Eric Adams

Eric Adams became the Brooklyn Borough President following Marty Markowitz's tenure and in 2021 began a run for New York City mayor.

Born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and raised in nearby Bushwick and South Jamaica, Queens, despite an incident as a teenager when he was beaten by police officer and arrested for trespassing, Adams went on to become a police officer and to found a group called “100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care,” which advocated for criminal justice reform and better relationships between the police and communities of color.

He spent 22 years as a New York City police officer, first as a transit cop and later as an officer at the Sixth Precinct in Greenwich Village, as well as the 94th and 88th precincts in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint and Clinton Hill, respectively.

Following an unsuccessful run for Brooklyn’s 11th congressional district, Adams served seven years in the state Senate representing a swath of central and eastern Brooklyn before being elected to his current post in 2013 where he championed affordable housing, zoning changes and made Rapid Realty's Anthony Lolli an adviser.

Since entering the mayoral race last November, the borough president has emerged as one of the frontrunners and was arguably the most pro-law-enforcement candidate in the Democratic field for mayor, but also advocating converting hotels and offices to affordable housing, upzoning wealthier neighborhoods to create more residential units, and selling air rights to fund repairs to the city’s beleaguered public housing buildings.