that when he took office in 2022, COVID was still a concern, as was crime, unemployment and gang violence. 

"When I became mayor, it was clear to me what we were facing, and how we had to turn it around," Adams said. "We made smarter choices and the police department more accountable. Gun arrests at record highs. Removals of guns at record highs. And what did we do with our economy? Five hundred thousand new jobs since this administration. More jobs in New York in the city's history, folks. Tech is booming. Tourism is back. Broadway has the best 12 months in recorded history. Construction is growing, and yes Times Square is alive again. And what about our housing comeback? We've approved and launched more affordable housing in a single year in the history of the city of New York, and we're going to break that record again." 

Adams also touted his administration's record of addressing the mentally ill and street homeless. 

"I didn't come into office with a personal agenda. I came with a personal message - to fight for working class New Yorkers, people who wake up at 5 a.m. to do double and triple jobs, like my mother did," Adams said. "I fight for everyday New Yorkers who just want their city to darn work for them." 

Adams takes aim at Mamdani

Adams then turned his attention to Mamdani. 

"You have individuals who are running for mayor who are saying 'no rent.' Those small property owners were losing their homes, and many of them were Black and Brown. Their entire wealth was tied up into their small property owning, and we heard them," Adams said. "And now we are saying, everything is going up around them. Heating costs, Con Edison, insurance. And we're not willing to give them a small 1% increase in their rent so they can keep up? If we lose them, we lose the middle class in our city, and I fight for them. So I'm not interest in Twitter politics. I'm interested in getting the trash picked up. I'm not interested in slogans. I'm interested in solutions. I don't work with special interests. I work for the people." 

Although Mamdani wasn't at City Hall for the rally, protesters made sure the mayor felt his presence by chanting his name. 

"Let me be clear. They have a record of tweets. I have a record on these streets. A record of results. They talk about problems? I fix them. That's the difference. You don't lead this city from a soapbox. You lead it from the ground up, with actions, not rhetoric," Adams added. "And one thing we do, we deliver, and we don't quit." 

"This is not a city where you use idealism to state you're giving everything to everyone for free. There's no dignity in someone giving you everything for free. There's dignity in giving you a job," Adams added. "So this is not a city of handouts. This is a city of hands up." 

New poll may cause Adams some concern

A new poll by Honan Strategy Group gave Adams something to worry about and was food for thought for both Mamdani and Cuomo, who is weighing a decision to run on an independent line he already established. With Cuomo in the race, the poll shows a dead heat: 

• Mamdani 39%
• Cuomo 39%
• Adams 13%
• Republican Curtis Sliwa 7%
• Independent Jim Walden 0%

However, if Cuomo drops out, it's Mamdani 46%, Adams 31%. And if Adams drops out, it's Cuomo 44%, Mamdani 40%. 

That same poll found Adams' favorability rating is 23%, Mamdani's is 40%, and Cuomo's is 56%.

Mamdani told CBS News New York he doesn't care whether he runs against Cuomo, Adams or both because his campaign is about bringing Democrats back into the fold. 

"We're stitching together a coalition that Eric Adams himself had in 2021, but we're going beyond it, and we're going to actually deliver for that coalition, as opposed to betray them in the manner that he has," Mamdani said. 

So does Adams think he'd do better if Cuomo didn't run? 

"No matter what, we're going to stay focused," Adams told CBS News New York.

Overnight, that his administration has "made our streets and subways safer, delivered record amounts of housing, cleaned our streets, and helped create more jobs and small businesses than ever before in the city's history."

Referring to Mamdani, he wrote, "We're not about to throw away all that progress to a socialist who will tear it all down for false promises he can't keep."

"When you start talking about free buses, free supermarket, free this, free that, and say that you're going to use an increase in taxes for the 1% of New Yorkers -- mayors don't have the authority to do that," Adams told CBS News New York Wednesday. 

Adams said the people with the authority to raise taxes are members of the Assembly, and pointed out that Mamdani did not raise taxes while serving in that capacity. 

• Eric Adams
• New York City
• Zohran Mamdani