Mayor Eric Adams officially kicked off his re-election campaign Thursday, pitting himself as the blue collar candidate saving the city from “silver spoon” socialist Zohran Mamdani.

Adams addressed a raucous crowd of more than 100 supporters — mixed with a couple of vocal hecklers — from City Hall’s steps, arguing his battle-tested record showed he deserved four more years as Big Apple mayor.

“It’s a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a suit and a silver spoon,” he said, referring to Mamdani.

Hizzoner’s campaign kickoff came after Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary, in which the dark-horse candidate Mamdani stunningly bested former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Energy exuded from the pro-Adams crowd, who hooped and hollered at the mayor’s swipes against Mamdani, renewed attacks on his socialism and boasts of taking guns off the streets in black and brown communities.

The boisterous throng also gleefully engaged with Adams’ introductory speakers, at times drowning them out with chants of “four more years” in both English and Spanish.

But Adams, a Democrat running as an independent, faces an uphill battle to re-election against the charismatic Mamdani, given his scandal-scarred first term rock-bottom job approval, experts said.

The mayor’s speech leaned heavily on his faith and personal backstory, from his dyslexia to formative childhood arrest to being labeled a “criminal” amid his corruption case.

“If you’re going to be a man of people who are going through a lot, you must be a human being that has gone through a lot,” he said.

Adams trashed his critics and naysayers, arguing he has a record of “results.”

“They talk about problems, I fix them,” he said. “That’s the difference — you don’t lead his city from a soapbox. You lead it from the ground up.”

Adams also tried to knock down Mamdani – whose campaign focused on affordability – by again attacking his background as the privileged son of an academic and a famed filmmaker.

He also took a veiled swipe against Mamdani’s social media-heavy campaign, contending he instead was focused on bread-and-butter issues for New Yorkers.

“I’m not interested in Twitter politics, I’m interested in getting the trash picked up,” Adams said.

“I’m not interested in slogans, I’m interested in solutions. I don’t work for special interests, I work for the people.”

The forward-looking event, however, had some reminders of the scandals that have plagued Adams and his administration.

Brianna Suggs, the top campaign fundraiser whose shocking federal raid last year first revealed the corruption probe into Adams, was spotted at the event.

She stood alongside Winnie Greco, a longtime Adams aide who resigned from City Hall after her properties in the Bronx were raided by FBI agents.

The mayor has acknowledged he needs to regain voters’ trust.

In order to win a second term in the November general election, Adams would have to overcome the inherent difficulties of running as an independent and abysmal approval numbers after four turbulent years in office, political insiders said.

“This is one of the most unpopular politicians in the living history of New York City who has lost not just support among the Democratic Party outside of his base, but lost support within the Democratic Party in his base,” said Evan Smith, a pollster with Slingshot Strategies.

“In large part, that’s why he left the Democratic primary, because he was in no shape to compete.”

Adams’ path to victory would be the “tall order” of winning over every Democrat not supporting Mamdani, while cleaning up with independents and Republicans, Smith said.

Pollster Bradley Honan agreed Adams had a “steep hill to climb” in his re-election bid.

A survey Honan conducted after Tuesday’s primary of 817 likely November voters found that 67% said Adams should not be re-elected, two-thirds disapproved of job performance and 75% agreed with the statement that the incumbent was corrupt and should not even run for a second term.

Basil Smikle, former executive of the state Democratic Party and aide to Hillary Clinton, was more bullish.

“Adams has a tough road ahead, but he’ll do better than expected,” he said, predicting he’ll win moderate voters not comfortable with Mamdani’s policies.

Adams’ cheery, if chaotic, campaign kickoff was also slightly dampened by three hecklers, including one who called the contender a “f—ing criminal.”

“Eric Adams sold us out to Donald Trump,” a heckler shouted, before all were shoved out.

The crowd drowned out the naysaying shouts by chanting “four more years” and Adams’ mantra of “focus, no distractions and grind.”

Protesters agitating for the release of accused CEO assassin Luigi Mangione also interrupted Adams’ big moment.

“F–k you, Eric,” the “Free Luigi” activists shouted from the outskirts.

– Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick