As Yang’s New York Ties Are Questioned, He Cites Anti-Asian Bias

Andrew Yang, a son of Taiwanese immigrants and a leading candidate for mayor of New York City, took on issues of race and identity in extraordinarily personal terms on the campaign trail this week, seeking to reframe some criticisms of his candidacy as questions of his Americanness.

Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate, has in this race spoken out often and forcefully against a spike in anti-Asian violence that has alarmed many city residents.

But his efforts to condemn anti-Asian racism entered a new phase this week, as he criticized unnamed opponents for questioning his New York credentials, while his typically private wife, Evelyn, appeared with him at a news conference to blast a cartoon that portrayed him as a tourist.

The Yangs said the New York Daily News editorial cartoon played into anti-Asian stereotypes, and painted it as an example of subtle racism that had crept into the campaign.

“It is not OK to use Andrew to make Asians the butt of racist jokes, especially during this time of unprecedented racial tension,” Ms. Yang said, her voice appearing to waver at times. “A time when Asians are being randomly attacked on our streets just because of how they look.”

The joint news conference was called in part to denounce the cartoon, which the Daily News’s editorial board has defended, and in part to grapple with a spike in hate crimes and other attacks directed at Asian Americans. The Yangs spoke outside a subway stop in Queens on Tuesday, a day after a man of Asian descent had been pushed onto the tracks — one more incident in a string of violent assaults on Asian Americans across the city.

The emotional appearance, which was later featured in part in a digital ad, also came as the mayoral race appears to be tightening in the final stretch. Mr. Yang, who repeated criticisms of the cartoon on CNN on Thursday, is seeking to make history as the city’s first Asian American mayor.

From the beginning of his candidacy, Mr. Yang has banked on his ability to inspire significant turnout among Asian American voters, who have become an increasingly powerful force at the national level in recent campaigns.

Even as Mr. Yang’s front-runner status has begun to slip in some recent polls, he has demonstrated growing traction with New York’s diverse Asian American community, landing the endorsement of Representative Grace Meng, the highest-ranking Asian American elected official in New York, earlier this month. And on Monday, State Senator John C. Liu of Queens, who has previously sounded skeptical of Mr. Yang, endorsed him, calling him “a bit our A.O.C.,” a reference to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

“It’s not easy to call out racism when it’s against you, because it’s not easy for anybody to cast themselves as the victim,” said Mr. Liu, who ran for mayor himself in 2013 and is known as a formidable surrogate and retail campaigner. “I’m very happy that he spoke out about it.”

Mr. Yang, who was born in Schenectady, N.Y., and has lived in New York City for around 25 years, has faced vigorous scrutiny throughout the campaign over the depth of his civic ties to the city.

His allies say that some of the mockery reinforces stereotypes that cast Asian Americans as outsiders — the “foreign tourist,” as Mr. Liu put it, as encapsulated in the cartoon. He has been ridiculed over his definition of a bodega and his knowledge of subway lines, and he sparked an incredulous online outcry after citing Times Square, near his Hell’s Kitchen apartment, as his favorite subway station.

But Mr. Yang has also drawn criticism over the extent of his knowledge of municipal government and of the city’s fabric — issues that have nothing to do with his identity, but are central to questions surrounding his ability to govern.

Indeed, he has never voted for mayor of the city he hopes to lead, or worked in its government. Before running for mayor, he has said, he “almost certainly” had never visited one of the city’s public housing developments. He has struggled to navigate any number of policy questions, from details about police disciplinary records to queries about the subway system.

And he has in many ways branded himself as a political outsider who can think outside the constraints of a byzantine city bureaucracy.

Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou of Manhattan said that it was legitimate and vital to question a candidate’s experience, but that there are ways to do so without raising questions of “belonging.”

“I know what my experience brings to the table when I’m talking about different policies — that, to me, is important,” said Ms. Niou, who had previously supported Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, but withdrew that endorsement and has not backed anyone else. “You can talk about inexperience, you can talk about someone who has very little background knowledge about a particular policy issue. To say somebody is not belonging here is a whole other thing.”

Art Chang, the only other Asian American seeking the Democratic mayoral nomination, said that he shared Mr. Yang’s criticism of the cartoon — but he was skeptical of Mr. Yang’s approach to addressing it, suggesting that other issues, like pandemic recovery, were more urgent.

“It’s fine to make a comment about a particular cartoon, but does it deserve more than a tweet? I’m not sure,” said Mr. Chang, a long-shot candidate. “If it had the word ‘Chang’ on the front, I would not have reacted the same way.”

During his Tuesday appearance, Mr. Yang appeared reluctant to name names when asked which of his opponents were, in his view, casting doubt on his ties to the city — though he left the unmistakable impression that some contenders were doing just that.

“Saying something like, ‘Welcome to New York,’ I just chalked it up to politics,” Mr. Yang said. “But if you have a pattern, particularly in an era when Asians are being cast as foreign and even being victimized on the basis of their race, then it becomes impossible to ignore.”

Chris Coffey, his co-campaign manager, indicated on Thursday that the remarks referenced Mr. Stringer and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, who has surpassed Mr. Yang in some recent polls. Both men have sharply questioned Mr. Yang’s qualifications to lead the city — and certainly, he has a mixed record of success in the business and nonprofit worlds.

They have also jabbed him over the time he spent outside of New York City during the pandemic with his family (“Can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment?” Mr. Yang asked), with Tyrone Stevens, a Stringer spokesman, remarking at the time, “We welcome Andrew Yang to the mayor’s race — and to New York City.”

Mr. Yang’s comments were “a rebuke of any candidate who has tried to make Andrew an ‘other,’ and the two people that come to mind, for me at least, are Scott and Eric,” Mr. Coffey said. “I should also point out, Maya Wiley has been the opposite of that.”

Both the Adams and Stringer camps fired back on Thursday with vigorous criticism of Mr. Yang’s ability to navigate the city’s political landscape, without otherwise touching on his identity.

“Andrew Yang never voted in a local election then fled the city at its darkest hour,” said Evan Thies, an Adams spokesman, accusing Mr. Yang of returning to run for mayor. “That’s what Eric and so many New Yorkers think disqualifies him in this election.”

Mr. Stevens said Mr. Yang has shown “ignorance of basic facts and issues.”

“There has been a legitimate question from Day 1 of Mr. Yang’s candidacy, whether someone who’s never demonstrated any connection to the city’s civic life should be elected as its mayor,” he said. “To suggest my statement spoke to anything else is beyond disingenuous.”

Mr. Liu, the state senator, said that there is “tremendous support” for Mr. Yang among Asian American voters — but he questioned the idea that voters felt particularly protective of him following the cartoon incident.

“I don’t think voters tend to be defensive of candidates,” he said. Still, he went on, “The message we’ve all tried to project is, speak out, don’t be silent. It would have been, frankly, terrible if he didn’t speak out.”