Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and retired police officer who is currently serving as the Mayor of New York City, a post he has held since January 1, 2022.
Adams was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn. His family was so poor that Adams often brought a bag of clothes into school in case of sudden eviction from his house, but his family later moved to South Jamaica, Queens after saving money. Both of his parents are from Alabama, and moved to NYC in the 1950s. He was the fourth of six children and as a young boy worked as a squeegee boy (a man who washes car windshields for money). He struggled academically but eventually graduated from Bayside High School in 1978, turning his grades around in college. He was a member of the New York Transit Police and NYPD for 22 years, from 1984 to 2006. He later became a New York State Senator and Brooklyn's borough president.
Adams was elected mayor in 2021 after defeating Curtis Sliwa in a landslide. He succeeded the unpopular and term-limited Bill de Blasio. Adams is New York City's second black mayor, after David Dinkins, and was sworn in at Times Square shortly after the New Year's Eve ball drop, while holding a framed photo of his late mother (who died in 2020). Following two separate shootings early on in his term, he promised to make a stronger police force. In February 2022, he apologized for a racist comment he made in 2019.
Adams became vegan in 2016 after being diagnosed with diabetes, and also made it an effort to exercise and lose weight, reversing the diabetes.