An assemblywoman who leads the Brooklyn Democratic Party and who has been a key backer of Mayor Eric Adams endorsed his main rival in the upcoming mayoral election, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, on Sunday.
The decision by the assemblywoman, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, is one of the clearest signs yet that the winning coalition Mr. Adams built in 2021 has been completely fractured. She is not only endorsing Mr. Cuomo but will serve as his senior political adviser, an honorary role.
Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn stood by the mayor when he was indicted on five federal corruption counts last year, and she remained at his side when he was accused more recently of entering into a quid pro quo with the Trump administration to secure the dismissal of those charges.
But the fallout from that accusation, as well as record-low poll numbers and several serious challengers in the Democratic primary, has made Mr. Adams’s path to a second term rockier by the day.
“The governor has the experience and the record to hit the ground running and provide the leadership and the steady hand that we need,” Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn said in an interview.
Brooklyn has always been crucial for Mr. Adams, given his reliance on Black voters. He served as a state senator and borough president there before becoming mayor. Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn’s endorsement is likely to bring additional supporters to Mr. Cuomo’s side.
“Brooklyn is home to the largest number of Democrats in any county in the nation, and I am humbled to have the support of its great Democratic leader,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement.
The endorsement comes as Mr. Adams has taken few concrete steps to demonstrate that he is running for re-election, despite his insistence that he is doing so.
The mayor does not have a robust campaign operation. He has a small petition effort to get his name on the ballot, unusual for an incumbent mayor, and has held no campaign events this year. Several of the most important political consultants who were working for him at this stage of his 2021 campaign have not joined his team.
Mr. Adams’s fund-raising has also slowed significantly, and he is unlikely to receive public matching funds after the New York City Campaign Finance Board determined that he had participated in “conduct detrimental to the matching-funds program in violation of law.” The mayor was eligible for as much as $4.3 million through the program.
Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn was among a chorus of elected officials who called for Mr. Cuomo’s resignation after a report from the attorney general found that he had sexually harassed 11 women, a charge he denies. She said she felt comfortable with her endorsement because Mr. Cuomo was not criminally charged.
“As a survivor of sexual assault, and a champion for women’s rights, I know more than most how we need to treat every accusation seriously, and how tough it can be to speak out, especially against the powerful,” Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn said. “We need to rely on the court of law, not the court of public opinion, when it comes to these serious accusations.”
Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn’s husband, Edu Hermelyn, works for Mercury Public Affairs and is part of the team advising Mr. Cuomo’s campaign.
Mr. Hermelyn, a state Democratic Committee member and district leader in Brooklyn, previously worked on Mr. Adams’s campaign and was hired by the mayor as senior adviser for strategic initiatives but resigned after questions were raised about rules prohibiting managerial employees from also holding leadership positions in political parties.
The departure of Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn is among a slew of recent exits from the mayor’s coalition. Ruben Diaz Jr., the former Bronx borough president, recently endorsed Mr. Cuomo, as did Eddie Gibbs, an assemblyman from East Harlem in Upper Manhattan who was a close ally of Mr. Adams.
Representative Adriano Espaillat has told people close to him that it would be difficult to support the mayor given his cooperation with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement.
Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn said she had spoken with Mr. Adams to inform him of her decision and that he had made it clear that he planned to run for re-election.
“This endorsement is pro-Governor Cuomo, not anti-Mayor Adams,” she said.
She also referenced a recent story in The New York Post that had reported that Mr. Adams was considering running as an independent, saying that, as the leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, “it is my duty to support Democrats.”
In spite of his dwindling coalition, Mr. Adams has insisted not only that he is running, but that he will win.
“Endorsements don’t win races. Knocking on doors do,” Mr. Adams said at a recent news conference. “I’m a solid, solid campaigner. I know how to articulate a message that’s clear and crisp. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
