Zellnor Myrie, an Afro-Latino state senator from Brooklyn known for backing progressive causes, will announce on Wednesday that he is moving to challenge Mayor Eric Adams in next year’s Democratic primary in New York City.
Mr. Myrie’s announcement is further indication that Mr. Adams’s path to re-election is expected to be more challenging than is typical for Democratic mayors in New York. Mr. Adams, who faces record low poll numbers and a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising, now must contend with at least two challenges from his own party.
In an interview, Mr. Myrie said that the mayor had shown a “failure of competence” and that his administration did not have a “full grasp of the nuts and bolts of how city government should work.” He also criticized the mayor’s cuts to libraries, parks and schools, arguing that they were driving families out of the city.
“For too many New Yorkers that I speak to, they’re tired of the showmanship,” he said. “What people want to see are results. They want to see their government working relentlessly to make this city affordable, to make this city safe, to make it livable.”
Mr. Myrie, 37, will open an exploratory committee and begin raising money for his campaign on Wednesday.
