New York City Mayoral Race Heats Up As Adams Takes Early Shot At Cuomo, But Also Pulls Some Punches

Announcing his bid to run for mayor of New York City over the weekend, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared that he would 'save our city."

On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams passed on several opportunities to punch back - but said he did agree with his fellow Democrat on one point.

"I do believe we need to be saved - from him," Adams said at a City Hall news conference.

The comment was Adams' first public criticism of Cuomo since the former governor launched his campaign Saturday with a 17-minute video that blasted the city's leadership and described it as a threatening place where crime has spun out of control. It was also the public's first preview at how the race between the two scandal-scarred politicians may look in the months until June's Democratic primary election.

Asked whether sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo - and his administration's undercounting of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes - were "disqualifying," Adams responded that he doesn't believe in disqualifying a person unless they do something "that's really despicable."