Kathy Hochul can and should remove Eric Adams—but here's why she might delay
Overlapping provisions in the New York City Charter might queue up a chain of events that produces Mayor Andrew Cuomo
Eric Adams is corrupt and compromised. The criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were egregious enough. The idea that the Trump Department of Justice would dismiss the charges in exchange for Adams’s cooperation in the brutal enforcement of Trump’s massive deportation plans is repugnant to our basic system of justice.
Adams’s willingness to sell out New York City to Donald Trump also betrays his constituents—which has prompted many to call on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to remove Adams from office, which she can do under the city charter. On MSNBC last night, Hochul expressed some openness to removing Adams, but dithered. “I cannot as the governor of this state have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction like a lot of other people are saying right now,” she said, whatever that means.
Adams deserves to be removed—but there is one specter lurking in the background that might be informing her decision. Depending on when she removes Adams, she may have to call a special election, which could increase the odds that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo could be elected Mayor.
There are good reasons to be concerned about Cuomo’s political return. But if Hochul is concerned about her actions enabling Cuomo, she has some options.
Let’s start at the beginning. Under Chapter 1, Section 9, of the New York City Charter, the Governor has the power to remove the Mayor from office. There are some minimal procedural requirements—the Governor must provide the Mayor with “a copy of the charges and an opportunity to be heard in his defense”—but these do not contemplate any sort of mandatory process or opportunity for review. The Governor also has the ability to suspend the Mayor “for a period not exceeding thirty days” while the charges are prepared and adjudicated.
Suppose that Hochul were to remove Adams from office. Depending on when, a special election may have to take place. This year, the City is already holding a mayoral election, and the primaries are scheduled to take place on June 24, 2025. Under Section 10(4) of the City Charter, if Hochul removed Adams from office ninety days before the primary—March 26—then a special election would have to take place.
Unlike other elections in New York City, which use partisan primaries to select nominees, this election would take place as a free-for-all,1 with candidates of all parties running in the same election. The election would use ranked-choice voting to determine the winner. In a potentially massive field of candidates, that could be chaotic, ultimately favoring a candidate with high name recognition and a strong base of supporters . . . like former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is already seen as very likely to run for Mayor. If Cuomo were to win the special, that could be a boon to his chances in the regularly scheduled Democratic primary, too.
There may be reasons to doubt that fear, of course. Though recent polls have shown Cuomo doing quite well in simulated ranked-choice voting in the Democratic primary, the special election would involve the all voters, including Republicans and conservative voters. These voters may not be inclined to support Cuomo if a serious alternative ends up running, and who wouldn’t otherwise get to vote against Cuomo in the Democratic primary.
In any event, that could be a reason why Hochul might be inclined to leave Adams right where he is until late March—and then possibly remove him at that point. It’s risky, and would certainly leave the City vulnerable to the brutality of Adams’s cooperation with the Trump administration for a month and a half.
However, Hochul has another, better option—she could wait ten days instead. She could use her removal powers under Section 9 to suspend Adams from office on February 24 while preparing and adjudicating the charges, and then remove him at the end of the maximum 30-day suspension period. The vacancy would only occur at the point of removal, not suspension, so she could evade the special election requirement.
Alternatively, Lieutenant Gov. Antonio Delgado could do it if Hochul won’t. Under Article IV, Section 5, of the New York Constitution, Delgado becomes acting Governor every time that Hochul leaves the state. When serving as acting Governor, he assumes her full powers—and so could suspend or remove Adams at that point. What’s more, Delgado has already called on Adams to step down.
There are plenty of options here for Kathy Hochul. If she’s concerned about empowering her disgraced predecessor’s comeback attempt, she can dither for a bit longer. But if she decides to wash her hands of the situation, and allow the voters of New York City to be held hostage by the Trump administration, that would be a grave dereliction of her duty.
Section 10(7) provides: “All nominations for elections to fill vacancies held pursuant to paragraphs four and five of this subdivision shall be by independent nominating petition.”