Jumaane Williams had been onstage for barely 10 minutes when an audience member asked an off-topic question on many New Yorkers’ minds.
“Are you ready to be mayor?” the person said.
The crowd, at a documentary screening in Greenwich Village, cheered in support. The event’s moderators responded enthusiastically. And Mr. Williams smiled. As New York City’s public advocate, he is first in line to succeed Mayor Eric Adams if he were to resign or be removed.
Turmoil surrounding Mr. Adams, capped off most recently by the resignations of four of his top deputies and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s bid to limit his power as he deals with a federal corruption case, has fueled Democratic angst about the mayor’s ability to lead the city. It has also renewed interest in the role Mr. Williams would play in the city’s efforts to chart a path forward.
If Mr. Adams were to leave office before March 26, Mr. Williams would serve as interim mayor for about 80 days before the city holds a special election for a mayor to serve through the end of the term in December. Mr. Williams has not indicated whether he would run for a full term under these provisions. But a growing number of Democrats have called for Mr. Adams to resign or pushed Ms. Hochul to remove him.
Taking over as mayor is clearly something Mr. Williams has thought about. Amid the uncertainty about the mayor’s future, he reached out to three of the departing deputy mayors and asked if they would reconsider leaving if he were to become mayor, according to four people familiar with the matter. At least one of the deputy mayors said they would stay, said two of the people familiar with the matter.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said the four deputies “are extraordinary public servants who have been vital to the Adams administration’s work reshaping New York.”
“Luckily for the people of this city, Jumaane Williams is not — and is never going to be — mayor,” she said.
In a Feb. 13 memo to the city’s agency heads, Mr. Williams outlined his responsibility to assume city leadership in the mayor’s absence under the City Charter and called on the officials to lead impartially in the face of what he described as a “dereliction of duty” from Mr. Adams.
Mr. Williams has said he plans to seek another term as public advocate and maintained that he is not angling for the mayor’s position. But in an interview, he acknowledged the possibility of assuming the top office in City Hall as Mr. Adams’s office plunges deeper into crisis.
“It’s irresponsible not to make sure that you’re prepared for every eventuality,” Mr. Williams said, adding that his office’s preparations for a transfer of power started when the mayor’s chief counsel resigned in September. “In case something happens before November, we’re going to make sure that we’re prepared to keep that confidence or restore that confidence that he’s worked hard to erase.”
After years of hesitating to criticize Mr. Adams, Mr. Williams has emerged as one of the mayor’s staunchest adversaries in City Hall. In recent weeks, he has called for Mr. Adams to step aside and the two men have traded barbs in public comments. The majority of Mr. Williams’s public statements this month have criticized the mayor’s leadership and cooperation with President Trump.
“Unfortunately right now, I don’t think we have a mayor of the city — we have a deputy of the White House,” Mr. Williams said at the Film Forum on Tuesday night, adding that it was “painful” for him as a Black man to talk about another Black man in Mr. Adams.
He pledged to play “whatever part I need to play, whether it’s convincing voters or stepping up if something happens.”
His potential interim leadership could further complicate a mayoral primary that is already in flux. Seven Democrats are running to challenge Mr. Adams, and an eighth, the former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, is as yet undeclared but is already leading the field in early surveys of the race.
Mr. Williams, 48, has served as public advocate since winning a special election in 2019. A progressive Democrat and self-proclaimed “activist-elected official,” he has championed affordable housing, immigrants’ rights and police accountability while in office and ran for governor in 2021 as a progressive challenger to Ms. Hochul.
As an elected official and organizer, he has been arrested nearly a dozen times while protesting for tenants’ rights, blocking a deportation proceeding and rallying against Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court nominees.
He has pushed legislation that would end solitary confinement in city jails and increase financial penalties on neglectful landlords. In 2022, he championed the “Homeless Bill of Rights,” a law that codified legal and civil protections for people living on the streets and in the city’s shelter system.
He has spoken candidly about living with Tourette’s syndrome and going to therapy for mental health challenges. Some details of his background have attracted criticism in previous campaign cycles, particularly relating to his home in Fort Hamilton, the U.S. Army base where he and his family live in civilian housing.
Some voters, too, have expressed concerns about Mr. Williams’s taking office, even as they sour on Mr. Adams. But Mr. Williams’s allies say they do not expect him to bring any immediate sweeping changes to City Hall if he assumes the office.
Those who have spoken to him in recent days said he was most concerned about bringing stability to the city’s leadership, which they see as newly compromised by Mr. Trump and rudderless without the top deputy mayors who could act as bulwarks against the president’s worst impulses. Under Mr. Trump, the Justice Department is now seeking to drop federal corruption charges against Mr. Adams.
“Traditionally, you would think, ‘Oh, Jumaane’s going to get in, and we have all of these initiatives we want to push, all these things we want to do,’” said Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president and a progressive ally of Mr. Williams. “This moment doesn’t call for that. This moment is going to call for just making sure we’re on solid footing for the new mayor that’s going to be there after the interim.”
Brad Lander, the city comptroller who Mr. Williams has committed to ranking first or second in the June Democratic primary, said that the public advocate may be most influential in his oversight of the city’s budget proceedings. The mayor and City Council will soon negotiate to pass a budget by June 30.
“I would expect that he would look to guarantee that continuity of service and restore some of the programs that working families rely on and that Eric Adams has cut,” Mr. Lander said, citing the mayor’s proposed cuts to public education and summer enrichment programs.
Mr. Adams has ardently defended himself against the federal corruption charges and maintained his commitment to seeking re-election. Speaking to supporters at Rehoboth Cathedral church in Brooklyn on Sunday, Mr. Adams sought to paint Mr. Williams as a naysayer who has spent more time plotting his way to City Hall than helping to lead it.
“I still don’t know what he does,” the mayor said. “But it’s hard to really serve the city when you wake up at noon and then try to go out.”
“If I step down, the public advocate becomes the mayor,” he continued to a chorus of groans. “So, can you imagine turning the city over to that? That is the top reason not to step down.”
Mr. Williams responded early the next morning. “Not quite noon,” he posted on X, “but been up for a while,” followed by smiley-faced emojis.
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