What Happens If the Mayor Steps Down? Your Guide to NYC’s Rules of Succession and Special Election

By Rachel Kahn and Rachel Holliday Smith Feb. 18, 2025, 3:21 p.m.
Since President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice made the highly unusual move to drop Mayor Eric Adams’ federal corruption charges, calls for Adams’ resignation are mounting. 

For months, Adams has adamantly denied that he will ever step down, including in the days after the DOJ’s edict. But the decision isn’t completely up to him.

The governor or a special city committee could remove him. 

Regardless of whether Adams were to leave office voluntarily or involuntarily, the next steps  would be the same.

Here’s what would happen next if the mayor leaves office: 

Back up: Has this ever happened before?

Only two New York City mayors have ever resigned: Jimmy Walker in 1932, and William O’Dwyer in 1950. And though both mayors left office due to corruption scandals, neither were ever criminally charged the way Adams has been.

However, the New York City Charter — the document outlining all rules for city government — has changed in the last 75 years, and if Adams were to leave office today, it would trigger a new process for replacing him that has never been enacted before.

Esther Fuchs, a professor International and Public Affairs and Political Science at Columbia, says that she understands why we’re looking to history to make sense of the present — but that this situation is unique.

“We’re in a particular moment where historical precedent is not really that relevant, to be honest,” Fuchs told THE CITY. “I’ve never seen anything like this, you know I’ve been working in this space for a long time.”

First: Public advocate as acting mayor

According to the City Charter, when the mayor steps down, the public advocate becomes acting mayor. The current public advocate is Jumaane Williams, who on Feb. 14 said that Adams could no longer keep his job. 

“He cannot be the mayor of this city and govern this city the way it needs to be governed,” he said in an interview on PIX11.

If Williams were somehow unable to act as mayor, then Comptroller Brad Lander would be next in line. Lander has been calling for Adams’ resignation since his indictment in September, and is currently running to replace him. 

Within three days of Adams leaving office, Williams would have to announce a date for a special election to find a more permanent mayor.

Second: Special election

The special election for a new mayor would be held on the first Tuesday that comes 80 days after the mayor has left office. 

Like the regular mayoral primary, the election would use ranked choice voting, where voters rank up to five candidates. If someone gets more than 50% of first choice votes, they win, but if not, the voting continues in rounds. (Our explainer of ranked choice voting goes into the nitty gritty.)

Since there wouldn’t be any primaries for the special election, it would be nonpartisan, meaning that all candidates would run as individuals without party affiliation. And it means that all voters regardless of party affiliation could vote, including registered Republicans, Democrats and independents all together — unlike the June primary, which is closed.

Big asterisk: If Adams leaves office too late, Williams would stay mayor until November.

If Adams were to leave office within 90 days of June primaries — so, after March 26 — then there is no special election, according to the Charter.

In that case, Williams would remain acting mayor until the general election in November. The mayor-elect would then immediately take office, rather than waiting until January 1, 2026 when the mayor is usually sworn in.

What would this mean for the mayoral race?

Even if Adams doesn’t leave office, we’ll be electing a new mayor in September, and they’ll be sworn in next January. 

But Fuchs reminds readers that that’s almost a year from now.

“The truth is, we’re going to have an election very soon, the people of New York will speak,” Fuchs said. “But the question is really, can we wait?”

If someone were to replace Adams via a special election, they would be in office until the new mayor elected this November takes their place. 

Williams, and whoever wins the special election, would still both be eligible to run for mayor in 2025 — which would make the special election an important one to watch, as an incumbent mayor might have a better chance of pulling ahead in next year’s race.

Adams’ resignation would also open the race to people who have expressed the desire to run only if Adams isn’t seeking reelection, including City Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli, a Republican from Staten Island, who said in September that he would enter the ring in a special election if Adams were to step down.

A nonpartisan election could give Borelli a better chance at winning, since he would be a local Republican leader up against a large pool of Democrats. 

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo might also be a persuasive candidate in a special election, as his name recognition would likely propel him to the lead — as we’re already seeing in recent mayoral polling. 

There’s also nothing stopping others who have declared their candidacies for mayor in 2025 from joining the special election. Lander, who would be next in line after Williams to succeed Adams, is already planning on running for mayor in 2025, along with State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn), State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), former comptroller Scott Stringer and others.

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What Happens If the Mayor Steps Down? Your Guide to NYC’s Rules of Succession and Special Election was first posted on February 18, 2025 at 6:00 pm.