A competitive and grueling mayor’s race does not take Father’s Day off.
Just look to Scott M. Stringer, who turned campaigning into a family affair on Sunday afternoon, when he, his wife and two sons canvassed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Mr. Stringer, the city comptroller, said.
It was not Mr. Stringer’s first time getting out the vote on Father’s Day. He has been an elected official in some capacity in New York since 1993.
That experience has been a major theme in his campaign for mayor. Mr. Stringer has hoped that his extensive political career would appeal to voters looking for know-how, while his shift toward progressive politics would attract left-leaning Democrats.
But Mr. Stringer’s campaign faltered after two women accused him of sexual misconduct, allegations dating from decades ago.
Mr. Stringer has denied the allegations and suggested that both were politically motivated. But a number of progressive groups and lawmakers who had endorsed him moved their support to other candidates, particularly Maya Wiley, who has sought to establish herself as the left’s best chance at the mayor’s office.
Still, as Mr. Stringer stopped to talk to voters, many of whom greeted him enthusiastically, he sounded optimistic about his path to victory on Tuesday.
“As you can see on the streets, the reaction is great,” he said. “It’s a different view than the pundits may have. I’ve been in these elections before, and I’ve never been, you know, the pundit candidate. But we end up pulling these elections off, and I’m hopeful.”
While he acknowledged that his message and Ms. Wiley’s had become very similar in recent weeks, he still believed that his time in politics made him well-suited to lead.
As he spoke and posed for photos with voters, his children — Max, 9, and Miles, 7 — were able to take part in the campaigning. Both sons, wearing blue “Team Stringer” shirts, were enthusiastically handing out Mr. Stringer’s pamphlets to voters. (Their success rate at stopping neighborhood residents was higher than their parents. Childlike cuteness has its advantages with voters.)
At one point, a neighborhood resident asked Mr. Stringer for a photo.
“That’ll cost you a first-place vote,” Mr. Stringer joked afterward.
“Deal,” the man responded, shaking Mr. Stringer’s hand.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
