US Elections: Will NYC Mayor Eric Adams Resign or Be Removed?

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams is under siege from prosecutors and his party.
• The Justice Department ordered corruption charges against Adams be dropped
• The U.S. Attorney, 4 deputy mayors, and others have resigned in protest
• NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, who can remove Adams, is weighing a path forward

New York City politics has always been an exercise in blurring lines, creating alliances, navigating crises, handling the media, and more. For the mayor, these issues are exacerbated because they are the target of blame regardless of policy.

For Mayor Eric Adams, his entire tenure has been pockmarked by controversy that has dwarfed what was experienced by polarizing predecessors Rudy Giuliani and Bill de Blasio.

In September 2024, he was charged with bribery and campaign finance offenses. To simplify, it has been called corruption. President Donald J. Trump’s Department of Justice ordered the charges to be dropped. In protest, the U.S. attorney in New York resigned. So have four deputy mayors.

According to the city’s charter, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul can remove Adams from office.

Odds as to the potential outcomes are unfavorable toward Adams.

Will Adams Be in Power on July 1, 2025?

The U.S. attorney resigning? Irrelevant.

Deputy mayors quitting? Maybe 2% of the NYC population could identify them if they showed up at their doors, so who cares?

Gov. Hochul? She’ll assess how removing Adams impacts her politically and take the path that benefits her the most and damages her aspirations the least.

Adams resigning? Forget it. Trump will tell him not to.

The only way he’s not in power on July 1, 2025, is if Hochul removes him.

Eric Adams to Complete Full Term?

Again, this hinges on Hochul removing Adams. He is not going to resign. If he doesn’t resign and Hochul doesn’t remove him, he will complete his term.

NYC Mayoral Election 2025

The NYC Mayoral election will be held on Nov. 4, 2025. Currently, we do not know who the candidates will be until the primary is held on June 24, 2025. There is a litany of contenders, most of whom are either unknown to the populace or largely derided.

Former comptroller Scott Stringer has past sexual misconduct allegations and is widely disliked. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has faced corruption allegations.

Then there’s former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace because of sexual harassment allegations immediately after he was accused of lying about the number of people in New York who died due to Covid.

Two variables in any NYC election are that the city uses ranked-choice to select its candidates and a small fraction of people vote (21% when Adams was elected in 2021). When Adams got the nomination in 2021, the democratic primary was an “I can live with him” endeavor. One of his opponents, Maya Wiley, wanted to defund the police and treat criminals instead of punishing them. New Yorkers do not like those policies.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, understands how effective policing works. As a pragmatist, he is flexible when serving his ends. He is not wedded to an ideology.

Cuomo is the recognizable name in the race to replace Adams and he is seen as a political opportunist who desperately wants back in some form of power after reluctantly leaving the governorship in disgrace. He is lurking and has cash on hand for a run. But he’s personally loathed and his politics are from a different era when his father ran New York State.

This is another case of Adams fighting it out, staying in the race, and — most importantly — Hochul letting him stay in power.

The Republican nominee is a mystery. Guardian Angels founder, media personality, and fabulist gadfly Curtis Sliwa is the only self-identified Republican who’s thrown his beret into the ring.

Trump to Pardon Adams in 2025?

The Trump factor is crucial.

Adams has cozied up to Trump in trying to placate the president by aggressively pursuing illegal immigrants and taking the shackles off law enforcement to deal with rising crime across the city. Trump has an affinity to New York — it, not Florida, is Trump’s home base — and wants a “friend” to run the city.

Already, this has benefited Adams by getting the corruption charges dropped. How much will Trump’s support help with the election, particularly when Adams is facing people Trump despises?

If it was a one-on-one race, Trump’s support would not help. But since turnout is usually low and Adams is competing with candidates voters likely see as worse than him, it’s unwise to bet against Adams with the one caveat being Hochul and if she’ll remove the mayor from office.

Trump won’t pardon Adams because he won’t need to.