New York Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday he was abandoning his re-election bid just over a month before the vote that is being keenly watched by US President Donald Trump.
"And yet, despite all we've achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign," Adams, who faced corruption charges that were dropped earlier this year, said in a video statement posted to X.
"The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board's decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign."
Adams, who became mayor of the largest US city in 2022 as a Democrat, has become a divisive figure due to his legal issues and his cooperation with Trump.
He said in April he would run as an independent, a move that spared him from the competitive Democratic primary which was won by self-declared socialist Zohran Mamdani.
In his statement, Adams issued a veiled criticism of Mamdani, who has zeroed in on the high cost of living by promising regulated rents, free bus travel and daycare to cement his appeal.
"Major change is welcome and necessary, but beware of those who claim the answer (is) to destroy the very system we built together over generations. That is not change, that is chaos," he said.
Rumors have swirled for weeks that Adams would drop out of the mayoral race to allow space for Andrew Cuomo, a Democratic former New York governor and attorney general.
There were also reports the Trump administration was considering a job for Adams if he backed out of the election to give Cuomo a better chance of beating Mamdani.
A former police officer from a modest family and New York's second African-American mayor, Adams was initially popular but saw his star wane under the weight of corruption allegations, rising costs of living and other challenges.
The mayor was accused of wire fraud, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and a bribery conspiracy involving Turkish citizens and at least one Turkish official. He denies the charges.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop charges against Adams.
The move triggered a wave of resignations in the Manhattan US attorney's office and at the Justice Department in Washington.
Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official who ordered the charges to be dropped, has denied allegations that the decision was a "quid pro quo" in exchange for the Democratic mayor's support for Trump's immigration crackdown.