On Sunday, 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.
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, have made Mr. Adams’s path to a second term rockier by the day.
In her endorsement, Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn said that Mr. Cuomo “never forgot his roots, or the importance of fighting for equality and opportunity,” She praised him for leading the “city through the darkest depths of the Covid pandemic” five years ago.
“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. “Throughout his career in public service, there has never been a fight too large, a problem too challenging or a crisis that Governor Cuomo couldn’t manage.”
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, including other elected officials and the county committee members that make up the machinery of the party.
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.
“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 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 and a prominent figure in the mayor’s outreach to Latino voters, recently endorsed Mr. Cuomo, as has Eddie Gibbs, an assemblyman from East Harlem in Upper Manhattan who was a close ally of Mr. Adams.
Representative Adriano Espaillat, another major voice for Mr. Adams among Latinos in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, 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.
Like Mr. Adams, Mr. Cuomo relies on a base of Black voters, and in recent weeks the former governor has unveiled a series of endorsements that have picked away at the mayor’s support. Two Black councilwomen and a Black assemblywoman from Brooklyn, as well as a Black assemblywoman from southeast Queens, have recently endorsed Mr. Cuomo.
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, praising the mayor for having “dedicated his life to this city,” going back to when he was a police officer.
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.”
