If Charges Are Dropped, Could the Adams Campaign Get New Life?

On Wednesday night, as the candidates looking to depose Mayor Eric Adams prepared for a forum at a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, news of a potential game-changer made the rounds.

The disclosure that the Trump administration was discussing dropping the federal corruption charges against Mr. Adams threatened to further destabilize a mayor’s race that has been mired in the uncertainty shrouding Mr. Adams’s fate.

Questions quickly emerged: Would the Department of Justice pressure the Southern District of New York to drop the charges, just weeks after the office said it had more evidence of “criminal conduct” by the mayor?

Closer to home, would these developments dissuade the former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose base overlaps with Mr. Adams’s, from entering the race?

And given all of these machinations, how serious were the health problems that kept Mr. Adams from maintaining a public schedule this week (even as he quietly met with union leaders on topics that included his campaign)?

There were few definitive answers on Wednesday and little clarity on how Mr. Adams’s legal issues might be resolved.