Supermarket mogul and former Republican candidate for New York mayor John Catsimatidis says Mayor Adams should “run on both lines” — meaning as a Republican and a Democrat — in his bid for re-election. The one catch, Mr. Catsimatidis tells the New York Sun, is that Mr. Adams would need an endorsement from President Trump.

“The only way Republicans will back him is if Donald Trump comes out and endorses him,” Mr. Catsimatidis says. “What I’m saying is run as a Republican. I think he’s going to run as a Democrat, too.”

The idea that Mr. Adams would switch parties and run as a Republican — or this two-party scheme — is gaining traction after a top Justice Department official, Emil Bove, sent a letter on Monday directing the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to dismiss all charges against Mr. Adams “without prejudice.”

Mr. Catsimatidis was dining with the mayor on Monday night at Gallagher’s Steakhouse when the news broke. “I said we should make an example of New York City. Make it a safe city again, bring back quality of life, and deport criminals,” Mr. Catsimatidis says. “Then use that example to clean up other big cities in America.”

“If I was President Trump, I would ask Adams to be the leader of the band,” he says. “It would give him a lot of points.” When asked by The New York Sun if Mr. Adams was receptive to that advice, Mr. Catsimatidis replied, “Absolutely.”

“Then the dinner stopped because of breaking news, and 1,000 pounds of bricks came off his shoulder,” Mr. Catsimatidis says of Mr. Adams. “I knew it was coming, but I didn’t know it was coming at that moment.”

The mayor’s trial on bribery, corruption, and campaign finance charges was set to start in April. Mr. Bove asserted in the letter that the case against Mr. Adams “improperly interfered with Mayor Adams’ campaign in the 2025 mayoral election” and “restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”

It’s unclear how Judge Dale Ho, a Biden appointee who is presiding over the case, will respond. If dismissed, “without prejudice” means the charges could be brought back at any time. The mayoral primary is in June.

New York Congressman and chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, Gregory Meeks, tells the Sun he’s concerned about what Mr. Trump may expect from Mr. Adams in return for weighing in on his case. “We all know Donald Trump doesn’t do something for no reason at all. This case is not dismissed. It’s ‘without prejudice,’ which means they can keep hanging over the City of New York’s head,” Mr. Meeks says.

“This is Team Trump using him on the migrant issue with Tom Homan to show other mayors around the country in sanctuary cities that you need to play ball,” the only Republican to announce he’s running for mayor, Curtis Sliwa, tells the Sun.

“This is a big win for Trump,” a Democratic strategist, Hank Sheinkopf, tells the Sun. “Part of the African American vote that may have voted for him is now feeling better about things, and he thinks this gives him the opportunity to go after congestion pricing.”

Mr. Adams says he is running for reelection as a Democrat, but he has been cozying up to Mr. Trump since the November election, reportedly looking for a pardon or a dismissal of charges. Mr. Adams dined with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago in January and then attended Trump’s inauguration.

Mr. Adams is supportive of Mr. Trump’s plan to deport illegal immigrant criminals and has been highly critical of the city’s sanctuary polices, which are costing it billions. He instructed senior administration officials earlier on Monday not to attack the Trump administration. Mr. Adams’ mayoral challengers were quick to pounce. City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate, Brad Lander, called on Mr. Adams to resign Tuesday morning.

“This is an extraordinary situation that puts New Yorkers in serious danger,” Mr. Lander said in a statement. “When I’m mayor, my administration won’t just be allowed to oppose Donald Trump when he screws over the city. They’ll be expected to.” 

Now, the question is whether Mr. Adams will leave the Democratic Party — or run on more than one line. The deadline to switch parties is this Friday, February 14. The Democratic frontrunner in the mayoral race, according to all recent polls, is Governor Cuomo, who has yet to announce whether he’s running.

Mr. Adams refused to rule out switching parties in an interview with NY1 in December, noting that he used to be a Republican. In an interview with Tucker Carlson two weeks ago, Mr. Adams criticized the Biden administration for ignoring his pleas about the migrant crisis. “You are not being a good Democrat,” Mr. Adams said Biden administration officials told him.  

“People often say, ‘Well you don’t sound like a Democrat, and you seem to have left the party.’ No, the party left me and it left working-class people,” Mr. Adams said.

If Mr. Adams doesn’t switch parties by Friday, he could seek a Wilson-Pakula to allow him to run as a Republican. Obtaining this exception to the party registration rule would require a vote of county party leaders, something Mayor Bloomberg did in 2009 to run as a Republican after he switched to an Independent.

Mayor Adams’ office did not return a request for comment.

“I hope he wants to run against me in a primary. I will destroy him,” Mr. Sliwa says. “All due respect to the President, but Republicans in the five boroughs will not vote for Eric Adams.”

Mr. Sliwa says even if Mr. Adams obtains a Wilson-Pakula, he’d have trouble gathering signatures from Republicans to qualify. “You’d have better luck converting people to become Jehovah Witnesses,” he says.   

“I don’t see how him running as a Republican gets it done. He can’t beat Curtis Sliwa in the primary,” the chairman of the Bronx GOP, Mike Rendino, tells the Sun of Mr. Adams. He concedes, though, “If the President calls and says this is what he wants, it becomes a different ballgame, right? Who’s gonna say no to the President? It’s his party.”

A Manhattan Institute poll released last week finds Mr. Adams with a 69 percent unfavorable rating, but he still makes it to the final round of ranked choice voting in the Democratic primary, beating out a slew of progressive candidates before Mr. Cuomo prevails. In a head-to-head matchup against Mr. Sliwa, Mr. Adams wins by 10 points, with 30 percent undecided.

“They don’t want to the loonies in charge,” Mr. Sheinkopf says.

Electing a Republican as mayor of New York City is challenging and requires a “crisis of significance that is unmanageable under any other circumstance,” Mr. Sheinkopf says. Historically, Republicans who win in New York City also run on a third-party line. The state allows what’s called fusion voting.

John Lindsay won in 1965 running as a Republican and Liberal Party candidate during a complete breakdown of city services. Rudy Giuliani ran on fixing crime on the same two party lines. Michael Bloomberg ran as a Republican and Independent right after 9/11.

Mr. Cuomo’s dominance in early polls has a touch of irony since his failed gubernatorial run in 2002 lost the Liberal Party its ballot access. For now, any party switching on Mr. Adams part remains speculation.

“Ed Cox has to make his own decisions,” Mr. Catsimatidis says of the chairman of the New York Republican Party. “And he’s going to go with whatever President Trump wants him to do.”