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      In the N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race, Being Second Might Be Good Enough to Win

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      Political campaigns are considering cross-endorsements and vying for the No. 2 spot on voters’ ballots.In the fiercely competitive world of New York City politics, it is hard to imagine a candidate embracing a strategy to be voters’ second choice. Yet in the volatile, crowded race for mayor, such a gambit might actually pay off.The reason? Ranked-choice voting.The introduction this year of the ranked-choice system — allowing the selection of up to five choices for mayor, ranked in preferential order — has inserted a significant measure of unpredictability into an election still unsettled by the pandemic.With the June 22 primary less than two weeks away, campaign officials for the leading Democratic candidates are still trying to figure out how best to work the system to their advantage.Some campaigns have hired staffers who have experience with ranked-choice voting. They are weighing the risks of making a cross-endorsement with a rival. And candidates are openly reaching out to voters committed elsewhere, hoping to become their second choice.When Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, recently lost an important endorsement from his friend John Liu, a state senator, he was unbowed. He called on Mr. Liu to rank him second, behind a key opponent, Andrew Yang.“I’m going to need No. 2 voters, and I’m hoping that I can get him to endorse me as No. 2,” Mr. Adams said.Even before Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary, entered the race last year, an “electability” presentation to potential backers extolled how his “broad appeal makes him a natural second and third choice for voters.”New York City approved the switch to a ranked-choice system in a 2019 referendum; it was designed to give voters broader influence by allowing them to back their top choice while still weighing in on the race’s other candidates — lessening the chances of a scenario where two popular candidates split the vote and a candidate without broad support wins.If a candidate does not initially win a majority of the votes, the rankings come into play. The last-place candidate is eliminated in a series of rounds, with that candidate’s votes reallocated to whichever candidate their supporters ranked next. The rounds continue until there are two candidates left, and the winner has a majority.The winner will still need to appear as the first choice on as many ballots as possible. But with 13 Democratic candidates diffusing the vote, securing the second spot on other ballots could be just as important, and could elevate a candidate with fewer first-place votes into the lead.How Does Ranked-Choice Voting Work in New York?New Yorkers voting in the June 22 primary for mayor will use ranked-choice voting for the first time this year. Confused? We can help.Uncertainty over how voters will approach the new voting system is making many of the campaigns nervous.“We’re in uncharted territory, and our campaign has done everything it can to ensure that we get as many votes as we can get,” said Chris Coffey, a campaign manager for Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate.In most cases where ranked-choice elections have been held, the candidate who is ahead in the first round prevails. But there have been exceptions, including the 2010 mayoral election in Oakland, Calif., where Jean Quan won despite placing second in the first round. Ms. Quan, the city’s first female mayor, collected more second- and third-choice votes than her top rival, boosting her to victory.Ms. Quan had openly supported the candidate who placed third, Rebecca Kaplan, as her second choice and believes that the friendly gesture helped her with voters.“I knew there was a risk of helping Rebecca, but I thought it was more important to beat the front-runner,” she said in an interview.Those types of alliances have been rare in New York.A campaign adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning said that a cross-endorsement would only work if the other candidate was unquestionably lower in the standings. “You have to know that you’re going to beat the person you’re cross-endorsing — that’s rule No. 1,” the adviser said.Indeed, the campaigns of Mr. Yang and his chief rival, Mr. Adams, both considered trying to craft a cross-endorsement deal with Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, according to two people familiar with the plans. But her recent rise in the scant public polling available has made that proposition more unlikely.“We’re not overthinking our ranked-choice strategy,” said Lindsey Green, a spokeswoman for Ms. Garcia. “The goal is still to get as many No. 1 votes as we can and to win outright.”Kathryn Garcia, a veteran of city government, was thought to be a target of her rivals for a friendly co-endorsement, but her rise in polling has made that more unlikely.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesOnly two of the leading mayoral candidates, in fact, are even willing to list a second choice: Mr. Yang backs Ms. Garcia; Mr. Donovan, the former federal housing secretary, supports Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio.The only known cross-endorsement pact was between Joycelyn Taylor, a businesswoman, and Art Chang, an entrepreneur, two Democrats who have shown little support in polling and fund-raising, and stand little chance of winning.The mayoral primary will be the first citywide contest in New York City to use ranked-choice voting, and the new system was expected to change the race’s dynamics.Most mayoral primaries typically feature bruising campaigns; ranked-choice was supposed to discourage that, with candidates wary of alienating each other’s base. That had largely been true this year, but the level of sniping and negative campaigning has increased in recent weeks.One thing is certain: There will be no costly runoff this year; whoever emerges as the winner will be the Democratic nominee, even if that person did not get 50 percent of the initial vote.But the voting system also has its quirks.Assuming no one wins a majority in the first round, the city’s Board of Elections must completely receive and process mail-in ballots before it begins the ranked-choice tally. That is expected to take weeks, and officials have cautioned that a victor may not be declared until mid-July.“Ranked-choice voting has definitely added an unpredictability to the race,” said Ester Fuchs, a politics professor at Columbia University. “The candidates would like to figure out how to maximize their chances of winning, and they haven’t been able to figure it out.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Mr. Yang, who has strong name recognition and centrist views, has tried to evoke a cheerful image on the campaign trail. He said recently on MSNBC that the voting system rewards candidates like him with “broad appeal.”Mr. Yang is working with Bill Barnes, a veteran of San Francisco government, which uses ranked-choice voting, and Billy Cline, who worked on the campaign of London Breed, that city’s first Black female mayor.Mr. Adams, who appears to be the front-runner in the race, is working with Evan Thies, a media strategist who has experience with the issue, and Ben Tulchin, a San Francisco-based pollster from Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.At the same time, progressive groups and the city’s powerful teachers’ union are urging New Yorkers not to rank Mr. Yang or Mr. Adams at all.“Any appearance on your ballot, even as your fifth choice, can get them elected,” the United Federation of Teachers recently told its members.Our City, a super PAC backed by progressive groups, is also arguing that anyone else would be better than Mr. Yang or Mr. Adams.“The rest of the candidates — we don’t feel like they’re completely unreachable for progressive issues,” said Gabe Tobias, who is running the PAC. “Adams and Yang are unreachable. That’s a situation where we couldn’t win any of the things we want to win.”Andrew Yang,who has mostly evoked a cheerful image during the campaign, said that ranked-choice voting rewards people like him with “broad appeal.”Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York TimesOver the last few weeks, more endorsements have been given in ranked-choice format: The Working Families Party had endorsed the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, first; Dianne Morales, a nonprofit executive, second; and Ms. Wiley third. But the group withdrew its support for Mr. Stringer and Ms. Morales after their campaigns became mired in controversy, and it is now supporting only Ms. Wiley.Daniel Rosenthal, a state assemblyman, and two Jewish groups in Queens just ranked Ms. Garcia second. Their first choices were split between Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams.Representative Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican-American to serve in Congress, also recently endorsed Mr. Adams first and Ms. Wiley second. (He rescinded his initial endorsement of Mr. Stringer after allegations emerged that Mr. Stringer had sexually harassed a woman working on his 2001 campaign for public advocate. Mr. Stringer denies the allegations.)The system allows voters to hedge their bets and rank multiple candidates — extending the odds of casting a winning vote for someone agreeable, even if not preferable. A voter could, for instance, rank three left-leaning candidates — Ms. Wiley, Mr. Stringer and Ms. Morales — guaranteeing that one would get their vote in a late round.The same scenario could present itself to a voter who wanted to support a Black candidate, and rank only the four major Black Democrats: Mr. Adams, Ms. Wiley, Ms. Morales, who identifies as Afro-Latina, and Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive.Yet some Black leaders are also concerned that minority and working-class voters might not rank more than one candidate because there has not been enough public education about the process. More than half of voters say they will pick a second choice; 30 percent said they would only pick one choice, according to a Fontas Advisors poll in May.Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a good government advocacy group, said that ranked-choice voting eliminates the need for an expensive runoff election, which could take just as long to find a winner.“Democracy takes time, and every vote counts,” she said. “Accurate and fair election results are worth waiting for.” More

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      Where Does Eric Adams Live? Rivals Question His Residency and Ethics.

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      Mr. Adams, a leading candidate for New York mayor, tried to rebut questions about whether he lives part-time in New Jersey, while his opponents sought to cast doubt on his truthfulness.Eric Adams, who is considered the leading candidate for mayor of New York City, came under intense fire on Wednesday from Democratic rivals who questioned whether he lived in New Jersey or the city and cast doubt on his honesty.Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, says that an apartment in a multiunit townhouse he owns on Lafayette Avenue, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, is his primary residence.But he also co-owns a co-op in Fort Lee, N.J., with his partner, who lives there, and has said publicly that he moved into Brooklyn Borough Hall for a time after the pandemic hit because he was working such long hours. On Tuesday, Politico New York reported that Mr. Adams used conflicting addresses in public records and that he was still spending nights at Borough Hall, based on surveillance by the publication and rival campaigns.Before that story was published, Mr. Adams said that he would skip a debate among the top candidates scheduled for Thursday and would instead attend a vigil for a 10-year-old killed in gun violence in Queens.Amid the attacks from other campaigns, Mr. Adams invited reporters to the townhouse, where he plied them with vegan pastries, offered a tour of what he said was his apartment — pointing out the “small, modest kitchen” and “small, modest bathroom” — and sought to dismiss residency questions in a news conference during which he at times grew emotional.“How foolish would someone have to be to run to be the mayor of the city of New York and live in another municipality,” said Mr. Adams, joined by his son, Jordan.Mr. Adams’s spokesman said that he lives at the Lafayette Avenue address, that he uses it with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the city’s Campaign Finance Board and that he has been registered to vote there since 2017.The appearance and tour did little to dampen attacks from his Democratic rivals and their teams, who said there were serious issues of transparency, ethics and integrity at play as they unspooled some of the fiercest, most personal criticisms of the campaign so far.“Eric Adams has a problematic record of not being fully honest or transparent with the voters of New York,” Kathryn Garcia, a former city sanitation commissioner, said in a statement. “As we recover from Covid, the last thing we need is a career politician with a hidden agenda at City Hall. Our city cannot recover if the mayor lacks integrity.”Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, called on Mr. Adams to release records related to his residency, and Maya D. Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, called the controversy over Mr. Adams’s residency “bizarre.”“I think there’s some straight-up questions that are fundamental about, where do you live, Eric?” she said.And in a rare display of cross-campaign comity, Andrew Yang’s co-campaign managers, Sasha Ahuja and Chris Coffey, released a list of questions for Mr. Adams on Wednesday that, they noted, were intended to add to questions raised by Ms. Wiley’s team the day before.Andrew Yang at a vigil Wednesday for a 10-year-old killed in Queens. He has been criticized for leaving the city during the pandemic.Andrew Seng for The New York Times“Why would anyone vote for a candidate who can’t even be honest about where he lives?” Ms. Ahuja and Mr. Coffey asked, as they detailed a list of ethics concerns. “How are the traffic problems in Fort Lee? What are you hiding?”Mr. Adams and most of the other candidates have sharply criticized Mr. Yang for spending time at his home in New Paltz, N.Y., with his family during the pandemic, and Mr. Yang has discussed his time out of the city in a manner many found to be tone-deaf.The Colony at 1530, the Palisade Avenue building in Fort Lee where Mr. Adams co-owns an apartment with his partner, Tracey Collins, is more than 30 stories tall with views overlooking the Hudson River. On Tuesday, two valets said they recognized Mr. Adams when shown his picture by a reporter.Mr. Adams has done at least seven web appearances from the Fort Lee apartment between April 2020 and February of this year, according to research by a rival campaign.“We did over 100 forums,” Mr. Adams said Wednesday. He acknowledged that at times he may have joined forums while at the apartment he co-owns with Ms. Collins in New Jersey. “There’s nothing wrong or unethical about doing them,” he said.At the news conference, Mr. Adams insisted that he was simply private about his home life. He appeared overcome with emotion and unable to speak for more than a minute as he retold a story of being shot at when he was speaking out against racism in the Police Department, just days after his son, now 26, was born.“I realized the life I was living, my advocacy, was going to take his dad away from him,” said Mr. Adams, who during the news conference smiled and waved at some neighbors as they passed by. “Throughout my entire police career, none of my colleagues knew I had a son. I wanted to shield him from the reality of what I was doing. I became very private.”He led a tour of a wood- and brick-trimmed apartment, while reporters inspected the refrigerator, and feverish speculation swirled on social media about whether it matched pictures of refrigerators he had shared in earlier years, when he said he was at home in Brooklyn.Neighbors in Brooklyn have offered mixed accounts of whether they know Mr. Adams.“I don’t keep up and down track of him 24/7, but I see him quite a lot,” said David Goodman, a neighbor who owns the townhouse two doors down from the one Mr. Adams owns.Mr. Adams was joined by his son, Jordan, in front of the Brooklyn townhouse where he said they live.Dave Sanders for The New York TimesSeveral others said they had seen much less of him in recent months.“I haven’t seen him in a while,” said Kaseam Baity, 49, who has lived across the street for about a decade.On Tuesday, the day before Mr. Adams gave his tour, a reporter for The New York Times knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, but no one answered. There were no names listed next to the apartment buzzers, which were partially covered with black tape..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Contributing to the confusion over Mr. Adams’s residence, his voter registration lists his unit as Apartment 1, but a utility service record from 2019 reviewed by The Times shows a tenant living at that unit. Mr. Adams’s spokesman said the tenant, who lives on the parlor floor above where Mr. Adams led the tour, had most likely misidentified her unit number.Mr. Adams’s highly unusual Wednesday news conference unfolded as the race entered a tumultuous, increasingly rancorous final stretch, less than two weeks before the June 22 Democratic primary that is almost certain to determine the city’s next mayor.Mr. Adams, a former police captain, has topped a number of recent polls as he presses a message focused on public safety, a top priority for voters, polls show.But the race appears fluid even in its final days. It will be decided by ranked-choice voting, and it is difficult to predict what the electorate in a post-pandemic June primary will look like.A Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos poll released earlier this week showed Mr. Adams leading the Democratic field, followed by Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate, and Ms. Garcia.But the poll was conducted in the second half of May, and there has been little data since to capture how a number of major recent developments are registering with voters, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Saturday endorsement of Ms. Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio.Jumaane D. Williams, the New York City public advocate, endorsed Ms. Wiley on Wednesday, the latest effort to consolidate left-wing support around her candidacy in the homestretch.Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, said he had been reluctant to make an endorsement because of his position, but that he had decided to back Maya Wiley.Hilary Swift for The New York Times“We must unite to elect and rank Maya Wiley to be the second Black and first woman mayor of the city of New York,” Mr. Williams said.Mr. Williams, who had not previously endorsed any of the candidates, said that as the city’s public advocate, he had considered staying out of the race. But he said he was “disturbed and dismayed” by what he cast as unsubstantive and even fear-mongering rhetoric in the race, and urged New Yorkers to embrace Ms. Wiley’s candidacy.“This moment is being dominated by a loud discussion of whether New York will return to the ‘bad old days,’” he said. “But for so many of us, those ‘bad old days’ run through Bloomberg and Giuliani,” he said, “through the abuses of stop-and-frisk and surveillance.”Earlier in the day, as he led reporters down to the basement level where the bedroom is, Mr. Adams warned them to watch out for the creaky first step. There were a pair of African masks on the ledge of the stairway looking as if they were ready to be hung and a dusty-looking smoke detector.The bedroom smelled a bit damp, and there were some suit jackets in the closet. Three pairs of sneakers were perched on a ledge next to a bed, with a few pairs of slippers next to the closet. The blue comforter on the bed was rumpled, and there were at least five pillows.Mr. Adams, who has never married, said he didn’t want to subject Ms. Collins, his partner, to scrutiny as well. He said that when he saw her last Saturday, it was their first meeting in over two months.Even as Mr. Adams found himself on the defensive over residency questions, there were signs of his continued political strength: A major Hasidic faction backed Mr. Adams overnight as their first choice for mayor, after the Yang campaign had previously indicated it had the support of both Satmar factions in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.Mr. Yang was the second choice, said Rabbi Moishe Indig, a Satmar leader. “We are still endorsing Yang, and we still believe he is a good guy and a nice guy,” he said. “But he is new. We always want to make new friends, but we don’t want to throw our old friends under the bus.”Reporting was contributed by Kevin Armstrong, Anne Barnard, Michael Gold, Amy Julia Harris, Jazmine Hughes and Liam Stack. More

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      Eric Adams Draws Fire for Skipping Mayoral Debate

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      Mr. Adams, a leading candidate for New York City mayor, was accused by his rivals of trying to dodge scrutiny of questions about his residency.Turbulence again rocked the New York City mayoral race on Tuesday, as Eric Adams, a leading contender, came under fire from two directions, even as two rivals, Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley, displayed signs of growing support.Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, first drew criticism for his decision to skip a new debate among the top candidates scheduled for Thursday; he will instead attend a vigil for a 10-year-old killed in gun violence in Queens.Then questions emerged over where Mr. Adams actually lives, after Politico reported some inconsistencies in public records that suggested that he did not live in the Brooklyn apartment where he had registered to run for mayor.During the pandemic, Mr. Adams has often slept in Brooklyn Borough Hall, a habit that he has apparently continued in recent weeks. He also co-owns an apartment in Fort Lee, N.J.“WTF?!?!” was the Wiley campaign’s reaction.An adviser to Andrew Yang, Eric Soufer, said Mr. Adams “refuses to give a straight answer” about where he lives. “Eric Adams is obviously skipping the debate to avoid answering questions about how long he’s lived in New Jersey. If my candidate lived in Jersey, I’d probably do the same thing,” he said.Evan Thies, an Adams campaign adviser, said in an interview that Mr. Adams lives in the garden apartment of the brownstone he owns on Lafayette Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, where his son also lives. Mr. Thies said that Mr. Adams sleeps in the garden apartment “most nights,” and that the last time he slept there was Monday night.While Mr. Adams often works late at Borough Hall, sometimes sleeping there, Mr. Thies said, he only does borough presidency work there, never campaign work.Mr. Adams did not comment directly, but said on Twitter: “You know it’s silly season when your opponents are staking out your office late at night so they can attack you for working hard!”The issue would have been certain to come up had Mr. Adams attended the debate on Thursday, as his opponents try to shake his lead in a race that remains volatile just four days before early voting begins on Saturday.While Mr. Adams has run neck and neck with Mr. Yang, the former presidential candidate, Ms. Garcia and Ms. Wiley flexed their ability to draw serious financial support. If one of them wins, she would be New York’s first female mayor, and both have made late-breaking gains in the race.Ms. Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, hit a fund-raising milestone when she raised enough money to max out public matching funds, her campaign said Tuesday. Ms. Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, got a boost from the nation’s largest health care union, 1199SEIU, which announced it was buying $1.2 million worth of television ads backing her campaign.Seeking to capitalize on a coveted endorsement last week from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a lodestar for progressive voters, Ms. Wiley also unveiled one of her most ambitious proposals yet: a $1 billion plan to create city-sponsored medical insurance that her campaign said would cover 246,000 low-income and undocumented New Yorkers, a large chunk of the city’s 600,000 uninsured residents..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The new union ad features health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately harmed low-income immigrant and Black communities.Maya Wiley unveiled a proposal to create a city-sponsored health insurance plan.Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesMs. Wiley framed her plan as a way to protect the city’s essential workers who had been exposed to the coronavirus during the pandemic. She made her announcement at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, which was hit very hard during the pandemic.“We are going to invest in a health insurance program for the folks who don’t qualify for Medicaid, for the folks who don’t get health insurance on the job, for whom Obamacare isn’t a solution,” she said. “We’re going to do it because we are a great city of tremendous resources when we know how to use them.”But while progressive standard bearers like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez emphasize free care or “Medicare for All,” Ms. Wiley’s plan would follow the traditional insurance model. Patients earning more than $25,000 per year would have copays and deductibles. The plan would replace a program created by Mr. de Blasio to expand access to free care at city hospitals.Ms. Wiley will be one of the four leading candidates who have said they will participate in the debate on Thursday, a WCBS-TV spokesman, Mike Nelson, said. The others are Mr. Yang, Ms. Garcia and Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller.Mr. Yang’s campaign accused Mr. Adams of running scared by avoiding the debate. But Mr. Adams said he had another commitment: a ceremony with the family of Justin Wallace, 10, who died last weekend in a shooting on the Rockaway peninsula in Queens.“I wanted to do the debate. I enjoy debating the people on the stage, I wanted to, but the people of Rockaway, the people of the city, violence is suffocating our city,” Mr. Adams, a former police officer, said on WCBS-TV.Reporting was contributed by Katie Glueck, Sean Piccoli, Dana Rubinstein and Mihir Zaveri. More

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      Andrew Yang Is Hit With Negative Ads From Animal Rights Leaders

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      In 2013, the animal rights leaders helped undermine the mayoral campaign of Christine Quinn, boosting the chances of the eventual winner, Bill de Blasio.The last time there was a crowded race for mayor of New York City, a curious issue gained unexpected prominence: Just about every major candidate promised to do away with Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages, citing concerns over the horses’ safety.A notable exception was Christine Quinn, then the speaker of the New York City Council. Because of her stance, an animal rights group helped fund an “Anybody But Quinn” campaign that was credited with helping to topple her candidacy in 2013, paving the way for Bill de Blasio to become mayor.Eight years later, with horse-drawn carriages still rumbling through Central Park, that same animal rights group is making a return appearance in the 2021 mayoral race.The two founders of the group, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, or NYCLASS, announced on Monday their support for a new super PAC that will run television and digital ads attacking Andrew Yang, one of the Democratic front-runners in the contest.The ads were not the only curious development in the race: The office of the New York City comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, whose campaign for mayor appears to be losing steam, released an audit on Monday targeting the emergency food program established by a rival candidate, Kathryn Garcia, who has been rising in the polls. The audit raised concerns that he was using taxpayer dollars for political purposes.The audit and the anti-Yang ads were the most recent illustrations of how the June 22 primary, which is likely to determine the next mayor of this heavily Democratic city, remains in flux. Mr. Yang’s numbers have been falling, Ms. Garcia has gained ground, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, is now thought to be in the lead, according to an Ipsos poll commissioned by Spectrum News NY1 that was released on Monday.The digital ads attacking Mr. Yang feature photographs of apparently ailing carriage horses lying on the street, and Mr. Yang’s “no” response on a questionnaire asking if he would support efforts “to strengthen welfare protections and increase the standards of care for New York City’s carriage horses.”The ads attacking Mr. Yang feature photos of apparently ailing carriage horses lying on the street.Andrew Seng for The New York TimesThe television ad makes no mention of animal rights, focusing instead on Mr. Yang’s qualifications.“What do we actually know about Andrew Yang?” the narrator asks in the advertisement, before launching into an unflattering biography of the former presidential candidate, describing him as “a prep school millionaire whose business career mostly failed.”The organization is spending about $200,000 for one week of ads, but is willing to spend about $1 million, according to its spokesman, James Freedland.The group’s leaders, Steve Nislick, a former real estate executive, and Wendy Neu, who runs a recycling and real estate company, declined interview requests. Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Ms. Neu’s sister and a film producer who is helping fund the super PAC, also declined to comment.In a statement, Mr. Nislick said that there was “no question that respect for animal rights goes hand in hand with respect for human rights.”“It’s clear that Andrew Yang is the wrong choice for mayor on both fronts,” he continued. “From supporting the abusive carriage horse industry to opposing tax increases on the wealthiest New Yorkers, Yang is simply unable and unwilling to stand up to the powerful forces that perpetuate cruelty in order to make a profit.”Chris Coffey, one of Mr. Yang’s campaign managers, spent years working as a lobbyist for NYCLASS and said he was taken aback by the group leaders’ decision to target Mr. Yang. Mr. Coffey accused the group of working behind the scenes with Mr. Adams.“This is the clearest evidence yet that Eric Adams is cutting deals with the same people who put Bill de Blasio in office,” Mr. Coffey said. “It’s time for a change from these sketchy unethical deals of the past.”A spokesman for Mr. Adams scoffed at Mr. Coffey’s suggestion that the borough president was involved in the ad campaign.“Absurd and sad,” said Evan Thies, the spokesman. “Apparently there are plenty of other people who don’t think Andrew Yang should be mayor.”A spokesman for Eric Adams, center, scoffed at the suggestion that the borough president was involved in the ad campaign.James Estrin/The New York TimesThe group’s founders donated generously to Mr. de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, but they also fought with him over his failure to actually ban the industry, as he had promised. Instead, Mr. de Blasio has moved the horse-carriage line from 59th Street into Central Park, and signed legislation limiting horse-carriage operations on particularly hot days..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}During his regular Monday morning media briefing, Mr. de Blasio said he hadn’t met or spoken with Ms. Neu or Mr. Nislick in “months and months, for sure.”In the years after the 2013 election, the New York City Campaign Finance Boards fined NYCLASS for making illegal campaign contributions, and the issue of horse carriages receded into the background.This year, four of the top eight mayoral candidates responded to NYCLASS’s candidate questionnaire. Only two of them expressed outright support for eventually banning the industry: Maya Wiley, Mr. de Blasio’s former counsel, and Dianne Morales, the former nonprofit executive. Mr. Adams selected “no” in response to the question about banning the industry, but then elaborated that he was “open to further discussion about prohibiting the operation of horse-drawn carriages.”Ms. Quinn, the target of the organization’s 2013 ad campaign, expressed disapproval of the group leaders’ new efforts.“What’s the horror movie where you can’t kill the monster and he keeps coming back?” Ms. Quinn said when reached by phone.Meanwhile, Mr. Stringer’s release of an audit targeting Ms. Garcia’s emergency food program prompted criticism that he was misusing the comptroller’s office for political gain.After the pandemic threw one million New Yorkers out of work, and it became apparent that New York City was facing a hunger crisis of historic proportions, Mr. de Blasio tasked Ms. Garcia, then the sanitation commissioner, with creating an emergency food program. At its height, it distributed 1.5 million meals a day.On Monday, Mr. Stringer’s office faulted the city for failing to adequately vet the background of a contractor whose owner had been convicted of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, released an audit targeting an emergency food program established by a rival candidate, Kathryn Garcia.Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesA spokeswoman for Mr. Stringer said the audit began last July, well before Ms. Garcia launched her campaign, and that the office evaluates whether an audit merits a news release based on the significance of the findings and recommendations.“The comptroller’s office has been diligently working to examine what went well and what didn’t during the response to the pandemic, and how to improve agencies’ emergency procurement procedures to quickly secure goods and services while mitigating the risks of squandering taxpayer dollars and contracting with unqualified or criminal vendors,” said Hazel Crampton-Hays, the comptroller’s press secretary.But Annika Reno, a spokeswoman for the Garcia campaign, was unconvinced.“It’s hardly a surprise that after Scott has spent his entire career in political office, that he would then use his office and taxpayer dollars to further his political career,” Ms. Reno said. “This is why New Yorkers don’t want another career politician as mayor, they want a public servant who gets things done.” More

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      Wiley Wins the Progressives: 5 Takeaways From the N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race

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      With just two weeks to go before the primary, Maya Wiley is consolidating support from the left wing of the Democratic Party.With two weeks to go before the Democratic primary, the progressive left has seemed to have coalesced around a single candidate, relying on a time-honored technique: self-elimination.The candidate is Maya Wiley, the former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio. Her rise to the top of the progressive pile did not come easily. To get there, her two rivals first had to see their campaigns implode.First to take himself out was Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller. He was an original progressive favorite, until two women came forward with decades-old allegations of inappropriate sexual advances, causing many progressives leaders to withdraw their support.Next to run into trouble was Dianne Morales, the former nonprofit executive whose campaign mutinied, tried to unionize and then accused her of union-busting. It was a bad look for a woman who has run on empowering the grass roots.Support for Morales collapsesFour progressive groups, including the Working Families Party, have rescinded their endorsements for Ms. Morales. All are now endorsing Ms. Wiley, joining Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, who endorsed her over the weekend.And three of the city’s major progressives groups, the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, the Jewish Vote and New York Progressive Action Network, have all moved from Ms. Morales to Ms. Wiley.“As Eric Adams and Andrew Yang continue to push dangerous pro-corporate, pro-carceral agendas, it’s more important than ever that we consolidate progressive strength to ensure a working people’s champion wins this year,” said Sochie Nnaemeka, the New York State director of the Working Families Party. “Maya Wiley has the momentum, platform and growing diverse coalition to win this race.”The rescinded endorsements follow news last week that Ms. Morales’s top adviser, Ifeoma Ike, has also defected to Ms. Wiley’s team.Although many of these groups are switching to Ms. Wiley, Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary who has remained in the second tier of top candidates, is trying to take advantage of Ms. Morales’s misfortune by poaching her supporters.His campaign has sent texts to Ms. Morales’s backers highlighting his support for ending solitary confinement in prisons and removing metal detectors from schools.“Shaun is the only candidate, aside from Dianne, who has called for $3 billion to be reallocated from the police and corrections budget toward community-based public safety and racial justice initiatives,” said Jeremy Edwards, a spokesman for Mr. Donovan.A.O.C. backs list of progressives for City CouncilAlthough Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement of Ms. Wiley on Saturday made headlines, she also took a stand on the City Council race, throwing support to 60 candidates running in 31 districts.They had all signed a 30-point pledge aligned with the vision of her PAC, Courage to Change, promising to support policies like a Green New Deal, moving money from the police to social services, investing in public transit and rejecting donations from the fossil-fuel and real-estate industries.The message: Lasting movements are built from the ground up, and the fight for the bottom of the ticket is at least as important as the top-billed mayoral race.“We are advancing and making sure that we are coming together as a movement,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said, standing before rows of candidates holding purple Courage to Change signs. She urged New Yorkers in their 31 districts to vote for them.The list includes all six candidates on the Democratic Socialists of America slate: Brandon West, Michael Hollingsworth and Alexa Avilés in Brooklyn; Tiffany Cabán and Jaslin Kaur in Queens; and Adolfo Abreu in the Bronx. Those candidates are emphasizing climate and environmental-justice policies such as building publicly owned renewable-energy infrastructure and banning new fossil-fuel infrastructure like gas power plants and pipelines.In districts with several candidates from her list, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez picked top choices on the basis of their support from grass-roots groups focused on public housing, climate action and immigrant and labor rights. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez emphasized that to keep its momentum, the progressive movement needs to build a bloc in the City Council to help a Mayor Wiley shift policy to the left.“We have a candidate that grass-roots movements can work with, can influence, can shape,” she said. Trump looms over the Republican primaryThe shadow of one of the most prominent former New Yorkers loomed large over the Republican mayoral primary last week.On Thursday morning, Fernando Mateo, a restaurant owner, announced an endorsement from Michael T. Flynn, a former national security adviser to President Donald J. Trump.Hours later, Mr. Mateo announced at a debate with his opponent, Curtis Sliwa, that he had met with Mr. Trump that same day to discuss the state of New York City.“He is very saddened by the state of this city,” Mr. Mateo said of the former president, who was a lifelong New Yorker until he changed his primary residence to Florida in 2019. “President Trump has compassion for New York and New Yorkers.”A representative for Mr. Trump, who has not made an endorsement in the race, confirmed the meeting.Mr. Mateo has repeatedly voiced his support for the former president, who is under investigation by the Manhattan district attorney.Throughout his campaign, Mr. Mateo has criticized Mr. Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels who only became a Republican last year, for not supporting or voting for Mr. Trump, who remains popular with Republicans..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The two have also sparred over the lie that Mr. Trump won the 2020 election — Mr. Sliwa says he did not — which has become a litmus test for conservative candidates across the country.Mr. Flynn, a former general who became one of the most ardent voices in Mr. Trump’s push to overturn the election and recently suggested at conference organized by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory that he would support a military coup, cited Mr. Mateo’s embrace of the former president as the reason for his endorsement.“He understands, supports and embraces President Trump’s America First agenda,” Mr. Flynn said.McGuire’s wife cuts an adMr. Yang’s wife, Evelyn, rode the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island, Brooklyn, with him in his first advertisement.Mr. Stringer’s wife, Elyse Buxbaum, appears with him in an ad showing the couple getting their two sons ready for school.Now, as the former Wall Street executive Raymond J. McGuire continues to struggle in the polls, his wife, Crystal McCrary McGuire, a lawyer and filmmaker, is appearing solo in an ad set to launch on Tuesday.The ad shows Ms. McCrary McGuire with Mr. McGuire and their 8-year-old son, Leo, and talks about his work behind the scenes helping New Yorkers as a “private public servant,” including on the board of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.“There are literally hundreds of stories about how Ray has been serving the community of New York City for three decades, but he hasn’t been putting out press releases about it,” Ms. McCrary McGuire said in an interview.Mr. McGuire entered the race with strong support from the business community. He has raised more than $9 million and has a super PAC supporting his campaign, but he has not been able to break through with voters, according to available polling.Yang takes on de BlasioFor weeks, Andrew Yang has been treated by the other mayoral candidates as a front-runner, drawing sustained attacks at debates and on the campaign trail. Yet Mr. Yang is sharpening his attacks on someone who is not even running against him: Mr. de Blasio.On Tuesday, Mr. Yang delivered what his campaign called a “closing message,” blaming Mr. de Blasio and his administration for problems associated with crime and quality of life.Then on Thursday, Mr. Yang showed up outside a Y.M.C.A. in Park Slope, Brooklyn — a gym famously frequented by Mr. de Blasio — where he planned to talk about how best to “turn the page on the de Blasio administration.” (Mr. Yang was heckled by protesters and forced to leave.)It has been a shift in tone for Mr. Yang, who had for months positioned himself as an exuberant, optimistic political outsider.But the attacks serve several functions. By targeting Mr. de Blasio, Mr. Yang is seeking to cement his position as a reform candidate. He is also implicitly drawing a contrast with some of his top rivals in the race.He has cast Eric Adams, who is vying with Mr. Yang for moderate Democrats, as an ally of Mr. de Blasio. And two other rivals worked for Mr. de Blasio — Ms. Wiley and Kathryn Garcia, who served as sanitation commissioner — making criticisms of the mayor’s record a form of proxy attack against them. More

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      N.Y.C. Mayoral Candidates on Police Reform

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      We interviewed the eight leading Democratic candidates for mayor about the biggest issues facing the city. Here’s what they said.The protests last summer following George Floyd’s death sparked a national outcry over police brutality. Here are the most important police reforms eight of the leading candidates for mayor of New York say they would pursue:Eric AdamsWe’re no longer going to allow police officers who are abusive to remain in the department for such a long period of time. I’m going to have a fair but speedy trial within a two-month period to determine if that officer should remain a police officer. The goal here is to rebuild trust, look at our police budget, look at areas such as overtime and civilianization of policing.Shaun DonovanWe need to reform policing by creating real transparency, real accountability, weeding out the bad apples. But we also need to reduce what we’re asking the police to do. They’re asked to be mental-health experts with our homeless and in so many other situations.Kathryn GarciaThe most important police reform that I would pursue as mayor is to ensure that we have very clear and transparent discipline for our officers. We have to instill new training programs, and make sure that we are promoting those officers who are rebuilding trust with communities.Raymond J. McGuireI would create an emergency social services bureau, 24 hours, seven days a week, given that four to five out of the 10 calls that go into 911 have to do with mental health issues.Dianne MoralesI don’t believe that we can reform the Police Department. I think we need to transform it. And that means divesting from the department, investing in the services that we need, and then fundamentally transforming the way the department operates in our communities.Scott M. StringerI will put forth a community safety plan that meets the challenges of reducing police interaction in communities of color but at the same time recognizing that we have an ability to keep our city safe. They’re not mutually exclusive. We can do both.Maya WileyPolice brutality has been at a crisis point in this country. I have many plans on transforming policing in the city. That starts by putting people back in public safety, and that means focusing on the job of policing that police should be doing to keep us safe, but taking those functions police did not sign up for the force to do and should not be doing, like mental health crisis response.Andrew YangCultures change from the top. We need a civilian police commissioner who’s not of the N.Y.P.D. culture to help our police force evolve. More

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      N.Y.C. Mayoral Candidates on Pandemic Recovery

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      We interviewed the eight leading Democratic candidates for mayor about the biggest issues facing the city. Here’s what they said.The next mayor will inherit an economy devastated by the pandemic. Here’s how eight of the leading candidates for mayor of New York say they would help the city recover:Eric AdamsWe will focus on our small businesses to get our small businesses up and operating again. We will look after those over a million New Yorkers who are rent-insecure so that we can stabilize them. And then we will also assist those small-property landlords so that they won’t lose their homes in the process.Shaun DonovanI would make sure everyone can walk into a restaurant, everyone can walk into a theater, with an app on their phone that lets them know that it’s a safe place and that the restaurant or the theater knows that that person has been vaccinated.Kathryn GarciaArt, culture, restaurants. When they’re strong, that means offices are strong, and that means that tourism comes back. That’s how we come out of this.Raymond J. McGuireThe first thing I would do is my economic plan, the largest, most inclusive economic comeback in the history of this city. Five hundred thousand jobs — go big, go small, go forward, focusing on the small businesses who are the lifeblood of this city.Dianne MoralesThis is an opportunity for us to transform how we operate and move away from an overreliance on large corporations that come into our communities, exploit our labor and extract our wealth, and rebuild by focusing on those who own businesses locally.Scott M. StringerWe can’t open our city the same way we closed it. We have to recognize that in our hardest-hit communities, where there was tremendous loss of life, we have to reinvest in these neighborhoods to repair the damage that Covid brought.How 8 Mayoral Hopefuls Plan to Fix the EconomyNew York City is facing a financial crisis, largely because of the pandemic. Here’s how some candidates plan to address the city’s budget shortfall..Maya WileyI have a plan called New Deal New York, which I can start executing on Day 1, because as mayor, I will have the power to increase our capital construction budget to $10 billion. That just means money that helps us build things we need built and fixing things we need fixed.Andrew YangWe have to get back some of the 66 million tourists who helped support 300,000 of the 600,000 jobs that are missing, as well as all the commuters who are missing from Midtown and other parts of the city. More

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      Andrew Yang and Eric Adams Rivalry Takes Center Stage After Debate

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      Both candidates, who are considered front-runners, have sharpened their tone, launching attacks on each other during and after Wednesday’s debate.During the 2020 presidential race and for much of the New York City mayor’s race, Andrew Yang has been known as a cheerful optimist.But voters saw a different side of Mr. Yang at the second major Democratic debate on Wednesday night as he fiercely criticized Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and one of his main rivals.After Mr. Adams knocked him for leaving the city during the pandemic and not voting in city elections, Mr. Yang fought back, depicting Mr. Adams as a corrupt and unprincipled politician who would maintain the status quo. It was a strategic attack that could damage his opponent’s reputation, but the approach was far from Mr. Yang’s exuberant brand.“It was definitely noticeable,” Susan Kang, a professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said of his change in tone. “His biggest appeal has always been being the affable guy — he seemed so friendly and relaxed despite being attacked.”The tense exchange between Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams continued to make waves on Thursday as the eight leading candidates all tried to claim victory after their first major in-person debate.Mr. Adams continued to draw attention to Mr. Yang’s lack of experience at a virtual town hall for ethnic and community media.“You can examine my record because I have a record,” Mr. Adams said. “We can’t examine the records of those who decided to pop in the city all of a sudden. We can’t examine the records of those who have not been on the ground with us.”Evan Thies, a spokesman for Mr. Adams, doubled down on Mr. Adams’s demand Wednesday night for an apology from Mr. Yang over his accusations of corruption.“Yang is lying to voters about Eric because New Yorkers know the truth about Yang: he’s a fraud,” Mr. Thies said. “Yang should apologize to New Yorkers for spreading falsehoods, abandoning the city during Covid, and not taking this crucial election seriously.”Chris Coffey, one of Mr. Yang’s campaign managers, responded by reiterating Mr. Yang’s concerns that Mr. Adams was corrupt, and said voters were turning “towards the candidate who represents real change.”But Mr. Adams also appeared excited over his momentum going into the Democratic primary on June 22.“We are only 19 days away,” he said. “It almost gives me goose bumps when I think about it.”Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, celebrated her debate performance with a specialty bagel in Brooklyn. Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, greeted voters at the Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn and highlighted a new endorsement from the New York State Nurses Association. Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller whose campaign was damaged by an allegation of sexual misconduct, held a “Women for Stringer” event.Mr. Adams wasn’t the only one to attack Mr. Yang during the debate. Mr. Stringer said that Mr. Yang was worse than an “empty vessel” — a term used by one of Mr. Yang’s advisers — and that he was a Republican.On Thursday, Mr. Yang was back to his upbeat self on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” arguing that he had momentum in the final weeks of the campaign.“We feel very, very confident going into this homestretch,” he said.Mr. Yang faced another confrontation on Thursday when he tried to hold a news conference outside the Prospect Park YMCA in Brooklyn and was shouted down by protesters. He chose the gym — Mr. de Blasio’s favored workout spot before the pandemic — to make the argument that he is the “best candidate to turn the page on the de Blasio administration.”A group of progressive activists were there to meet him, holding signs that read “Yang = More Cops” and “Hedge Fund Mayor,” and shouting “Don’t rank Yang!” After trying to talk with them, Mr. Yang gave up and left.Mr. Yang’s campaign said in a statement that he did not want to “defund the N.Y.P.D. at a time of soaring gun violence” and blamed the disruption on Mr. Stringer’s camp, calling it “a desperate attempt to distract from his failing campaign.”The organizers of the protest, a progressive super PAC called Our City, denied that they were backing Mr. Stringer. The group has called for voters not to rank Mr. Yang or Mr. Adams and is being led by Gabe Tobias, a former senior adviser to Justice Democrats, which played a key role in helping Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get elected to Congress in 2018.“Our city deserves so much better than Andrew Yang and Eric Adams,” Mr. Tobias said in a statement. “No Democratic primary voter should rank either Yang or Adams. These are corporate candidates supported by super PACs that are funded by right-wing billionaires.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat in his second term, was not impressed by the debate or by Mr. Yang’s stunt outside his favorite gym.“That’s just a politician being a politician,” Mr. de Blasio told reporters. “I’d much rather people talk about what they’re going to do for New Yorkers and show they actually have some knowledge of this city and how it works.”Many of the candidates gave Mr. de Blasio poor to failing grades during the debate, and Mr. Yang was the only one who said he would accept the mayor’s endorsement.Mr. de Blasio said he had watched the debate and wanted more substance.“Sadly, I don’t think it was much of a debate,” he said. “I don’t think it shed a lot of light and New Yorkers need a lot more information about these candidates. They need a lot clearer vision from these candidates.”Ms. Wiley agreed. She went on the attack during the debate against both Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams. During the frenetic first hour of the debate, Ms. Wiley ignored calls from the moderators to stop talking and continued until she felt she had made her point.“One of the complaints about the debate was substance,” said Ms. Wiley, who explained her strategy after greeting voters outside of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Thursday. “Well, how do you get substantive in 30 to 45 seconds? You are basically doing sound bites.”During the debate, Ms. Wiley criticized Mr. Adams for what she believes are regressive views on policing and called out a nonprofit Mr. Yang founded for promising to create 100,000 jobs but only providing 150 in the cities that it targeted.“A two-minute answer is very different from a 45-second or 30-second answer,” she explained. “When I’m able to have a two-minute conversation — that’s all I need.”Both Mr. Adams and Mr. Yang showed a different side of themselves at the debate, said Mitchell L. Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at New York University. Mr. Adams, who is known for making unscripted remarks, was prepared to respond calmly to Mr. Yang’s attacks.“He brushed it off very gracefully,” Mr. Moss said.Mr. Yang decided to go negative, but he also made good points about the city’s growing deficits in the coming years, said Mr. Moss, who advised Michael R. Bloomberg during his 2001 mayoral campaign and donated to Ms. Garcia this year.“Yang’s best message was that we are facing tough financial problems, and we should be discussing them,” Mr. Moss said. More