Elections, Mayors

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Maya Wiley Receives Backing of Local 1199 SEIU, Lifting Her Bid for Mayor

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceWho’s Running?11 Candidates’ N.Y.C. MomentsA Look at the Race5 Takeaways From the DebateAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMaya Wiley Is Backed by N.Y.C.’s Largest Union, Lifting Her Bid for MayorThe endorsement by Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union is a major win for Ms. Wiley. The union was a key early supporter of Bill de Blasio in another crowded mayor’s race in 2013.Maya Wiley is running as a progressive who wants to lead New Yorkers out of the pandemic. The union that backed her represents more than 200,000 health care workers, many of whom are women of color.Credit…Seth Wenig/Associated PressFeb. 19, 2021Updated 12:19 p.m. ETNew York City’s largest union endorsed Maya Wiley, the former MSNBC analyst and legal counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, in the race for mayor on Friday, giving a lift to her campaign as she tries to prove that she is a leading candidate in the crowded Democratic field.The powerful union, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, provided one of the first big labor endorsements in the wide-open mayor’s race and hoped to use its political weight to help elect a Black woman as mayor for the first time.The endorsement was a major win for Ms. Wiley, who is running as a progressive who wants to lead New Yorkers out of the pandemic in a city that has elected only one Black mayor and no women.For Ms. Wiley, who did not qualify for public matching funds this week despite having announced that her campaign had met the threshold, the union’s support comes at a critical time. The union was a key early endorser for Mr. de Blasio in 2013, helping him demonstrate that he was a viable candidate in a similarly competitive race.“Maya Wiley has the experience and vision needed to move us forward, and to reimagine what our city can be when working people have access to the tools and support needed to live with dignity,” the union’s president, George Gresham, said in a statement.Local 1199 represents more than 200,000 health care workers, many of whom are women of color and essential workers who have worked through the pandemic. Union leaders promised to mobilize members and to use their grass-roots organization to turn out voters.The endorsement will help Ms. Wiley make the argument that she can win the June 22 primary against other top Democratic candidates, including Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, and Andrew Yang, the former presidential hopeful. The campaign has moved mostly online during the pandemic, and it has become difficult for candidates to stand out.Ms. Wiley faced a setback earlier this week when the city’s campaign finance board said she had not qualified for the city’s 8-to-1 matching program, which could enable her to receive $2 million in public funds.“There were minor issues with some donations that should be resolved quickly, and the delay will not impact the campaign’s operations,” Julia Savel, a spokeswoman for Ms. Wiley, said in a statement.A candidate must raise at least $250,000 in contributions of $250 or less from at least 1,000 city residents to qualify for the program. Then a $10 contribution from a city resident effectively turns into $90.The campaign finance board audits each candidate’s filings. If a donor does not provide information like an address or employer, the donation is not eligible. The campaign can provide additional documentation to be considered for the next payment on March 15.So far, only Mr. Adams and Mr. Stringer have received public funds. Mr. Yang’s campaign said he recently met the threshold and expects to receive public funding in April, pending the board’s audit.Ms. Wiley’s campaign had made a big fund-raising push and declared victory in January, writing on Twitter: “You did it! You made history.”The endorsement from the health care workers’ union gives Ms. Wiley’s campaign fresh energy, but some political strategists expected her to secure it. Ms. Wiley is being advised by Patrick Gaspard, the former political director at 1199 who also worked for President Barack Obama in the White House.Gabby Seay, the union’s political director, said that she was excited to support a Black woman who has first-hand experience with racism and misogyny, especially after Kamala Harris’s history-making election as vice president.“This is what we mean when we say support Black women,” she said in an interview.Mr. Stringer, who is competing with Ms. Wiley for progressive voters, won an endorsement last year from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a major union that endorsed Christine Quinn, the City Council speaker, in 2013.Three other coveted unions have not yet made an endorsement: Local 32BJ of S.E.I.U., which represents building cleaners and airport workers, the Hotel Trades Council and the United Federation of Teachers.Ms. Wiley thanked the Local 1199’s members for helping New Yorkers during the “darkest days” of the pandemic.“As mayor, in my City Hall, the voices of frontline workers and unions will be as loud and as powerful as the pots and pans celebrating these essential workers at 7 p.m. every night this past spring,” Ms. Wiley said in a statement.Ms. Wiley, a civil rights lawyer whose father was a well-known civil rights leader, worked as Mr. de Blasio’s legal counsel for two years and then led the city’s police oversight agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board.She has positioned herself as an expert on police reform and recently released an ambitious plan to shift resources from the Police Department to help families pay for child care and care for older relatives. Her plan aims to cut 2,250 police officers to give “high-need” families $5,000 a year to pay for those services.Some political consultants have argued that unions have less power than they once did or that labor endorsements could matter less this year. Ms. Seay rejected that idea, saying that the union offered “boots on the ground” and noting that its members are loyal Democratic voters.“There is no union like 1199,” she said. “Ask Bill de Blasio in 2013.”The union interviewed eight mayoral candidates and asked them to “walk a day” in members’ shoes to see what it is like to be a health care worker. Ms. Wiley spent time with Sandra Diaz, a home health aide who later said she believed Ms. Wiley would have her back. Ms. Wiley talked about caring for her own aging mother, who had Alzheimer’s, before she died.“She’s very down to earth, and she’s open to our ideas,” Ms. Diaz said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Elections

      Super PACs Are Raising Millions to Sway the N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceWho’s Running?11 Candidates’ N.Y.C. MomentsA Look at the Race5 Takeaways From the DebateAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySuper PACs Are Raising Millions to Sway the N.Y.C. Mayor’s RaceGroups representing big business are already working to influence the contest, while a new organization hopes to push the crowded field of candidates to the left.A super PAC backing Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive who is running for mayor, quickly raised more than $1 million.Credit…Todd Heisler/The New York TimesDana Rubinstein and Feb. 19, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETThe last time there was an open mayoral election in New York City, an independent committee spent roughly $900,000 to help take down the presumptive front-runner, paving the way for Bill de Blasio’s victory.Eight years later, another onslaught of barely regulated money is heading New York’s way, with super PACs poised to play an outsize role in the race for mayor the most important election in recent city history.Business-friendly organizations have already raised millions of dollars. At least one candidate, Raymond J. McGuire, has a dedicated super PAC. And now progressive groups are getting in on the act, creating their own super PACs to supplement their on-the-ground and social media efforts.The rising tide of independent spending highlights the fierce debates unfolding across the political spectrum about how to manage the city’s post-pandemic recovery and what its future should look like.It also points to a hunger among donors in New York City — one of the nation’s political fund-raising capitals — to play a role in this year’s races without being bound by the strict rules governing direct donations to political campaigns.A super PAC called New York for Ray, which backs Mr. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, has already raised more than $1 million since registering with the state in January, including $500,000 from a theater producer, Daryl Roth, whose husband, Steven Roth, is the head of Vornado Realty Trust; and $500,000 from John Hess, the chief executive of Hess Corporation. It also lists a $2,500 donation from Richard S. Fuld Jr., the former chief executive of Lehman Brothers.At the other end of the spectrum, a group of progressives are starting a super PAC that aims to raise up to $5 million, in hopes of pushing the field of more than 30 mayoral candidates and hundreds of City Council candidates to the left on matters including housing and diverting funding from the police.The super PAC, Our City, 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. Mr. Tobias is also the co-founder of the Movement School, which grew from her campaign.Our City’s board includes Nelini Stamp, a senior official at the Working Families Party, and Ed Ott, the former executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council.“There’s no other effort like this in recent history that I’m aware of, a progressive independent expenditure aimed at winning control of city government,” Mr. Tobias, the director of the group, said. He is hoping to raise $300,000 in the group’s first month and go from there.Several of the leading candidates running in the June 22 Democratic primary for mayor are battling to emerge as the progressive standard-bearer, continuing a trend that has influenced a slew of recent elections from House races to City Hall.But various business interests in New York are trying to mount a counterattack: They persuaded Mr. McGuire, one of the highest-ranking and longest-serving Black executives on Wall Street, to enter the race; they have urged their employees to register to vote in the primary; and they are raising money to push their issues.James L. Dolan, the chief executive at Madison Square Garden Entertainment, has already started The Coalition to Restore New York, a super PAC to which he has directed more than $2 million in monetary and in-kind donations from the various Madison Square Garden affiliates he controls.Mr. Dolan declined an interview request, but his PAC says it is focused on getting the candidates to explain how they would restore the city’s economy, improve public safety and balance its budget. Stephen M. Ross, the developer of Hudson Yards, has put $1 million toward a super PAC called Common Sense NYC, which has a similar political bent as Mr. Dolan’s. It was originally considering targeting both the mayor’s race and the City Council races, but the crowded mayoral field inspired it to focus on the City Council, where it can presumably make more of an impact.The group recently spent roughly $200,000 on a special election for a Council seat in Queens, helping a former councilman, Jim Gennaro, defeat several rivals including Moumita Ahmed, a progressive whose views the group called “extreme” and “reckless.”“It completely changed the race in the final two weeks,” Ms. Ahmed said. It also turned Mr. Ross, who has supported both former President Donald J. Trump and Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, into even more of a boogeyman for the left. (Mr. Ross, whose company owns a controlling stake in Equinox, ignited anger among Democrats in 2019 when he hosted a fund-raiser for Mr. Trump.)Our City’s launch video juxtaposes a picture of Mr. Ross at Hudson Yards with an apparently homeless person sleeping on a cardboard box as a narrator talks about inequality. Mr. Ross declined to comment on the video.The New York Immigration Coalition is also planning to mount an independent expenditure committee, according to Murad Awawdeh, the group’s interim co-executive director.“What progressive organizations and progressives have realized is that super PACs are going to be part of the narrative, and until we have real reform that outlaws them, we have to be able to play the game and participate in that process,” Mr. Awawdeh said.In New York City, candidates running for mayor, and donors seeking to support them, are subject to strict limitations: Individuals who are doing business with the city can contribute up to $400 to a mayoral candidate; other donors are subject to caps varying between $2,000 and $5,100. Wealthy individuals and corporations can make unlimited contributions to a super PAC under New York and under federal law, according to Seth Agata, a former counsel in the governor’s office who helped write New York’s independent expenditure regulations.Even as more super PACs are expected to form in the weeks ahead, it remains to be seen whether outside spending eclipses the nearly $16 million spent during the 2013 New York City elections.Veterans of the mayoral primary that year recall only one independent expenditure committee that mattered. The committee, New York City Is Not for Sale, received backing from an animal rights group seeking to ban horse-drawn carriages. It focused on the race’s putative front-runner, Christine Quinn, then the City Council speaker.The effort ended up mired in controversy. But Ms. Quinn said it had a clear impact on her mayoral prospects.“These independent expenditures are merely ways around the best campaign finance law in the country, and I think they’re very destructive,” she said.New York for Ray is supposed to have a more positive message. Its goal is to increase Mr. McGuire’s name recognition and amplify his message, according to someone involved in the effort.“I have known Ray McGuire a long time and am confident in his ability to lead our city,” Ms. Roth, one of the group’s major donors, said. Mr. Hess, via a spokeswoman, declined to comment. It will be led by Quentin Fulks, an Illinois-based political consultant; Jennifer Bayer Michaels, a former fund-raiser for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo; and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, an experienced New York fund-raiser who is also the co-founder of Higher Heights for America, an organization that aims to elevate Black women in politics, and the co-chair of its PAC.L. Joy Williams, who is working on Mr. McGuire’s campaign, is the Higher Heights PAC’s chairwoman. A campaign spokeswoman said Ms. Williams was unaware that Ms. Peeler-Allen was working on New York for Ray, and that there has been no coordination between the super PAC and the campaign.A serious super PAC effort on Mr. McGuire’s behalf — especially through paid advertising — could help him overcome his significant challenges with name identification. Among New York political operatives, the matter of whether Mr. McGuire would receive outside help had been a subject of great speculation. In recent months, there have been conversations within prominent Democratic firms about the prospect of doing work for a pro-McGuire independent expenditure effort, according to someone familiar with the conversations.The super PAC sees no gain in smearing Mr. McGuire’s opponents, the person involved in the effort said, given the advent of ranked-choice voting, which will allow New Yorkers voting for mayor to rank their top five choices.“Rule No. 1 is do no harm,” said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist who has worked on multiple national independent expenditure efforts and lives in New York. “That means understanding how what you say in the campaign could reverberate on your preferred candidate, and how your entrance into the race could even reverberate on your candidate.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Zoom Fatigue on the Campaign Trail: 5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s Race

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceWho’s Running?11 Candidates’ N.Y.C. MomentsA Look at the Race5 Takeaways From the DebateAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyZoom Fatigue on the Campaign Trail: 5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s RaceThe candidates in New York City can barely keep up with a dizzying schedule of online forums. One candidate joins from his closet.Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, regularly appears in front of a dark wooden bookcase bathed in a golden glow.Credit…Todd Heisler/The New York TimesEmma G. Fitzsimmons, Dana Rubinstein and Feb. 15, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETThink you’re sick of Zoom calls? Try running for mayor of New York City.The campaign has gone mostly virtual during the pandemic, forcing the crowded field of candidates to sit in front of their computers attending one online forum after another.This is no exaggeration.On a recent evening, three mayoral forums were somehow scheduled back to back to back: At 4 p.m., candidates gathered to talk about restaurants and nightlife; at 6 p.m., they participated in an event with Muslim groups; and at 8 p.m., they were hosted by Democrats in Staten Island.The topics of the forums may be different, but there is also certainly a sameness about them all, with candidates appearing night after night, smiling (mostly) in their “Brady Bunch” boxes and struggling to unmute themselves or mute their cellphones.Here are some observations and behind-the-scenes moments in the virtual mayor’s race:Not another Zoom!Running for mayor means always navigating a demanding gantlet of parades, church visits and neighborhood events — a preview of what life could be like if you are lucky enough to move into Gracie Mansion.The pandemic has simplified the routine, but in a stultifying way: Nearly everything is online, making it easier — perhaps much too easy — to organize events. Instead of working out numerous logistics, organizers simply have to find a suitable time, and send out invitations.Campaigns say privately that they feel obligated to participate, especially once a rival campaign has said yes.“It’s a staring contest — who is going to blink first?” said one campaign aide, who asked for anonymity to speak bluntly. “Everyone wants to be able to say no.”In the first six weeks of the year, there were at least 21 forums hosted by groups as disparate as the school principals’ union and the LittleAfrica BronxNews website. With more than two dozen candidates in the race, the events can stretch on for three hours.“Welcome to virtual Staten Island — all the local flavor, but you can skip the Verrazzano toll,” one forum began, with a host noting that a mere 100 viewers were watching.Candidates, their staffers and journalists are reaching a breaking point.Sally Goldenberg, the City Hall bureau chief for Politico, recently sent an email to other reporters with the subject line: “Forum insanity.” She wanted to brainstorm about how to make the schedule more manageable.“While as a reporter I find it useful to hear politicians and candidates speak extemporaneously and not solely from talking points, I am tired of cooking dinner at 11 p.m.,” she said.Ms. Goldenberg recalled that in the 2013 mayor’s race, there seemed to be fewer forums. “I thought they were overwhelming back then,” she said. “But I clearly didn’t know what we’d be in for in this brave new world.”All Zoom boxes are not created equalNone of the candidates seem given to vanity, but they do acknowledge some pressure to look good. The quality can vary dramatically.Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, has been relegated to a corner of the apartment he shares in Manhattan with his wife and young sons.“To make space for my two boys, I’m now zooming from the closet of my bedroom,” he said.Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, like many of the candidates, sits in front of a handsome bookcase, occasionally visited by her cats.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, seems to speak from a different location each time. Carlos Menchaca, a city councilman from Brooklyn, recently joined a forum while walking outside, wearing a face mask.Loree Sutton, the retired Army brigadier general, uses her MacBook Air camera, with a portable halo light — “My concession to Zoom vanity!” she said.But Raymond J. McGuire has gone to greater lengths, and the results show. Mr. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, regularly appears in front of a dark wooden bookcase bathed in a golden glow.“For the camera, it’s good to have a low F-stop so you get depth of field,” said Charles Phillips, a software executive who serves as his campaign chairman.Mr. Phillips, a self-described “proud tech geek,” brought a duffel bag of equipment to Mr. McGuire’s Central Park West duplex in the fall. It contained equipment like a Sony mirrorless camera that retails for $3,900, a “capture card” and floor lighting by Elgato, and a special microphone that has its own mute button.The quality of his setup has not gone unnoticed.“Ray McGuire, of course, continues to have his super-HD camera setup from the year 3000,” quipped one Twitter user last week.Candidates reveal differences on policyThe candidates mostly stick to their scripts, but sometimes the forums highlight subtle differences.Take a recent forum on the candidates’ agenda in Albany. Ms. Wiley said she supports a campaign, known as Invest in Our New York, that includes six measures to raise taxes on the wealthy to help the city recover from the pandemic.Mr. Stringer, who like Ms. Wiley is vying for progressive voters, gave a less enthusiastic response, saying the proposal should be considered. Ms. Wiley retorted that supporting the tax package should be a no-brainer for Democratic candidates. (Mr. Stringer’s spokesman, Tyrone Stevens, quickly took to Twitter to clarify that Mr. Stringer does support the campaign.)Mr. Adams, for his part, went through the list of proposals, saying he supports some of the ideas — like a progressive income tax and capital gains tax — but not others.The candidates differed on whether the city should take control of the subway away from the state — an idea championed by Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate. Ms. Wiley was open to the idea.Mr. Adams said he would prefer that the city gain more control by adding five new city members to the board governing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway and bus system — one new member for each borough.Mr. Stringer said city control would be a “disaster” and he wants to focus on the streets, which the city already controls.“I’m going to be the bus mayor,” he said.Beware the ‘resting Zoom face’Under normal circumstances at a normal debate, candidates might chat offstage and forge some camaraderie, even with their rivals. Much of that is gone, though sometimes they schmooze in virtual waiting rooms. Mr. Adams recently discussed a vegan bread recipe, an opponent recalled.“Shaun was like, ‘I haven’t had dinner yet, I’ve been on Zoom,’” Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, said of Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary. “‘You’re making me hungry.’”Some candidates say the routine can be physically draining — “It’s a lot of sitting,” Ms. Garcia said. It is also difficult to gauge how one is connecting with the audience.“You can never tell a joke on Zoom, particularly if people are muted, because you can’t read the room,” she said, also acknowledging that campaigning by Zoom offered more ways to reach people in the winter.And the forums require plenty of preparation. Ms. Wiley’s campaign said she “diligently prepares for the forums” and that her “resting Zoom face” — a common look of boredom while others are talking — did not reflect a lack of interest in what her opponents had to say.The candidates also return to Zoom for fund-raisers — an effort that is paying off for Mr. Yang, whose campaign announced on Sunday that it had qualified for public matching funds after only a month.Mr. Yang was on a video call in his son’s room when one of his sons walked in and asked for breakfast.“I looked around and gave my son the only thing edible I saw in the room — chocolate-covered pretzels,” he said. “Made my son happy but knocked me out of the running for any parenting award.”A risqué statue turns headsIn the beginning, Ms. Sutton didn’t pay much attention to Zoom backgrounds. Then, on Nov. 12, a post on Twitter caught her eye: “I’m not in the business of judging Zoom backgrounds, but this (nude?) statue needs to back up and give @LoreeSuttonNYC some space!”Ms. Sutton nearly fell off her chair laughing.Her wife, Laurie Leitch, bought the statue in question, “Erotic Secrets” by the artist Altina Schinasi Miranda, years ago. It features a naked woman whispering to a raven, joined by a naked man. Unfortunately, during that mayoral forum, the naked man was facing the camera.It was not the first time the statue had caused a stir.When Ms. Leitch’s children were teenagers, she said, they hated it and “would cover its anatomically distinguishing parts with dish towels, socks, hoodies or whatever was near when their friends would come to visit.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 125 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      NYC Mayoral Campaign: Yang Hires Woman Who Once Disparaged Him

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceWho’s Running?11 Candidates’ N.Y.C. MomentsA Look at the Race5 Takeaways From the DebateAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn Campaign Team Shake-up, Yang Hires a Woman Who Once Disparaged HimThe new campaign co-manager, Sasha Neha Ahuja, criticized the candidate in 2019 after he was accused of gender discrimination, writing, “Wish I could say it was unbelievable.”Andrew Yang, a newcomer to New York City politics, has lurched toward the front of the city’s mayoral race.Credit…Jose A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York TimesDana Rubinstein and Feb. 12, 2021Updated 6:01 p.m. ETIn 2019, a story about gender discrimination centering on a presidential candidate was making the rounds, and a New York City progressive activist, Sasha Neha Ahuja, found it to be credible.The candidate was Andrew Yang, and Kimberly Watkins, one of his former employees at the test-prep company he once ran, had publicly accused Mr. Yang of firing her after she got married, allegedly because he thought she would not want to work as hard.“Wish I could say it was unbelievable,” Ms. Ahuja wrote on Twitter, sharing an article from HuffPost about Ms. Watkins’s allegations, which Mr. Yang has long denied.Last month, Mr. Yang named Ms. Ahuja as the co-manager of his campaign for New York City mayor, selecting an operative who may be able to help him connect with progressives skeptical of Mr. Yang’s campaign. Yet a review of her activity on Twitter suggests that on multiple issues, involving politics and personnel, her instincts have been at odds with the leading candidate she is now assisting.Her elevation to the role, running the campaign alongside Chris Coffey, a Tusk Strategies executive, came as a result of an apparent leadership shake-up within the campaign in the weeks leading up to Mr. Yang’s entry into the race.The developments offer among the clearest signs yet of some of the turbulence that Mr. Yang, a leading mayoral candidate but a newcomer to city politics, has encountered as he works to get his campaign off the ground.Ms. Ahuja said in a statement released on Friday that “when I heard the testimony in 2019, I was taken aback. It’s incredibly important for us to listen to the experiences of all people in the workplace, especially those who tend to experience discrimination most frequently.”“It is also important to make sure all sides are heard and promote a workplace culture that is inclusive and committed to equity,” said Ms. Ahuja, who is the current chair of New York City’s Equal Employment Practices Commission. “That’s why when I had the chance to work for Andrew and build that type of culture on a mayoral campaign, I jumped at the chance and am so excited to be here.”Her tweets also suggest that she has been far more progressive on matters including criminal justice than Mr. Yang is in his current bid. And during a recent special City Council election in Queens, Ms. Ahuja tweeted encouragingly about a deeply progressive candidate who was embraced by leading liberal figures but was vigorously opposed by some members of the Orthodox Jewish community, a constituency Mr. Yang is now aggressively courting.Mr. Yang did not engage in that election, his campaign said, and Ms. Ahuja noted that “there are so few South Asian women who run for office in New York City and I support many of them, independent from any professional work.”In a statement, Mr. Yang defended Ms. Ahuja’s tweets about him.“The rest of the field can focus on my staffer’s tweets from years ago, but we’re focused on the big ideas like cash relief,” responding to Covid-19 and managing the economic recovery, he said. “I wanted my team to represent a diverse array of backgrounds, experiences, and views, and I’m proud to have all these folks fighting with me for New Yorkers.”Ms. Watkins, who is now running for Manhattan borough president, said she was “shocked” after being shown Ms. Ahuja’s tweet on Friday.“If she’s working now for Andrew Yang, having declared that she believed that to be true, it tells me that she is under the influence of someone who does not tell the truth about their history with women in the workplace,” Ms. Watkins added.Ms. Ahuja’s appointment was not the only personnel change on Mr. Yang’s campaign team in recent weeks.Zach Graumann, who was Mr. Yang’s presidential campaign manager, signed multiple fund-raising emails last month indicating that he was Mr. Yang’s mayoral campaign manager. Mr. Graumann, who came under scrutiny in a recent Business Insider article about how Mr. Yang’s 2020 campaign was mired in “bro culture,” is now listed as a senior adviser to Mr. Yang. They continue to host a podcast together.Mr. Yang’s team has said that Mr. Graumann helped the campaign get started but that it wanted to put New York political experts in charge of the team.At a recent candidates’ forum, Mr. Yang mentioned Ms. Ahuja in response to a question from Maya D. Wiley, another mayoral candidate, about the Business Insider article.“One of my co-campaign managers is a woman of color, Sasha Ahuja,” he said. “I could not agree more with the fact that you need, you need to have women in positions of leadership in order to actually operate at the highest levels.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Elections

      Will A.O.C. Endorse? How She Could Shake Up the Mayor's Race

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceWho’s Running?11 Candidates’ N.Y.C. MomentsA Look at the Race5 Takeaways From the DebateAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat a Rebuke from Ocasio-Cortez Taught Andrew Yang About the Mayor’s RaceThe exchange was a vivid illustration of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s influence on New York’s political landscape. Whether she’ll use her platform to help shape the race for mayor is an open question.Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement is coveted by Democratic candidates in the New York City mayoral race.Credit…Anna Moneymaker for The New York TimesFeb. 11, 2021Updated 2:51 p.m. ETRepresentative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most powerful progressive leaders in the country, a politician most liberal Democrats want on their side — in person and on Twitter.But short of that, no Democratic candidate running for mayor of New York City wants to alienate her. Last week, Andrew Yang learned that the hard way.After the mayoral candidate laid out his plan to support a “Green New Deal for public housing,” he drew a near-instant rebuke from Ms. Ocasio-Cortez over the details.“I wrote the original Green New Deal for Public Housing,” she wrote on Twitter last Friday. “This isn’t that plan.”Mr. Yang quickly reached out to the congresswoman, speaking to her that same day, according to allies who heard about the conversation.The interaction was a vivid illustration of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s extraordinary influence on New York’s political landscape as another election unfolds.With less than five months before the Democratic primary election, the questions of how and whether Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 31, will use her platform to shape the New York City mayor’s race are sources of great speculation — and angst — in pockets of her hometown.An endorsement from Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, could affirm the recipient as the liberal standard-bearer in the contest or elevate a lesser-known contender and signal a new measure of viability around their campaign.Certainly, endorsements alone rarely determine the outcome of campaigns, and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s are no different. Indeed, her endorsees have a mixed record of success both in New York and nationally. But because she commands attention and resonates with the city’s left wing in ways that no mayoral candidate can claim on their own, her blessing would almost certainly have outsize impact on the muddled field.“If you’re looking to sew up the left, I’m sure you’re looking for A.O.C.’s endorsement,” said Donovan Richards, the Queens borough president.With registered Democrats far outnumbering registered Republicans, the June 22 Democratic primary is likely to determine the city’s next mayor. Despite that compressed time frame, a number of strategists and other top potential endorsers appear to be holding their fire at least until there is more clarity around which candidates have staying power. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez could make a similar calculation.“My observation is, it seems that she would make an endorsement when a candidate really lines up with her values and she feels like she could make a big difference,” said Susan Kang, a political science professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who is a steering committee member of the New York City Democratic Socialists. “The mayoral race is a little bit of a black box.”Interviews with more than a dozen elected officials, party leaders, activists and strategists across the city suggest that there is little expectation that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez will endorse in the mayor’s race anytime soon — if she does so at all.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been intensely focused on a range of federal priorities, from pressing for additional Covid relief to confronting the aftermath of the pro-Trump insurrection at the Capitol. But she suggested on Tuesday that the mayoral race, as well as other New York City contests including City Council races, was “absolutely of really important interest.”“It’s definitely something that I’m paying close attention to,” she said Tuesday night, after holding a virtual town hall meeting. “And of course, we want to make sure that we are also being very receptive to our community in this process.”Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was elected in 2018 after defeating Joseph Crowley, then the No. 4 House Democrat, in a shock primary upset. Since then, she has endorsed, sometimes late, in a number of high-profile New York races — though she does not jump into every contest.When she has weighed in, her choices have often been closely aligned with those of institutional allies like the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, and neither group has endorsed in the mayor’s race.“I don’t see her getting involved,” said State Senator Jabari Brisport of Brooklyn, saying that he appreciated her work in Congress. “I haven’t heard anything from her being interested in doing that.”Mr. Brisport, who like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been embraced by the D.S.A., said he was primarily focused on City Council races at this point, which is also where a number of prominent liberal leaders and groups have put their emphasis.The speculation around Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s intentions generally falls into three buckets: She could stay out of the race entirely, endorse Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, or support a woman of color.Other scenarios could also materialize.There is the possibility that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez won’t endorse at all, but will weigh in on the race periodically as a way to elevate her key policy priorities. Some of her allies, for instance, hope that she uses the race to draw attention to her own proposal for a Green New Deal for Public Housing, the measure she raised on Twitter with Mr. Yang.Andrew Yang quickly reached out to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez after the congresswoman chided him over his “Green New Deal” for public housing.Credit…James Estrin/The New York TimesAsked whether she planned to endorse in the mayoral race and how she intended to use her influence, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said that she did not have “any concrete answers” at the moment, but emphasized her broader priorities around making the city more equitable.“Addressing inequality — and not just economic inequality — health inequality, criminal justice inequality, and so, you know, these are issues that are a major priority for me and for our community,” she said.Mr. Stringer, for his part, has pulled in endorsements from a number of prominent progressive lawmakers, several of whom are seen as aligned closely with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. But he is also a white man who has worked in politics for decades, at a moment when some left-leaning voters would prefer to elevate a person of color.Maya Wiley, a former top counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, are both progressive women of color who are active on the virtual campaign trail. But whether they can demonstrate real traction in the race remains unknown. Ms. Wiley, who in a recent poll came in at 8 percent, has qualified for matching funds from the city; Ms. Morales, who in that poll was at 2 percent, has said that she expects to hit the key fund-raising threshold for the next filing period.Carlos Menchaca, a Brooklyn city councilman, is deeply progressive, but has struggled to get off the ground.Then there is Mr. Yang, who has fashioned himself as the anti-poverty candidate. That message could appeal to progressives, but he also faces skepticism from the left over issues including policing and education. Ms. Wiley has sharply questioned Mr. Yang around reporting concerning a challenging culture for women working on his presidential campaign, and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been a vocal critic of sexism in the workplace.Assemblyman Ron T. Kim, who was endorsed by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez last year and is now a prominent supporter of Mr. Yang’s mayoral bid, said that he was encouraged when he heard that Mr. Yang had engaged directly with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. He said he was hopeful that the congresswoman and Mr. Yang could connect on policy matters including the environment and housing and other anti-poverty measures.“If there is an alignment, I think it would be such a powerful combination of electeds,” said Mr. Kim, asked about the prospect of an Ocasio-Cortez endorsement for Mr. Yang.Representatives for Mr. Yang and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez declined to comment on their conversation.Jumaane D. Williams, the New York City public advocate and a coveted endorser himself, said that if Ms. Ocasio-Cortez decides to weigh in, “that would be an awesome indicator endorsement.” But no endorsement or potential endorsement alone, he stressed, is decisive.“The question is, do you have the infrastructure to have it translate to more on the ground, and then into votes,” he said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Eric Garner’s Mother Endorses Raymond McGuire for Mayor

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceWho’s Running?11 Candidates’ N.Y.C. MomentsA Look at the Race5 Takeaways From the DebateAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyEric Garner’s Mother Backs McGuire for Mayor Over Progressive RivalsGwen Carr said she was endorsing Ray McGuire because his financial background could help him lead New York’s recovery and make the city a “safer place.”In a nearly two-minute ad, Raymond McGuire and Gwen Carr visit the location in Staten Island where her son, Eric Garner, had his fatal interaction with the police.Credit…Ray McGuire for MayorFeb. 11, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETIn the nearly seven years since Eric Garner died at the hands of the police in Staten Island, his mother, Gwen Carr, has helped turn her son’s cries of “I can’t breathe” into a national movement against discriminatory policing.Ms. Carr has also become a sought-after endorser for political hopefuls looking to represent themselves as candidates of change, especially on policing matters.That is especially true in New York City’s crowded Democratic primary for mayor, where several candidates have been coveting Ms. Carr’s endorsement in the wake of the national protests that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year.But instead of giving her endorsement to one of the more liberal, progressive Democratic candidates, Ms. Carr will announce on Thursday that she will endorse Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive who served on the New York City Police Foundation and who has embraced calls to reform the police, but not defund them.Mr. McGuire, formerly the vice chairman at Citigroup, is a moderate Democrat who was recruited to run by the city’s business community and quickly raised $5 million in three months. But he still must overcome his lack of name recognition among most voters, and expand his appeal beyond the Wall Street elite.Ms. Carr’s endorsement could help Mr. McGuire with some left-leaning voters and shore up support in the Black community, which makes up 26 percent of the electorate.“Eric Garner and George Floyd are examples of what can happen to any Black man in this country and what has happened to all too many Black men in this city,” Mr. McGuire said in an interview. “Gwen Carr’s endorsement means she recognizes that I have what it takes to lead this city and to reflect the voice of those who would not otherwise have a voice.”Ms. Carr said the next mayor can only undertake the necessary police accountability reforms if the city’s future and finances are stabilized.“We know that the budget is in a mess, and from what I read he can balance budgets,” Ms. Carr said. “I have grandsons and granddaughters growing up in this city and I want it to be a safer place for them.”Mr. McGuire, who is Black, has adopted a policing stance that echoes that of Black lawmakers in the city who resisted calls to defund the police last year, citing rising violence in the communities they represent.“Black people want better policing. We want to reform, restructure and reallocate the dollars,” Mr. McGuire said. “We want our policing to be respectful, accountable and proportionate.”Mr. Garner was killed in 2014 after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer, Daniel Pantaleo. A grand jury did not indict Mr. Pantaleo and federal prosecutors decided against pursuing civil rights charges. Mr. Pantaleo remained on the police force for five more years until he was fired and stripped of his pension in 2019 by the police commissioner at the time, James P. O’Neill, after a police administrative judge found him guilty of violating a departmental ban on chokeholds.Ms. Carr said that her pursuit for justice in her son’s death was caught up in politics. She has been critical of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to delay a departmental trial and not fire Mr. Pantaleo. The mayor was elected in 2013 on a promise to overhaul the relationship between the New York Police Department and Black, brown and poor communities.“He has never been a politician,” Ms. Carr said of Mr. McGuire. “We need new blood.”Ms. Carr said she admired Mr. McGuire’s support of the National Action Network, the civil rights organization headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton. The group has been one of her biggest supporters since her son’s death. Mr. Sharpton has credited Mr. McGuire as one of many anonymous Black businessmen who had helped fund his organization during difficult times.Mr. McGuire’s campaign will reveal the endorsement on Thursday in a digital ad created by John Del Cecato, who is responsible for the successful 2013 campaign ad that featured Mr. de Blasio’s son, Dante; and Mark Skidmore, chief executive of Assemble the Agency, who wrote the script for Mr. McGuire’s campaign launch video that was narrated by Spike Lee.In the nearly two-minute ad, Mr. McGuire and Ms. Carr visit the location in Staten Island where Mr. Garner had his fatal interaction with the police. Ms. Carr holds onto Mr. McGuire’s arm as they walk toward the location, which is commemorated with a plaque and a mural. He refers to her as “Mother Carr”; she calls him “Mr. McGuire,” but he tells her to call him Ray.Her endorsement will be a disappointment to other candidates such as Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Maya Wiley, a civil rights lawyer who was Mr. de Blasio’s legal counsel and former head of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, said Susan Kang, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.“There are some moderates in the reform criminal justice world for whom this will carry a great deal of legitimacy, particularly those of Ray McGuire’s and Gwen Carr’s generation who are very likely voters,” Professor Kang said. “Trust is an important issue among older voters and that group makes up a high percentage of people who turn out to vote in municipal primaries.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More