The acquittal of Dov Hikind on fraud and corruption charges this week all but guarantees that he will remain a fixture in the Assembly for as long as he chooses. But the true test of his political future will come in the next few months as local and statewide races heat up.
Throngs of raucous supporters gathered around Hikind during a triumphant press conference Tuesday, the day after a jury cleared him of any wrongdoing, as the veteran Brooklyn lawmaker announced that he is running unopposed for re-election.

Once it went to the jury, Dov Hikind’s fate was never in doubt. “We decided pretty quickly he was not guilty” of the bribery charge against him, Lucille Muscarella, a juror in the federal corruption case against the Brooklyn assemblyman, told The Jewish Week. And the jury dispensed quickly, too, she said, with the charge that he had misapplied federal funds.