Mayor Adams used to ‘jump the turnstile’ to visit a ‘shorty’ in Rockaway, he says at town hall

Mayor Eric Adam’s re-election campaign may be off track — but he turned on the charm by recalling how he once rode the love train.

Hizzoner used to occasionally “jump the turnstile” as a broke young man visiting “a shorty” on the “long A train ride” out to Rockaway, Queens, he said at a town hall in the neighborhood.

“There’s a real history. I had a shorty that lived out here,” Adams said while giving a speech at the event Wednesday, according to footage posted on X.

“I used to come out, taking that long A train ride in the cold, you know, love is blind,” he said, prompting chuckles.

“One or two times I didn’t have a token so, yes, I did jump over the turnstile,” said Adams, a former cop who has cracked down on fare evasion.

“The statue of limitations is over,” he quipped.

Earlier this week, The Post reported Adams has pulled in a measly  $36,000 from just a few dozen donors over the last two months, as questions swirl over his lackluster re-election campaign.

He has yet to hold any official campaign events, with town halls and neighborhood meetings instead giving him the chance to present his message, along with his everyman charisma and swagger, to voters.

In March 2022, Adams said that district attorneys should go back to prosecuting people who commit subway fare evasion — declaring, “It’s a crime.”

“If we start saying it’s alright for you to jump the turnstile, we are creating an environment where any and everything goes,” he warned at a press conference that month.

Adams then pushed for the city to put an order in place to hit fare beaters with more summonses, he said in an August 2024 radio interview.

The crackdown came after an MTA report released the previous month found that fare evasion is to blame for $900 million in projected budget deficits.

In the past, Adams has generally kept his love life under wraps, including his relationship with longtime girlfriend Tracey Collins, a former senior city Education Department official. 

He was rumored to be dating “Selling the City” star Eleonora Srugo in January, but the reality star said through a spokesperson the rumors were “absolutely not true.”