For Deputy Mayor, Mayor-Elect Adams Wants US Rep. Suozzi, who also may be Mulling Run for Governor

By Yehudit Garmaise

Eric Adams is trying to persuade US Rep. Tom Suozzi, (D) a Long Island congressman, who campaigned heavily for him during the Democratic primary for mayor, to join the administration the mayor-elect is assembling: with just more than one month to go until he is sworn in to lead New York City.

During a press conference in Queens, Adams told reporters that he recently reached out to his fellow moderate Democrat to “somehow trying to convince him to be a deputy mayor in my administration.”

Rep. Suozzi told The New York Post that he plans to consider the offer seriously this weekend, but the former Nassau County executive and mayor of Glen Cove might have higher ambitions.

This weekend, Suozzi is likely also mulling another run for governor, 15 years after he ran unsuccessfully against Eliot Spitzer for the gubernatorial Democratic nomination, and some say he even has presidential ambitions.

 “I am very flattered that the mayor-elect would like me to help him in a big way to tackle the challenges in New York City,” said Rep. Suozzi. “It’s a testament to our great friendship and his confidence that I know how to help run a big government, get things done and solve problems.

“Lots to think about over Thanksgiving.”

While US Rep Nicole Malliotakis (R) has said that the passage of the president’s astronomical $2 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) bill, which she voted against, is a loss against “President Biden’s socialist agenda,” Rep. Suozzi successfully lead a group of moderate House Democrats in refusing to sign the bill, unless it increased the cap of the tax deductions State and Local Tax (SALT), a policy Suozzi called “progressive.”

 

Instead, Suozzi, whose suburban district is one of the country’s wealthiest, seeks to increase tax cuts for the rich.

Photo by Flicker (Tom Suozzi)