AOC doesn’t want to be mayor of New York City. Most likely, she has bigger plans

The tumult of Eric Adams’s indictment on federal charges as part of a long-running corruption case has much of New York’s media and political classes already consumed by speculation around who will take over the mayoralty.

But they’re also talking about another New Yorker who is far from likely to be seeking that job: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the rising progressive star of the New York congressional delegation. Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken backbencher in the Democratic House caucus, was one of the very first state electeds to call for Adams to resign as the feds closed in around him.

Her call for the mayor to step down actually came just a few hours before the impending indictment hit the headlines. Absent any comment about the criminal charges themselves, her statement referred instead to the growing staff exodus from the Adams administration and the separate investigations into the mayor’s political allies.

“The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening gov function. Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration,” she wrote on Twitter. “For the good of the city, he should resign.”

Adams stands accused of taking illegal campaign contributions, defrauding the city’s campaign fund, and even pressuring the New York Fire Department to open a consulate for the government of Turkey without following proper fire code protocols. The five-count indictment describes comical efforts to allegedly cover up the scheme, including an Adams aide reportedly excusing themself to the bathroom during an FBI interview, then deleting messages in the bathroom. Adams denies all the allegations.

The impending political vacuum at the top of New York City politics is bound to shake up the