Mayor Eric Adams’ re-election campaign got a boost from scores of city faith leaders at an endorsement event in front of City Hall Tuesday, as one pastor took a shot at election frontrunner Zohran Mamdani.
Harlem Pastor James Kilgore poked at Democratic Socialist Mamdani’s upbringing in Uganda though he botched the name of the wealthy Kampala neighborhood where Mamdani held a lavish off-the-grid wedding.
“Brownsville is nothing like Benghazi Hill in Kampala, Uganda,” said Kilgore, who praised Adams background as a Brownsville-raised Brooklynite.
“You might have Stone Avenue in Brooklyn (but) in Benghazi they have high stone walls,” Kilgore said.
Clergy may largely be putting their faith in Hizzoner, but he’ll need more than a prayer to contend as Mamdani is way ahead in the polls since winning a Democratic Party primary in June, with a recent survey projecting he’ll easily coast to victory in November with around 50% of the vote.
Adams — running as an independent after dropping out of the Democratic primary — picked up a meager 7% in the same poll.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is polling around 22%, is also running on an independent line on the November ballot after he was trounced by Mamdani in the primary.
Adams did not take questions from the press following Tuesday’s event.
But the crowd of rabbis, priests, ministers and monks called the endorsements an “unprecedented show of unity” for Adams.
Bishop Chantel Wright, who has appeared alongside Adams at many events including his first official re-election rally in June, praised Adams’ ability to bring the faiths together as one.
“We are the ones who are going to be the credible messengers that get the word out that yes, you are a man of integrity. Yes!,” Wright exclaimed.
Other attendees included former staff ministers Erick Salgado and Fernando Cabrera — whose hirings were the subject of intense backlash toward Adams in 2022, when their past homophobic remarks came to light.
Brianna Suggs, a former Adams fundraiser whose home was raided by the FBI during the height of Hizzoner’s bribery scandal, was also in attendance.
Adams closed out the rally by offering remarks about his dependence on religion during the worst times in his life, including a federal corruption arrest, which he referred to as “lawfare.” The charges against him were filed last year, but dropped after President Trump returned to office this year.
“Some people think that government can do it on its own; they cannot. The government needs the faith to use,” Adams said.
