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      Whether Maya Wiley or Kathryn Garcia, a Woman Mayor Could Save N.Y.C.

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      Last week I wrote about why I thought Eric Adams is very marginally preferable to Andrew Yang in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. Yang is likable, and I can see why people have gravitated to his sunny vision of a vibrant, business-friendly city. But electing a totally inexperienced mayor buoyed by hedge fund billionaires and singularly focused on public order seems potentially calamitous. Not because public order isn’t important — everyone wants a safe city — but because it has to be balanced with a commitment to justice. More

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      Here Are the Democrats Running for Manhattan D.A.

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      Eight candidates are vying to take over the country’s largest local prosecutor’s office. The winner will inherit a potential Trump investigation.Eight Democrats are running to replace Cyrus Vance Jr. as Manhattan district attorney, jockeying to lead one of the most well-known and influential local prosecutor’s offices in the country at a time when views of the criminal justice system have shifted. The office is home to many high-profile investigations, including the ongoing inquiry into former President Donald J. Trump and his family business.The contenders — five of whom have been prosecutors before and three of whom have not — mostly agree on a basic tenet: The office needs to change. But they are divided over just how far they would push reform efforts. Polling in the race has been sparse, but a recent survey found that the fund-raising leaders, Tali Farhadian Weinstein and Alvin Bragg, are tied with the most support. Because the district attorney is a state election rather than a municipal one, voting will not be ranked choice, as it is in the citywide elections, and voters will select only one candidate.Here’s a list of the candidates with details on their vision for the office.Tahanie Aboushi, 35HarlemKisha BariMs. Aboushi’s candidacy is informed by her experience as a young teenager seeing her father convicted on federal conspiracy charges and sentenced to prison for more than two decades. As a result of that ordeal and its effect on her family, Ms. Aboushi says she has insight into the perspective of those who are and will be prosecuted by the office she hopes to lead, a striking approach in a prosecutorial race. In a race filled with calls for reform, Ms. Aboushi is the candidate most consistently focused on the system itself and on making it less punitive. She has pledged to cut the office by at least half, and she has stressed the need for alternatives to incarceration wherever possible. Alvin Bragg, 47HarlemMr. Bragg, a lifelong resident of Harlem, has called for a balanced approach between civil rights and public safety. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he peppers his public appearances with stories about his personal life, frequently focusing on his and his family’s fraught encounters with the criminal justice system.He said he first thought about being a prosecutor while clerking for a federal judge and seeing the way prosecutors could protect the public through major investigations. After serving as a civil rights lawyer, Mr. Bragg became a federal prosecutor, focusing on issues like police misconduct and public corruption. He led a unit in the New York attorney general’s office that investigated police killings of unarmed civilians, and later became a chief deputy state attorney general.Liz Crotty, 50Union SquareLiz Crotty for Manhattan District Attorney“I bring a breath of reality to the race,” Ms. Crotty said in an interview. The longtime resident of Lower Manhattan is the most traditional candidate in the race, more focused on public safety than on reform. That puts her out of step with most of her colleagues, who have campaigned in large part on the racial biases in the criminal justice system. While she acknowledges that such biases exist, Ms. Crotty has said that rather than directing the office to stop prosecuting entire categories of crime, she would assess matters on a case-by-case basis. She has been endorsed by multiple police unions.Ms. Crotty, who worked in the Manhattan district attorney’s office under Mr. Vance’s predecessor, Robert M. Morgenthau, has also pledged to strengthen the office’s investigations of white-collar crime.Tali Farhadian Weinstein, 45Upper East SideTali Farhadian Weinstein for Manhattan District AttorneyA Rhodes scholar, Ms. Farhadian Weinstein has a sterling résumé, having clerked for Merrick B. Garland (now the U.S. attorney general) and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. She was also a lawyer for Eric Holder, when he was U.S. attorney general, and she later worked as a federal prosecutor.Ms. Farhadian Weinstein has raised more money than any of her competitors, including $8.2 million she gave to her own campaign. Early in the race, she frequently spoke about reform. But in recent months, she has been more direct in describing her plans for prosecution and has placed more emphasis on public safety. She said in an interview that there was one question that prosecutors should always ask themselves: “Is my intervention as an actor in the criminal justice system increasing public safety or not?”Diana Florence, 50Kips BayDiana Florence for Manhattan DAMs. Florence, a veteran of the Manhattan district attorney’s office, where she worked for 25 years, has spent much of her career prosecuting fraud and corruption cases. As the head of Mr. Vance’s Construction Fraud Task Force, she led cases involving worker deaths and wage theft. She has significant labor backing, with the endorsement of 20 unions.There is a shadow over Ms. Florence’s campaign. In 2020, she resigned from the office after a judge found that she had withheld evidence from defense lawyers in a major bribery case, which constitutes an ethics violation. A spokeswoman for Ms. Florence’s campaign has said the candidate has taken “full responsibility” for the mistake.Lucy Lang, 40HarlemNate BurdineMs. Lang, another veteran of Mr. Vance’s office, is the most policy-forward candidate in the race. She has released the outlines of her approach to dozens of issues, including hate crimes, police accountability and tenants’ rights. She has also emphasized her prosecutorial experience, including her investigation of a drug ring in East Harlem.A granddaughter of the philanthropist Eugene Lang, Ms. Lang became the director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College in 2018. In her view, prosecution should take a holistic view of the communities affected by crime: In East Harlem, for instance, she worked with a coalition of different groups — including the police and tenants — to revitalize the area and make it more welcoming to children.Eliza Orlins, 38ChelseaJuan Patino PhotographyThe views of Ms. Orlins (a two-time contestant on “Survivor”) were shaped by her decade working as a public defender. She sees the criminal justice system as racist, cruel and unjust, with outcomes that favor the rich and powerful, and has said she would work to “dismantle” it. She has pledged to cut the office in half, and to re-interview everyone working as a prosecutor there to ensure that their views align with her own.Ms. Orlins has said she would stop the prosecution of all but a handful of misdemeanors and redirect the office’s attention toward white-collar crime. She has also been politically outspoken on Twitter, speaking publicly against powerful figures like Mr. Trump and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.Dan Quart, 49Upper East SideDan Quart for Manhattan DAMr. Quart, a longtime state assemblyman, is the only candidate in the race with political experience. He has cited his record pushing for police accountability in the Legislature as evidence that he will be an effective reformer. “There’s no guesswork with me,” he said in an interview. “My 10 years in the Legislature should demonstrate to anyone who really wants reform in this office that I’ll be committed to it.”Though his progressive views are similar to those of Ms. Aboushi and Ms. Orlins, he has billed himself as the most pragmatic candidate on the race’s reformist wing. For instance, he has not pledged to cut the size of the office in half because, he said, it would be an unrealistic promise given the realities of the budget process. More

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      Joe Biden Is as Puzzled by the Senate as You Are

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      Gail Collins: Bret, it’s been a while between conversations and although I’ve been on vacation I have noticed a lot of … stuff. Particularly the frozen Senate. Tell me, who’s your hero? Action-stopping Joe Manchin? Perpetually plotting Mitch McConnell? Let’s-all-get-along Mitt Romney?Bret Stephens: Welcome back from holiday, Gail. Years ago I won a minor journalism award on the strength of my mockery of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. But how can you not love a Republican who voted to convict Donald Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors not once, but twice?Gail: Yeah, I’ve certainly gotten over that dog on the roof of his car.Bret: That said, my hero of the hour is the gentleman from West Virginia. Everybody hates the filibuster until they find themselves in the minority, and Manchin is doing his fellow Democrats a favor, which they can thank him for when they lose the majority. I really don’t understand how some liberals attack the filibuster as some kind of emblem of white supremacy when both Barack Obama and Joe Biden were defending its sanctity during a period of Republican control of the Senate. Come to think of it, as Democratic senators past and present go, I think I like Manchin almost as much as I like the other Joe — Lieberman, that is.But how about you? Who is your senator of the hour?Gail: Oh gosh, I’m fascinated by the Lieberman-Manchin coupling. I think you’re the first one who’s suggested to me it might be a … welcome development. We’ve divided on the Lieberman issue before. I’ve blamed him for everything from Al Gore’s loss of the presidency to the flaws in Obamacare, but I won’t torture you on that front today.Bret: Shouldn’t you blame, um, Ralph Nader, or Antonin Scalia, or those earth-tone suits for Gore’s loss? Sorry, go on.Gail: There are two reasons Manchin keeps holding up the Biden agenda. One is that he’s from a very Republican state and has to keep reminding his voters he isn’t like those other Democrats. Perfectly understandable, but not exactly heroic.Bret: Well, you can have a conservative Democrat from West Virginia who votes with his party roughly 62 percent of the time. Or you can have a Trumpist Republican who votes with her party 100 percent of the time. I think liberals should give their red state Democrats a little more respect lest they be tempted to defect like Colorado’s Ben Campbell, Alabama’s Richard Shelby and Texas’ Phil Gramm.Gail: Manchin also just seems like he thinks it’s cool to be the one guy who can stop every bill in its tracks. But in this kind of situation, being the big “no” vote isn’t heroic, it’s posturing.As to my senator of the hour, don’t know if I have a good nominee, but I am very, very tempted to drive you crazy and say Chuck Schumer.Bret: Ideological differences aside, I genuinely like the senator and his wonderful wife Iris. So I’ll refrain from suggesting that the Senate majority leader would ever stoop to any political posturing of his own. What is it that you’re liking about him so much lately?Gail: These days, Senate majority leader isn’t exactly a pleasant gig. Rounding up the votes to get anything done in a 50-50 chamber is godawful. But Schumer’s been doing pretty well at holding things together. You can tell he really gets a kick out of having the job.And admit it, he’s more likable than Mitch McConnell.Bret: Gail, that’s like setting the bar at the bottom of the Dead Sea.Gail: Meanwhile, there’s that movement by conservative Catholic bishops to deny Biden the right to take communion because he supports abortion rights.I’m pretty confident where you’ll come down on this one, but let me hear your thoughts.Bret: Well, as a friend of mine pointed out to me the other day, if the bishops are going to deny Joe Biden communion for his pro-choice views, shouldn’t they also deny communion to pro-death penalty conservatives? Last I checked, the Vatican wasn’t too keen on lethal injections, either. This seems pretty, um, selective in its opprobrium.But, hey, as a member of the original Abrahamic faith, what do I know about all this Catholic stuff? I’m more interested in your view of the subject.Gail: When I went through Catholic schools, we were taught abortion was murder, period. I stopped believing that a very long time ago, but I do understand people who have personal moral reservations.Bret: Fair enough, but I’ve always had strong reservations about the “abortion is murder” school of thinking.If it’s murder, then the tens of millions of American women who have had abortions over the decades are, at a minimum, accomplices to murder, if not murderers themselves. If that’s the reasoning, then the logic of the argument leads you to conclude that they ought to be in prison. Alternatively, if abortion is murder but the women who get abortions don’t deserve to be treated as criminals, then you are devaluing the moral gravity of the act of murder. Either way, the position strikes me as intellectually indefensible.Sorry. I’m ranting. Go on.Gail: I could appreciate where the anti-abortion forces are coming from — except that they’re often the ones who do so little to provide services that help poor women avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Or provide job protection for new parents. Or day care for their infants.Bret: I think this is yet another good argument for keeping religion out of politics as much as possible. I’m not a fan of many aspects of the welfare state, but I don’t understand conservative politicians who invoke their Christianity — the original version of which is basically socialism plus God — only to take less-than-Christian positions.Gail: Joe Biden is the guy who’s crusading to expand services that would make it easier for struggling young women to keep their babies and raise them happily. But he’s supposed to be the conservative bishops’ villain. Sort of ironic, huh?Bret: Ironic, too, that he’s only the second Catholic president in American history, after Jack Kennedy, and probably the most religious Democrat in the White House since Jimmy Carter. And he’s the guy the church wants to censure?Gail: One last thing before we sign off: Tuesday’s our big Primary Day in New York City. And the debut of our new preferential voting system. It’s the same thing Maine did in the 2020 presidential election.Bret: No idea why it didn’t occur to someone that what happens in Maine should stay in Maine. Like Moxie soda.Gail: So I went to vote early, having painfully prepared to choose five — five! — mayoral contenders in order of preference.Bret: I realize it’s a secret ballot, though I’d love to know who you picked last.Gail: Then I proudly moved on to the next section and discovered I was supposed to pick just as many people for comptroller. Have to admit this one threw me. Really, do you think even the most avid student of local government can tell you who the third-best comptroller contender is?Bret: I barely even know what a comptroller is, if I’m being honest. But I’ve gotta assume the third-best one must be Scott Stringer, since that’s the job he currently has.Gail: Not really sure this preferential voting system is my, um, preference. Any thoughts?Bret: Being the knee-jerk conservative that I am, my instinct is to oppose it on the “just-cuz” principle. Other countries that tinker with their voting procedures never seem to meaningfully change the quality of governance, even if it can shift the dynamics of a race. But, as you pointed out, ranked-choice voting does confuse a lot of voters who sensibly decide that they don’t have to become experts on secondary electoral races in order to make a political choice.On the other hand, advocates of the system argue that it tends to work in favor of more moderate, consensus-choice candidates, while cutting down on negative campaigning, which America could surely use these days. I also read somewhere that the Australians have been using the ranked-choice system for a century or so, and the universe Down Under didn’t come to a screeching halt. So I’m happy to be persuaded either way on the issue.Gail: We’ll see. But preferential voting certainly isn’t on my top five things to worry about. So many more worthy candidates.Bret: One last thing, Gail. If you haven’t already, read our colleague Nicholas Casey’s moving and elegant magazine essay about his father. I hope our readers do, too. It’s a reminder that all of us, at some level, spend a part of our lives searching for our dads — and, sometimes, even finding them.Gail: Amen.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. More

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      What We Learned From the Final Sunday of Campaigning in Mayor's Race

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      On the last day of early voting before Tuesday’s primary in New York City, the eight leading Democratic candidates sprinted across the boroughs on Sunday, stopping at the usual rally points like churches, parks and barbecues, as they tried to lure more voters. They braved temperatures that hit almost 90 degrees, and canceled Father’s Day plans, to shake hands and even hula hoop with supporters.Here are five takeaways that stood out from the final weekend of campaigning.Garcia and Yang team up, but avoid endorsementsKathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang appeared together in Chinatown, marking the second time in just as many days that the pair came together on the campaign trail. That earned the ire of front-runner Eric Adams. (More on that later.)Mr. Yang has encouraged his supporters to mark Ms. Garcia as their second choice on the ranked-choice ballots. Garcia isn’t returning the favor. She’s praised Mr. Yang, but she isn’t explicitly asking her supporters to cast a vote for Mr. Yang.The show of unity from two of the strongest candidates underscored how ranked-choice voting has complicated the mayor’s race and how rival candidates can band together in a ranked-choice election to stem the momentum of a front-runner. In this case, Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president.Accusations of voter suppressionThat alliance isn’t going unnoticed. Prominent Black leaders, including Representative Gregory W. Meeks of Queens, have echoed comments by Mr. Adams that the alliance is a an attempt at diluting the voice of Black voters. Mr. Adams has said that the show of unity is an attempt to prevent “a person of color” — specifically a Black or Latino person — from becoming mayor. H. Carl McCall, the former state comptroller, has also criticized the move, likening it to voter suppression. Both men have said they will rank Mr. Adams either first or second on their ballots.Mr. Yang dismissed the accusation that his alliance with Ms. Garcia was divisive. Maya Wiley disagreed with Mr. Adams that the partnership is intended to weaken the Black vote, saying candidates are going to strategize differently about ranked-choice voting.“I will never play the race card lightly unless I see racism, and I’m not calling this racism,” Ms. Wiley saidDoubts about releasing unofficial talliesMr. Adams has never been a fan of ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to select their top five candidates. Now, he is raising questions about how the Board of Elections plans to release results as his campaign faces growing efforts from opponents to slow his momentum.Mr. Adams, who has declined to say who he would list as No. 2, has said the Board of Elections should not release any results until it has the final tally. The city plans to start releasing partial and unofficial vote totals on Tuesday night, after polls close. And then they will periodically update the tallies until a final count on July 12.If no candidate gets the 50 percent plus one vote required for victory on primary night, the ranked-choice voting tabulation process will begin.Adams disagrees with the process but said he will not fight it. “These are the rules. We have to play by the rules,” he said. “We are going to tell our supporters and voters let’s remain patient.”Early voting on summer’s first dayNew Yorkers didn’t rush to polling sites on Sunday, the last day of early voting. Instead parks and beaches and restaurants and bars were packed across the five boroughs as temperatures almost hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit. That was a reversal from last year when more than a million people waited hours in lines that stretched blocks to vote in November’s presidential election. This time, there were barely any lines, and waits of just 20 minutes at the most congested polling sites.Candidates make it a family affairNeither the heat nor Father’s Day could keep candidates off the campaign trail on Sunday, with some turning their final pitches to voters into a family affair.Scott Stringer, a top contender early on whose candidacy was derailed by allegations of sexual assault, brought his wife and two sons to canvas on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Both sons were handing out pamphlets and wearing Team Stringer T-shirts. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Mr. Stringer said of his Father’s Day.Mr. Yang made campaign stops in Forest Hill, encouraging young New Yorkers and their four-legged siblings to wish their dads a happy Father’s Day.And New Yorkers across the city celebrated Father’s Day with their families, many still carefully considering how they will cast their votes on Tuesday. More

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      Adams Clashes With Rivals on Last Weekend of Mayoral Campaign

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      Eric Adams and Andrew Yang tussled on questions of race in a frenetic day of campaigning, two days before the June 22 primary.The leading candidates for mayor of New York City barreled into a frenzied final day of early voting on Sunday, a swirl of primary campaign activity marked by creative retail politicking and deepening acrimony between the race’s presumed front-runner, Eric Adams, and the rest of the field.While the campaign trail was studded with lighthearted moments — Kathryn Garcia did yoga in Times Square; Maya D. Wiley hula-hooped — there were also serious clashes stemming from Ms. Garcia’s late alliance with Andrew Yang, leading Mr. Adams and his surrogates to question the integrity of the election, with two days until the June 22 primary.Allies of Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, went so far as to baselessly claim that the appearance of an alliance between Ms. Garcia and Mr. Yang amounted to voter suppression — even though such alliances are common in elections with ranked-choice voting.This is the first mayoral election in New York City that is using ranked-choice ballots, allowing voters to support up to five candidates in order of preference.Ms. Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner, made another appearance with Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate, on Sunday, but insisted again that did not mean she was backing his campaign.Rather, she suggested, their joint appearances, on campaign literature and in person, were a calculated attempt to get Mr. Yang’s voters to rank her second.Maya Wiley takes a circular diversion on Sunday from a day of campaigning.Hilary Swift for The New York TimesIn contrast to a number of her rivals who began the day in church, Ms. Garcia started with yoga in Times Square, and then visited Zabar’s on the Upper West Side and a greenmarket near Central Park, a schedule that might resonate with many a well-heeled Manhattanite.The schedule reflected the importance of Manhattan to Ms. Garcia’s strategy, but it also underscored her challenge: to draw voters from beyond Manhattan and Brownstone Brooklyn. She has openly acknowledged that her appearances this weekend with Mr. Yang represented one tactic to expand her support. She spent time later Sunday in the Bronx, the borough with the largest Latino population.With early voting winding down Sunday evening in preparation for Tuesday’s primary, voters streamed into polling sites in the five boroughs.As of Sunday evening, 192,000 New Yorkers had participated in early voting.Among them was Tom Werther, a retired police officer who carries a gun and thinks crime is the dominant issue of the day. On Sunday, he turned up to vote at the YMCA in Rockaway, Queens, but his first choice for mayor was not Mr. Adams, a retired police officer who also carries a gun and thinks crime is the dominant issue.It was Ms. Garcia who impressed Mr. Werther as “articulate” during a recent meet-and-greet nearby. He ranked Mr. Yang second, and Mr. Adams third.The final day of early voting happened to coincide with Father’s Day. Mr. Yang, a father of two, could be found tapping into his natural exuberance while posing for selfies on Sunday morning in Forest Hills, Queens.Andrew Yang campaigned in Forest Hills, Queens.Andrew Seng for The New York TimesThroughout his campaign, Mr. Yang has seemed happiest when he has been campaigning in person, surrounded by selfie seekers — a testament to the national name recognition and powerful social-media game that he hoped would drive him to City Hall.But as he withstood the natural scrutiny accorded to front-runners, his standing in the polls diminished, and his tone darkened. In recent weeks, he has spoken ominously about the perils of voting for Mr. Adams, someone whom Mr. Yang considers ethically dubious and who is now leading the polls.On Sunday, Mr. Yang’s original, crowd-pleasing spirit, the one he exhibited while vowing to be New York City’s cheerleader, was again on display.Matthew Rubinstein, 19, attributed his vote for Mr. Yang to that energy.“You see Andrew Yang going here, Andrew Yang going there,” said Mr. Rubinstein, who grew up in Forest Hills. “He’s on my TikTok, he’s on my Instagram. He’s everywhere, you know? He’s just more for the people.”Kathryn Garcia started the day doing yoga in Times Square.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesMr. Adams and his allies continued to voice concern that by aligning their campaigns, Ms. Garcia and Mr. Yang were trying to disenfranchise Black and Latino voters.Outside of a church in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Mr. Adams said it was disrespectful for Ms. Garcia and Mr. Yang to campaign together on Juneteenth.“While we were celebrating liberation and freedom from enslavement they sent a message and I thought it was the wrong message to send,” Mr. Adams said. “Yes, Andrew, you are a person of color and the Asian community realizes that I am the strongest voice for people of color in this city.”.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;}At a campaign stop in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, Mr. Adams was asked to respond to the voter disenfranchisement some of his boosters have claimed and he declined, even though his campaign sent out the statements.Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia both disputed Mr. Adams’s assertion, and so did Ms. Wiley, who is Black. She said that candidates were going to make different decisions about strategy under ranked-choice voting.“I will never play the race card lightly unless I see racism, and I’m not calling this racism,” Ms. Wiley said.She also defended the ranked-choice voting system after Mr. Adams again raised concerns about it. Good-government groups praise the new system as an advance for democracy, by no longer allowing candidates to split the vote and by eliminating the need for costly runoffs. Mr. Adams has long condemned the new system and his allies filed a suit to forestall its implementation that failed in court. Many voters have also expressed confusion about the system.Eric Adams visited with parishioners at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.James Estrin/The New York TimesMs. Wiley, who supports ranked-choice voting, said Mr. Adams must be afraid of her momentum if he was complaining about the system.“I believe that ranked-choice voting is better for democracy, period — whoever people vote for,” Ms. Wiley said.For his part, Mr. Yang suggested he was in fact campaigning with Ms. Garcia to prevent an Adams victory. He has repeatedly cast doubt on Mr. Adams’s moral probity as the borough president has faced residency questions and scrutiny over tax and real estate disclosures. Later in the day, the central argument of Mr. Adams’s campaign — that the rise in street violence necessitates someone with his level of experience in policing — appeared to hit home in a personal way. The campaign used Twitter to announce that one of its volunteers had been stabbed; a week ago, the campaign said that a handgun was discarded in front of Mr. Adams’s campaign office in Brooklyn after a fight.Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, kept a relatively low profile on Sunday, though he did make an afternoon appearance with his wife and two sons on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and again in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, campaigned in Park Slope with his wife and children in Brooklyn on Sunday.Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesMr. Stringer’s campaign faltered after two women accused him of sexual misconduct from decades ago.Still, as he stopped to talk to voters on Sunday, many of them greeted him enthusiastically, and he sounded optimistic about his path to victory.“As you can see on the streets, the reaction is great,” he said.Reporting was contributed by More

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      Yang Faces Backlash for Comments on Mentally Ill

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      The candidates remained focused on crime on the campaign trail, while Andrew Yang was criticized by his rivals for comments he made on the debate stage.Andrew Yang faced criticism over his debate-stage comments about people with mental illness on Thursday as the New York City mayoral candidates sharpened their focus on public safety during the race’s final days.Mr. Yang said during Wednesday’s Democratic primary debate, the final matchup before next week’s election, that he wanted people with mental health problems off the streets — comments that several of his rivals blasted as insensitive.“Yes, mentally ill people have rights, but you know who else have rights? We do! The people and families of the city,” said Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate. “We have the right to walk the street and not fear for our safety because a mentally ill person is going to lash out at us.”Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, said he was “really disturbed” by the remarks and that Mr. Yang was trying to “demonize” people with mental health problems.Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that Mr. Yang lacked empathy and suggested he was fearmongering for votes.“I thought it was deeply disturbing, deeply lacking in compassion,” she said.One of Ms. Wiley’s advisers, Ifeoma Ike, went further and said Mr. Yang was “anti-Black” because mental health problems and homelessness disproportionately affect Black people. She told voters not to rank Mr. Yang on their ballots.The candidates have focused on public safety in the final weeks of the campaign — an issue that New Yorkers cite as their top concern. As the race’s dynamics continue to shift, Ms. Wiley has tried to consolidate support among left-leaning voters, Kathryn Garcia has shown signs of momentum, and Mr. Adams, who leads in the polls, has faced questions over his real estate holdings.Mr. Yang was trying to highlight voters’ fears over safety at the debate, but he moved quickly to clarify his comments shortly after it concluded. “Full context here was mental illness is behind half of anti-Asian hate crimes,” he said on Twitter. “We need to get them compassionate, comprehensive care — and not let them languish on our streets.”At a news conference in the Bronx on Thursday to highlight his cash relief plan for poor New Yorkers, Mr. Yang refused to say whether he regretted his comments.“Everyone agrees that people who are struggling with mental illness on our streets should be in better, more caring environments where they can get what they need,” he said.Ms. Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, also remained focused on public safety on Thursday, holding a news conference at a Manhattan subway station where a 64-year-old man was slashed and robbed last month.She called for more police officers on the subway, accompanied by her cousin Clark Gregg, an actor who played a government agent in the Marvel Avengers series.“New Yorkers need to feel safe on the subway if they’re going to get back on the subway,” she said, adding the subways were “vital” to the city’s comeback.Kathryn Garcia appeared at a news conference with her cousin Clark Gregg, an actor who played a government agent in the Marvel Avengers series.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesMs. Garcia also released a new ad claiming that as an experienced crisis manager, she was the best choice to make the city safer.“We fought Covid only to endure a new epidemic of crime,” she said in the ad.At the debate, the candidates were asked if there should be more officers on the subway. Five raised their hands, including Ms. Garcia and Mr. Adams. Three candidates said they opposed adding more officers, including Ms. Wiley, who is running to the left of the field.Ms. Wiley, too, started running new ads on Thursday, though hers featured Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the city’s most high-profile progressive. One ad features Ms. Ocasio-Cortez speaking in front of City Hall on the day she endorsed Ms. Wiley and shows the two women embracing.“We have an option of a candidate that has a lifetime of dedication to this — racial justice, economic justice and climate justice,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said.Separately, Ms. Wiley appeared to rule out making a cross-endorsement of any other candidate in the mayoral race, a day after Mr. Yang focused attention on the issue by nodding to the prospect of a cross-endorsement.“I am not going to do any cross-endorsements in this mayor’s race,” she said.At a news conference at his Harlem headquarters, Mr. Adams made fun of the appearance by Ms. Garcia’s cousin.“Public safety is not a bumper sticker,” Mr. Adams told reporters. “It is not a television program. What are we going to do next? We’re going to pick our police commissioner from ‘C.S.I. Miami?’”But Mr. Adams also danced with those gathered and said he was having fun in the final days of the campaign.“I am just an ordinary cat,” Mr. Adams said. “I am going to put cool back into being mayor.”Eric Adams, receiving endorsements in Harlem, has argued that he has the broadest coalition of supporters among the leading candidates for mayor.Mary Altaffer/Associated PressMr. Adams announced new endorsements from two prominent Black leaders — David A. Paterson, the former governor, and Keith L.T. Wright, the leader of the New York County Democrats.He has continued to face criticism over his real estate portfolio, including in a story this week by The City about a co-op apartment he owns in Brooklyn with a “good friend.” Mr. Adams has said that he gave his shares to Sylvia Cowan, a woman whom he bought the property with in 1992..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;}But an email, obtained by The New York Times, suggests that Mr. Adams still owned his shares in the apartment as recently as last month — days before Politico raised questions about his residency and his tax and campaign-disclosure filings.The email, sent by Ms. Cowan on May 28, asked the co-op board to approve the transfer of Mr. Adams’s shares to her and named a person who could “represent the Board, Eric and me for the transaction” — suggesting that at that point, the transfer had not yet occurred.Mr. Adams has not declared the home on any campaign filings since he began running for office in 2005, documents show. Ms. Cowan also owns a unit in a tower in Fort Lee, N.J., on the floor below an apartment that Mr. Adams co-owns with his partner, Tracey Collins.His campaign insists that Mr. Adams has not owned any part of the Brooklyn property since 2007, when he took office as a state senator. State ethics guidelines at that time asked officeholders to disclose assets they had held in the previous two years but did not require that they do so.“Sylvia is the owner and has been the owner for some time,” Evan Thies, a campaign spokesman, said on Wednesday.Mr. Adams said on Wednesday that it was Ms. Cowan’s responsibility to formalize his transfer of the property to her in city records. Ms. Cowan could not be reached for comment.At a news conference later Thursday, Ms. Wiley laced into Mr. Adams.“If you want to be the most powerful person in this city, show this city that you can manage your financial affairs,” Ms. Wiley said.“It is right and appropriate to have transparency,” Ms. Wiley said, brandishing her own tax returns.Ms. Wiley said New Yorkers should consider questions including, “Have you engaged in tax fraud, or have you stayed on the right side of the law? I don’t know, show us your tax returns. ”The Adams campaign has said that the borough president would release his amended tax returns, but he has yet to do so.The latest payments from the city’s matching funds program were also made on Thursday, giving Ms. Garcia and Ms. Wiley in particular significant sums to spend on additional television advertising in the closing days of the race. Ms. Garcia received $2.1 million; Ms. Wiley received $1.1 million.Fernando Mateo, a Republican entrepreneur, qualified for public matching funds for the first time, giving him more than $2 million to compete against his only rival, Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels.“Now we have the money to get our message out that we are the best candidate to save and revitalize New York City unlike never-Trumper Curtis Sliwa,” Mr. Mateo said, in reference to Mr. Sliwa saying that he did not vote for President Donald J. Trump in 2016 or 2020.Anne Barnard, Michael Rothfeld, Michael Gold, Katie Glueck and Mihir Zaveri contributed reporting. More

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      Why New York Progressives Are Pinning Their Hopes on the City Council

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      With dozens of seats up for grabs, left-leaning Democrats hope that gains in the City Council could help offset a moderate mayor.In a City Council district in Upper Manhattan, a dozen candidates are on the Democratic ballot, including a former aide to the mayor, a tenants’ rights lawyer, a nonprofit executive, a 21-year-old college student and a drag performer with activist roots.In the Bronx, eight candidates, some of them fresh to politics, are running for a seat left vacant by a longtime political stalwart. And over in Queens, six Democratic contenders are vying for a shot at flipping that borough’s sole Republican Council seat.With New York City voters headed to the polls to pick a new mayor, a contest with significant ramifications for the city’s post-pandemic trajectory, the City Council elections have attracted far less attention. But the city’s legislative body is facing heavy turnover, attracting scores of candidates in crowded races that could prove just as consequential in shaping New York’s future.Left-wing activists and leaders in particular are making an energetic push around Council races, hoping to elect candidates who will advance a progressive platform regardless of the outcome in the mayoral election. The Council votes on the city budget after negotiation with the mayor and plays a key role in the city’s land-use process, which affects development projects.Sochie Nnaemeka, the New York State director of the Working Families Party, said that the City Council can serve “a critical role in either supporting a progressive agenda that the mayor sets out, or blocking and pushing against a restrictive or limited agenda.”All 51 seats on the Council will be on the ballot, and in 32 of those districts the current officeholder will not be running, guaranteeing a plethora of freshman faces. Many incumbents face primary challenges; a handful are new to the job themselves, having won special elections earlier this year. The City Council speaker, Corey Johnson, is among those leaving office, making it unclear who will end up setting the Council’s agenda and negotiating with the mayor.“It’s going to be a dramatic change for everybody,” said Yvette Buckner, a political strategist. In many races, candidates are hoping the electorate sees the possibility of major change as a boon and are seizing the moment.In the Bronx, Rubén Díaz Sr., a Pentecostal minister who created a furor in the Council in 2019 when he said it was “controlled by the homosexual community,” is stepping away from politics after nearly 20 years in public office.Of the eight candidates on the ballot in the district, three — Amanda Farias, Michael Beltzer and William Moore — ran for the seat in 2017. At the time, voters rebuffed their pitches for fresh leadership; this year, that outcome is guaranteed.In District 7 in Upper Manhattan, a group of progressive candidates bonded together, urging residents to wield the ranked-choice voting system to push for real change.Five of the race’s 12 candidates — Marti Allen-Cummings, Dan Cohen, Stacy Lynch, Maria Ordoñez and Corey Ortega — asked voters to rank all of them in the five spots on the ballot. Excluded from the pact was Shaun Abreu, a housing attorney who the current council member endorsed as his replacement.The stakes of the Democratic primaries are especially high in New York, where the winners in nearly every district will be heavily favored to win the general election in November. Only three Republicans serve on the City Council — two from Staten Island and one from Queens.Despite that strong left-leaning base, city voters have tended to be more centrist when choosing a mayor; when Bill de Blasio won in 2013, he was the first Democrat to do so in 24 years. In this year’s election, the more moderate candidates, Eric Adams and Kathryn Garcia, are leading in recent polls.In contrast, progressives have successfully wielded their influence in legislative contests at both the state and national level, including in recent races in which upstarts like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman and State Senator Julia Salazar defeated establishment Democrats by mobilizing left-leaning voters.Ms. Buckner said she expected that same pattern to hold in this year’s elections.“New Yorkers overall are probably going to want a more centrist or moderate voice for mayor, and they’re probably going to go with a more progressive City Council,” she said, “because the issues that are translating on the ground are very different in a smaller community.”The trend appeared to have shaped some progressive groups’ strategies. The city’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America has not made an endorsement in the mayor’s race, instead focusing its support on six City Council candidates.In some cases, left-leaning groups are taking advantage of ranked-choice voting to hedge their bets. The Working Families Party, seeing opportunities to pick up seats, began endorsing candidates in City Council races early last fall and has so far backed 30 people in 27 districts.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, perhaps the most prominent left-wing politician in the state, personally has backed nine candidates in eight Council races. Her political action committee has supported 60 candidates in 31 City Council districts.Ms. Nnaemeka said she believed that the pandemic had voters clamoring for change. Faced with the crisis, many residents have grown more attuned to the impact of local government on their neighborhoods.“We have a tremendous opportunity that came out of crisis to rebuild and reimagine our city,” she said.Gale Brewer, the outgoing Manhattan borough president, is running to reclaim her former City Council seat.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesSuch pushes were often felt more closely in the City Council than the mayor’s race, said Bruce Berg, a professor of political science at Fordham University. Over the years, the Council has shifted to the left, he said, in part driven by the city’s changing demographics.“Each of the 51 members is seeking to represent their constituency, as opposed to looking out for the overall interests in the city,” Mr. Berg said.Even so, the makeup of the City Council has not often reflected those demographics, something that many of the candidates are hoping to change.Though more than half of city residents identify as female, only 14 women sit on the City Council. Ms. Buckner, who is leading an initiative to bolster female candidates, said that there were at least six districts that had never been represented by a woman.“There are just so many more candidates running — so many more women, so many people of color in places where you would never have seen them run before,” she said.Ms. Buckner pointed to District 32 in southern Queens, where term limits are preventing the Republican incumbent, Eric Ulrich, from running again. Democrats have targeted his seat, hoping to win the last Republican office in the borough.Queens is one of the nation’s most ethnically diverse counties, and immigrants and people of color have gradually moved into District 32. The pool of Democratic candidates reflects the changing population: Most of the candidates are nonwhite.One reason for the influx of Council candidates, citywide, is the city’s public financing program, beefed up in 2018 to provide an 8-to-1 match to donations of up to $175 from city residents. The system has produced robust fields of candidates for the Council posts. In District 26, which covers parts of Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside in Queens, 15 candidates will be on the Democratic primary ballot.Many of the dynamics shaping City Council races mirror those shaping the mayor’s race. In several districts, newcomers are squaring off against candidates with political ties.In Central Brooklyn, Crystal Hudson, who has worked for the city’s public advocate and the Council’s Democratic majority leader, is running a tight race against Michael Hollingsworth, an organizer and first-time candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists. Both have endorsements from left-leaning lawmakers — Ms. Hudson was just endorsed by a mayoral candidate, Maya Wiley — and experience has become a major factor in the race.“We need leaders who will hit the ground running and who have a track record of prioritizing those with the greatest needs,” Ms. Hudson said. “I understand the urgency of this moment.”There are also a number of former City Council members looking to return to seats they had vacated and squaring off against newcomers.Gale Brewer, the Manhattan borough president prevented by term limits from running again, is seeking to return to the Upper West Side seat that she left in 2013. Charles Barron, a state assemblyman, is running for his old seat in Brooklyn. It is held by his wife, Inez, who took it from him but faces term limits this year.Regardless of the outcome of the primaries, any referendum on the city’s electoral future that comes out of this year’s Council races could also prove short lived.Because of a provision in the City Charter, the candidates elected this November will only serve a two-year term, instead of the usual four years. After the redistricting process, which takes place every 10 years after a national census, candidates will have to run again along the new district lines in 2023.“Everybody will have to cut their teeth and prove themselves very fast,” Ms. Buckner said. “And then they have to start campaigning again, right after their first year.” More