Eric Adams now loves going on Fox News

Almost all of Adams’ appearances on Fox networks so far this year have come since he announced he would run for reelection as an independent candidate on April 3, one day after a federal judge dropped his corruption case.

In order to win reelection in November, Adams needs to not only defeat the Democratic nominee, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, but also Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent candidates former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Jim Walden. In the crowded field, Adams needs to build a new coalition that could include moderate Democrats as well as Republican voters at its core, which could make Fox a helpful place to broadcast his campaign message. About 57% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said earlier this year that they regularly get their news from Fox News.

Recent polling has reflected that Adams is performing best among Republicans. In a Slingshot Strategies poll of registered New York City voters from July 2-6, 26% of Republicans said they’d support Adams if the election were held today. He didn’t crack 20% support with any other group. And in a July 1-6 Data for Progress poll of likely voters, Adams’ favorability among Republicans was 60%, which was his highest mark with any group by nearly 30 points.

His media strategy is not solely about appealing to conservative voters but also millionaire donors. According to political strategist Hank Sheinkopf, the donor base on Fox News is “critical” to Adams rather than the voter base. The mayor already has the backing of billionaire CEOs Daniel Loeb, John Catsimatidis and Kenneth Fishel, who hosted an Adams fundraiser at his Hamptons estate over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

“There’s a clear reason Eric Adams is doing this, and very similar to Andrew Cuomo, it is all about financial incentives. Both Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo are trying to gin up more Republican billionaire donor support,” said Bill Neidhardt, former press secretary for Mayor Bill de Blasio.

In the primary, Cuomo received nearly $400,000 from Republican donors and at least a dozen of whom also gave money to Trump. Neidhardt said that although Cuomo and Adams are engaged in a “fight for Republican money,” New York voters have a “distaste” for it.

“Cuomo seems to be doing this full push, putting out memos, asking for polls. Adams is doing it slightly differently by also going on these donors’ favorite TV shows. I just think it’s simply a variation in the same playbook they’re both running,” Neidhardt said.

City & State tracked Adams’ appearances through available online clips and his public schedule – which did not reflect several of his recent TV appearances. The mayor’s press secretary (and former Fox 5 reporter) Kayla Mamelak Altus disputed City & State’s figure but did not specify or correct any errors. A member of the Fox News media relations team confirmed that the number of Adams appearances from 2022 through 2025 were correct.

A more frequent guest

Adams made his Fox News debut as mayor in April 2022 after a shooter opened fire on an R train in Brooklyn, injuring 29 people. In the appearance on “America’s Newsroom,” Adams’ rhetoric was fairly consistent with his tough-on-crime position, emphasizing that the shooter would be “apprehended” and “brought to justice.” Along with his debut, Adams was a guest again on Dec. 31, 2022, for a brief New Year’s Eve interview in Times Square.

He then had a sit-down in December 2024 with Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum. The in-depth interview at City Hall covered the mayor’s indictment, stance on immigration and cooperation with Trump. Their discussion got emotional as the mayor became choked up talking about his upbringing and commitment to his faith.

The mayor’s first appearance this year sent shockwaves through the city when he sat down on the “Fox & Friends” couch with Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan to discuss their collaboration on immigration enforcement in February. The controversial interview followed accusations that the mayor entered an alleged “quid pro quo” agreement with the Trump administration to cooperate with their immigration efforts in exchange for the Department of Justice dropping federal corruption charges against him. Adams repeatedly denied wrongdoing, but the tense interview, along with Homan’s threat to be “up his butt” if the mayor didn’t follow through, only fueled further speculation.

“Now I have him on the couch in front of millions of people and he can’t back out now,” Homan said.

On April 19, the mayor had a brief interview on “My View with Lara Trump,” where he claimed that he did not abandon the Democratic Party but that the party left him. The interview was light and friendly, with Adams telling the president’s daughter in-law that she has that “New York energy and New York swagger.” The mayor focused on the mistakes of the “far left” and defended his cooperation with the Trump administration.

“When you don’t respect the office, you’re sending the wrong message. I respect the office. There’s a president called President Trump. I’m going to work with that president to produce for the people of our city,” Adams said.

The mayor went on “Fox and Friends” on June 16 to discuss the aftermath of New York City’s No Kings Day protest against the president as well as his independent candidacy for mayor and his relationship with Democrats. He continued to emphasize that the Democratic Party is not “monolithic” and that there is a majority of people in the party that agree with him on key issues like policing and business.

The morning after Mamdani’s Democratic primary victory, Adams was once again back on “Fox and Friends” to set the stage for the general election in November. The mayor discussed the primary results, with an emphasis on his appeal to moderate and independent voters who didn’t participate in the Democratic primary. During the interview he labeled Mamdani as a “snake oil salesman” for making campaign promises he did not have the authority to deliver on, such as raising taxes on the rich. Adams said his experience and record set him apart from other candidates.

“You had one candidate that was running away from his record. You had another candidate with no record and you have Eric Adams with a record,” Adams said.

The mayor did an interview on Fox Business with Larry Kudlow during the afternoon of June 26 after launching his reelection campaign earlier that day. He spoke passionately against Mamdani’s policy agenda and his promises to working-class New Yorkers. The mayor continued to criticize the far left for their positions on defunding the police and freezing rent, which he said would hurt small property owners and lead to urban decay. He called Mamdani an “academic elitist” who had not experienced “one difficult day in his life” and compared it to his own childhood experiences with homelessness.

“I think what is most troubling about what the socialist candidate is stating is his calls to give everything away free,” Adams said. “Nothing is more troubling when people who are struggling are given promises that individuals can’t live up to.”

Adams appeared on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum” on June 30 and “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business on July 8. MacCallum asked the mayor about Mamdani’s position on the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which Adams rejected using himself but he quickly diverted the interview to a conversation surrounding Rikers Island and public safety. During his interview on “Mornings with Maria,” the mayor criticized Mamdani’s policy agenda more intensely and highlighted the importance of wealthy New Yorkers to the city.

“When you say you don’t want any billionaires in the city, you really don’t understand the economics of the city and the ecosystem of the city when it comes down to economics,” Adams said. “Billionaires put teachers in our classroom, police officers on our streets, help us pave our roads. We need that combination and everyone should be treated with the dignity they deserve.”

Fox News is not the only conservative outlet Adams has appeared on this year. He kicked off the year on the independently run “Tucker Carlson Show” in January at Gracie Mansion and appeared again with Homan on Dr. Phil’s YouTube channel in February. He still has five months left in his term; maybe a cameo with Charlie Kirk or Ben Shapiro is in his future.