New York City Mayor Eric Adams is maintaining his innocence and saying he has no plans to resign after being indicted on federal charges of bribery conspiracy, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is the only person who has authority to remove Adams from office but she has not yet indicated whether she plans to exercise that power. If that is the case and Adams is replaced, then his role will be filled by New York Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
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Williams, a progressive Democrat, would then take over as acting mayor and would be responsible for setting a date for a special election — which wouldn’t have primaries and candidates would appear on the ballot without a party affiliation next to their name.
Williams, a former city council member, made no mention of potentially being elevated to acting mayor, but he did react to the indictment on Thursday.