Eric Adams

Eric Adams

Eric Adams is the mayor of New York City, New York

Eric Adams served as a State Senator representing the 20th District of New York and resides in Prospect Heights.

Education

Eric Adams received his Masters Degree in Public Administration from Marist College and is a graduate of New York City Technical College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Employment History

Adams was a policeman within the New York City Police Department ending with the rank of Captain. During his 20-year career in law enforcement, Eric Adams co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, a group comprised of law enforcement personnel and their supporters, to provide assistance and subsidies to community-based organizations that strive to improve their neighborhoods. He also is a former Chairperson of the Grand Council for the Guardians and serves on the board of the Eastern District Counseling Service, an organization that assists former substance abusers to live productive lives without dependency on drugs or alcohol.

New York State Legislature

Adams was elected in 2006 and then re-elected in 2008, receiving votes as a Democrat and as a member of the Working Families Party. He was appointed during the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions as Ranking Minority Member on the Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee, as well as Ranking Minority Member on the Veterans, Homeland Security & Military Affairs Committee. He also served on the Aging, Codes, and Civil Service and Pensions Committees in the New York State Senate. During the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions, Adams served as Chairman of the Veterans, Homeland Security, and Military Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee and be a member of the Finance, Judiciary, Banks, Consumer Protection, and Energy and Telecommunications committees.

Act Now to End the War

On Jan. 27, 2007, peace activists "converge[d] from all around the country in Washington, D.C. to send a strong, clear message to Congress and the Bush Administration: 'The people of this country want the war and occupation in Iraq to end and we want the troops brought home now!'". Endorsers of the call included State Senator Eric Adams from New York.

Brooklyn power players

Letitia James, the newly elected public advocate and the first black woman elected to a citywide office; Ken Thompson, who’ll be Brooklyn’s first black district attorney, and Eric Adams, who’ll be Brooklyn’s first black borough president, all hail from central Brooklyn.

By 2013, power players in Brooklyn’s black political establishment include Rep. Hakeem Jeffries; Assemblyman Karim Camara, chairman of the powerful Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, and City Councilman Jumaane D. Williams of Flatbush, who recently threw his hat in the ring for Council speaker.

All are Democrats and all are relative newcomers, elected for the first time between 2003 and 2006.

However this group doesn’t want to be viewed as a bloc. In fact, some of them don’t even like each other.

“I think it’s coincidental that Ken Thompson happens to be my neighbor,” Letitia James said. “I think it’s coincidental that Eric Adams happens to live in my district, as well as Hakeem Jeffries.”

Instead, Letitia James said she wanted to align herself with a different group. “I owe my victory to women,” she said.

The politicians are united more by ideology than racial identity, said Adams spokesman Evan Thies. “Even more so than race, each of those candidates represent progressive values that have become mainstream in Brooklyn,” he said.

The rising Brooklyn stars have sided against each other more often than they have leaned on each other for support.

Neither James nor Adams supported Thompson’s bid for DA. Instead, they endorsed his rival, longtime incumbent Charles Hynes.

James also worked for Jeffries’ rival, Roger Green, in Assembly races in 2000 and 2002. Both times, Jeffries lost.

Jeffries and Thompson, who are close friends, appear to be the only true allies in the group.

“I’m proud to have worked closely with Councilwoman James throughout the years and supported her campaign for public advocate, as well as supported the campaign of Ken Thompson,” Jeffries said.

“We’ve acquired significant political power in Brooklyn,” said Jeffries. “We can build upon the house that Harlem created in terms of black political empowerment and take it to the next level.”