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      Can Andrew Yang Make It in New York City Politics?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCan Andrew Yang Make It in New York City Politics?Mr. Yang has name recognition, fund-raising ability and some different ideas on how to run a government. How will that play in a city ravaged by the pandemic?Andrew Yang, who dropped out of the presidential race in February, will face scrutiny of his experience, views and basic knowledge of New York City if he runs for mayor.Credit…Tamir Kalifa for The New York TimesJan. 11, 2021Updated 9:41 a.m. ETIn the last few months, the man who would be New York’s most famous mayoral candidate acted like anything but one.He spent more time barnstorming Georgia than he did the five boroughs. He openly contemplated cabinet roles and lobbied Washington lawmakers around stimulus relief. And he often made television appearances from his weekend home in the Hudson Valley rather than from his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen.Andrew Yang has a habit of practicing politics in unexpected ways.He began the presidential race as an unknown candidate and stayed relevant longer than more accomplished politicians did, building an ardent fan base through his quirky style, warnings about automation and championing of a universal basic income. He now turns to the New York City mayor’s race with significant name recognition, a vivid social media presence and a demonstrated ability to raise money.But he is still every bit the unorthodox contender, and that approach offers Mr. Yang both opportunities and monumental challenges in the race to lead New York out of a pandemic-fueled crisis. His candidacy — which may be officially announced as early as this week — would offer a clear test of whether New Yorkers want a splashy but inexperienced contender with bold ideas for navigating the city’s recovery, or whether a mood of citywide emergency propels a more familiar local figure with a traditional governing background.Mr. Yang, who most recently has been a CNN commentator, nonprofit founder, campaign surrogate and podcast host, embraces being a political outsider in a city where he has lived for 24 years — indeed, he has never voted for mayor, the office he is poised to seek.Now, he is betting that he would instantly inject a dose of star power into a muddled, crowded field, and that his pledges to be an ambitiously anti-poverty candidate would resonate in an economically ravaged city.But he is also sure to face scrutiny and pressure of a wholly different magnitude than he ever confronted as a genial presidential candidate who dropped out last February, as voters, rivals and the news media dissect his experience, views and basic knowledge of the city.“If someone’s looking for a candidate who has spent the last couple decades steeped in city government, like, I will likely not be their candidate,” Mr. Yang said in a Friday morning interview from his weekend home in New Paltz, N.Y., about 80 miles outside Manhattan.Mr. Yang, left, began the presidential race as an unknown candidate and stayed relevant longer than more accomplished politicians.Credit…Brittainy Newman/The New York TimesDetailing the public health and economic challenges facing New York, he continued, “If you look at that situation and say, ‘Hey, city government has been working great for us, and we need someone who has been a part of the firmament for X number of years,’ I would disagree with that assessment.”Mr. Yang grew up in Schenectady, N.Y. and Westchester County, attended Columbia Law School and stayed in New York City afterward, working, raising two young children and maintaining fond memories of Mayor Ed Koch from his suburban childhood.He has a slate of ideas for revitalizing a city reeling from the pandemic, proposing “the biggest implementation” of a basic income in the country, addressing broadband internet access and urging the establishment of a “people’s bank of New York” to assist struggling New Yorkers. Some operatives and lawmakers doubt the feasibility of his vision, and Mr. Yang, a neophyte when it comes to city political battles, will need to explain how he would achieve such sweeping goals given the city’s staggering financial challenges.Although he has never run for office in New York, Mr. Yang’s presidential bid showcased his fund-raising ability, especially among small-dollar donors. He has a larger national network than typical mayoral candidates, and intends to announce Martin Luther King III as a co-chair of the campaign, Mr. King confirmed.Mr. Yang has also enlisted the prominent New York operatives Bradley Tusk and Chris Coffey, and has been in touch with New York political figures including members of the congressional delegation; the City Council speaker, Corey Johnson; the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams; the Queens borough president, Donovan Richards Jr.; as well as union leaders, legislators and stakeholders like the Rev. Al Sharpton.But for much of his career — he has a mixed record of success in the nonprofit and start-up worlds — he has plainly been absent from New York politics.“Is he a New Yorker? I don’t even know,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, who leads the Partnership for New York City, an influential business organization. “I’ve never run into him as a New Yorker.”Asked about the most important thing he has done to understand the challenges facing New York and prepare for the mayoral contest after exiting the presidential stage, Mr. Yang cited the experience he and his family had of being in the city as it shut down amid the pandemic.But Mr. Yang, the father of a son with autism, also acknowledged that he has not remained in New York full time since then, which Politico reported on Friday.“We’ve spent more time upstate than in the city over the last number of months, but I also spent time in Georgia, as you know, I spent time in Pennsylvania campaigning for Joe and Kamala,” he said.Noting the challenges of fulfilling his CNN obligations from his apartment, he continued, “We live in a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. And so, like, can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to do work yourself?”Mr. Yang in Pennsylvania campaigning for the Biden-Harris ticket in November. He also spent time in Georgia to try to help flip the Senate: “Most New Yorkers would be very excited about those goals,” he said.Credit…Associated PressIn fact, many New Yorkers have experienced just that dynamic, or far more challenging circumstances. Asked to respond to voters who expect their future mayor to have stayed in the city in its darkest moments, Mr. Yang suggested that his location was not relevant to his work at the time, and that New Yorkers would prioritize plans to move the city forward.“I was very focused on helping Joe and Kamala win, and then helping flip the Senate,” he said, though Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign was not especially fast-paced during the early days of the pandemic. “Most New Yorkers would be very excited about those goals, and are fairly indifferent to where I was doing that work from.”Mr. Yang’s allies hope that some of his strengths at the national level will translate in New York.During his presidential run, Mr. Yang connected with younger people, but the youth vote has not traditionally been influential in New York mayoral primaries. His candidacy will test whether he can bring more young people into the process, though he already has significant competition for the support of young progressive voters in particular.He demonstrated little traction with Black or Hispanic voters last year, but hopes that his universal basic income proposal will help him resonate across a range of communities of color, which were disproportionately hard-hit by the pandemic.That is an untested calculation in a diverse field that includes a number of candidates with much deeper ties to those communities and records of working on behalf of those voters. Mr. Yang may face an uphill battle in introducing himself as a New Yorker who understands the intricacies of the challenges at hand.Yet despite his untraditional background — and in some ways, because of it — he also possesses a set of political assets that may make him formidable.His signature issue, universal basic income, has growing political resonance as millions of Americans face unemployment, and the government cuts stimulus checks.“No elected official in the country has done more to shine a spotlight on the need for a basic income than Andrew Yang,” said Representative Ritchie Torres, who was recently elected to represent the South Bronx, adding that Mr. Yang was on a “very short list” of candidates whom he was considering endorsing.Mr. Yang also generates enthusiasm with a base of devoted fans that rivals may struggle to match in the sprint to the June Democratic primary.“There’s been a lack, I think, of excitement in this mayoral race,” said Assemblyman Ron Kim of Flushing, Queens, who recently dined on Korean barbecue with Mr. Yang in the area. “When Andrew was walking around, I saw an element of excitement.”Mr. Yang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, would make history as New York’s first Asian-American mayor. Mr. Kim said he expected that Mr. Yang would connect with many Asian-American voters in New York, a constituency that has demonstrated growing political power across the country.In addition to meeting with New York elected officials and endorsing a number of them last year, Mr. Yang has engaged in some local philanthropic work in recent months.Representative Ritchie Torres, who represents the South Bronx, said Mr. Yang was on a “very short list” of candidates whom he was considering endorsing.Credit…Dave Sanders for The New York TimesHe launched Humanity Forward, a nonprofit organization that promotes direct cash relief, including to New Yorkers. For example, the organization promised $1 million in emergency cash relief to families in the Bronx. Justine Zinkin, the chief executive of Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, which received that grant, confirmed the disbursement of $1,000 each to 1,000 Bronx residents.But in his own telling, Mr. Yang has primarily been focused on national obligations until recently. He said he did not begin to focus in earnest on a mayoral run until after the November election.Even then, he spent much of his time in Georgia. Mr. Yang argued that his efforts to help flip control of the Senate to the Democrats were significant for New York, citing the critical need for federal assistance for the struggling city.And it was in Georgia that he spent time with at least one of his future co-chairs of his expected mayoral campaign: Mr. King, the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a human-rights activist, who cited Mr. Yang’s focus on the poor as especially compelling.But some New Yorkers said his time in Georgia has little relevance to his presumed next job as mayoral candidate.“Good for him as a human, but it wouldn’t be how I would use my time if I were running for mayor and the race were in six months,” said Eric Phillips, formerly a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio. “He’s certainly done nothing that I’ve seen that demonstrates a command for city issues or the kind of really difficult decision-making that’s involved in managing 325,000 people and $90 billion. He hasn’t been involved in the civic fabric of the city.”News that he has not even voted for mayor also stunned some New Yorkers.Asked to explain that record, Mr. Yang acknowledged that in the past he may have taken city government “somewhat for granted.”“Right now we’re facing an historic crisis,” he said, adding that many New Yorkers “right now are engaging in different ways.”He promised that in the coming weeks, he would be accessible to his hometown.“Anyone who wants to talk to Andrew Yang in the days to come, like, I want to talk to them,” he said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Superheroes and an Indoor Fund-Raiser: 5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s Race

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential TransitionliveLatest UpdatesHouse Moves to Remove TrumpHow Impeachment Might WorkBiden Focuses on CrisesCabinet PicksAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySuperheroes and an Indoor Fund-Raiser: 5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s RaceWith a big fund-raising deadline this week, the New York City mayoral candidates are under pressure to reach benchmarks that would qualify them for matching funds.Borough President Eric Adams of Brooklyn in November. Mr. Adams skipped an indoor fund-raiser that was held for him over the weekend.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesEmma G. Fitzsimmons and Jan. 11, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETWith the presidential race and the Senate elections in Georgia decided, the mayor’s race in New York City now takes center stage, with money in the starring role.The candidates are scrambling to secure donations ahead of a major fund-raising deadline this week, trying to stand out in a crowded field that will likely soon include Andrew Yang, the ex-presidential candidate.An indoor fund-raiser was held over the weekend for Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, even though he has received criticism for raising money indoors during the pandemic. A Marvel superhero actor has backed Maya Wiley, a former top counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who seems in danger of not qualifying for matching public funds.And at the latest mayoral forum ahead of the Democratic primary in June, the candidates sought to pitch an ambitious idea for the city and to position themselves as authentic New Yorkers.Here are five highlights from the race last week:Adams skips an indoor fund-raiser held for himThe city might be in the midst of a second wave of the coronavirus and facing the prospect of a more transmissible variant, but that has not stopped some in-person mayoral fund-raisers.On Saturday, weeks after Mr. Adams prompted an outcry for continuing to fund-raise indoors, another gathering of his donors took place — this time across the New York City border in Great Neck, Long Island, where indoor dining is still allowed. Mr. Adams did not attend the event, at an Asian fusion restaurant.Peter Koo, a city councilman who represents Flushing, Queens, hosted the event. To entice his friends to attend, he played up how Mr. Adams believes in “law and order” and wants to retain a controversial exam that determines entrance to specialized high schools, Mr. Koo wrote in a text message to friends.Peter Koo, a city councilman who represents Flushing, Queens, hosted the fund-raising event at an Asian fusion restaurant in Long Island on Saturday.Credit…Johnny Milano for The New York Times“His administration will have a diversified cabinet,” Mr. Koo also wrote, according to a copy of the message shared with The New York Times. “If elected, he said he will appoint me as one of the deputy mayors.”In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Koo said it was a mistake to include that last line and that it wasn’t true.“I am at retirement age,” said Mr. Koo, 68. “I don’t need a job. I said that just to impress on my friends, do this, help support a mayor.”Mr. Adams is officially on the same page.“That is categorically false,” said Evan Thies, Mr. Adams’s spokesman. “There have been no conversations about staff roles, nor has anyone been offered a role. Appointments will be based on only one standard: ability.”He also defended the use of indoor fund-raisers, which many campaigns have avoided.“We ask all fund-raiser hosts to follow health and safety guidelines specifically outlined by the campaign and in compliance with the law,” Mr. Thies said.Anyone with a big idea, please raise your handFor all the criticism of Mr. de Blasio’s tenure, he was successful in delivering a centerpiece of his platform: prekindergarten for all.At a mayoral forum hosted by Uptown Community Democrats last week, candidates were asked to name one big issue that they would “completely resolve” if given two terms.Ms. Wiley and Shaun Donovan, a former housing secretary under President Obama, both committed to ending street homelessness.“We need to put people in housing first — not spend $2 billion for a shelter system that frankly people are sleeping on the streets to avoid,” Ms. Wiley said.Maya Wiley has asked her supporters for donations to qualify for public matching.Credit…Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesMr. Adams has proposed a bold idea that also affects school instruction, possibly to the chagrin of students: extending school year-round by shortening the summer break and adding shorter breaks during the year. He said he wants to keep students engaged over the summer, especially as families recover from the pandemic.The Presidential TransitionLatest UpdatesUpdated Jan. 11, 2021, 9:50 a.m. ETBiden will receive his second vaccine shot today.How a string of failures led to the attack on the Capitol.Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and others pause their political contributions.Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, said he wants to focus on the city’s affordability crisis and proposed a land bank to build affordable housing. Mr. Stringer says that the idea could help create more than 53,000 units of affordable housing on vacant land that is already publicly owned.“Why don’t we give that land back to the people?” Mr. Stringer said at the forum.Will the next mayor be, gasp, another Red Sox fan?The city’s last two mayors — Mr. de Blasio and Michael R. Bloomberg — grew up in the Boston area, leading to awkward exchanges over their allegiance to the Boston Red Sox.It seems unlikely that New York’s next mayor will hail from Massachusetts — especially after Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker, dropped out of the race — and more likely that Mr. de Blasio’s successor will be a genuine New Yorker.Several candidates are lifelong residents, including Mr. Adams and Mr. Stringer. Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, and Dianne Morales, a nonprofit executive, were born in the city and graduated in the 1980s from Stuyvesant High School — a prestigious public school that has received criticism for admitting only 10 Black students last year.Mr. McGuire and Ms. Wiley grew up elsewhere, but have lived in the city for decades. Mr. McGuire was raised in Dayton, Ohio, and Ms. Wiley was born in Syracuse and raised in Washington, D.C.Mr. Yang was born in Schenectady, N.Y., but has spent most of his adult life in Manhattan. Asked if he is a Yankees or Mets fan, he responded on Twitter last year: “Mets, unfortunately.”The latest task for Marvel superheroes: fund-raisingThe candidates are facing a major fund-raising deadline on Monday that may signal whether candidates can convert buzz into tangible support.Ms. Wiley, in particular, is under pressure to prove that she is a top-tier candidate. She has been pushing hard for donations and received two celebrity endorsements over the weekend: the actors Chris Evans, best known for his role as Captain America in the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Rosie O’Donnell.Mr. Stringer has another fictional superhero on his team: the actress Scarlett Johansson, who is also part of Marvel’s “Avengers” series.Ms. Wiley has begged her supporters for donations to qualify for public matching. A candidate must raise at least $250,000 in contributions of $250 or less from at least 1,000 city residents.Ms. Wiley wrote on Twitter that her campaign team had unleashed her to be her true self. “I can win this race and be a bad-ass Black woman mayor,” she posted.Mr. McGuire has proved to be a prolific fund-raiser, and Mr. Stringer and Mr. Adams have already qualified for public funds. We will learn more on Friday, when campaign finance disclosure forms are released.Is graffiti a starter crime that could have led to the Capitol attack?As a mob of President Trump’s supporters forced their way into the Capitol on Wednesday, several of the mayoral candidates were watching and responding in real time, on social media.Carlos Menchaca, a Brooklyn councilman, demanded the immediate arrest of the “domestic terrorists.” Ms. Wiley and Mr. McGuire argued that if the mob had been Black like them, the response from the police would have been far more violent. Ms. Morales agreed.Then, at 3:36 p.m. that day, more than an hour after the mob had broken into the Capitol, Loree Sutton, a retired Army brigadier general and former commissioner in the de Blasio administration, struck a different note.She highlighted an op-ed that Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, wrote in The New York Post, and seemed to suggest a connection between the attack on the Capitol to “vile graffiti” that recently desecrated St. Patrick’s Cathedral.“Last month, the radicals attacked St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the N.Y.P.D.; today anarchists are attacking the U.S. Capitol … #WakeUpAmerica #StopTheMadness,” she wrote on Twitter.In an interview, she said her words, which prompted a small uproar on Twitter, were misconstrued.“My concern was, and it has been, that this kind of riotous vandalism, it can start in small ways, as you can point to with the graffiti, and then it can manifest and grow on either side,” Ms. Sutton said.Nate Schweber contributed reporting from Great Neck, N.Y.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Texas City Settles Mayor’s Race by Pulling Ping-Pong Balls From a Top Hat

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTexas City Settles Mayor’s Race by Pulling Ping-Pong Balls From a Top HatThe random drawing came after a December runoff ended with 1,010 votes each for the two candidates running for mayor of Dickinson, a Houston suburb.Mike Foreman, the mayor of Friendswood, Texas, and Julie Masters, the mayor of Dickinson, Texas, settling a tie vote for mayor in Dickinson with a random drawing.Credit…Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News, via Associated PressJan. 10, 2021, 6:00 a.m. ETThere were no lawsuits, no cries of election fraud and certainly no angry mobs storming the seat of government. Instead, a tie between two candidates running for mayor of a Houston suburb was settled after their names were drawn from a top hat.“It was as fair as you can make it,” said Jennifer Lawrence, who lost the random drawing on Thursday night. “I feel like this is how it was supposed to go. It’s disappointing, but it is what it is.”The winner, Sean Skipworth, said that while he was certainly pleased that he had won, he had his reservations about handing democracy over to fate — in this case, two Ping-Pong balls, each one signed in black pen by one of the candidates, that were placed inside the hat.“It was really exciting, but it’s a horrible way to resolve an election,” he said. “It’s always better to have people decide elections, not random chance.”The drawing in Dickinson, a city of about 21,000, roughly 30 miles southeast of Houston, was allowed under a Texas election law that permits ties to be resolved by the “casting of lots,” or a game of chance, said Elizabeth Alvarez, a Texas election lawyer. It could be darts, a coin toss or a roll of the dice, she said.It doesn’t happen often, she said, given the improbability of an exact tie, but it has happened before. In 2012, a tie between two candidates running for City Council in Wolfforth, Texas, was decided with the flip of a 1974 Eisenhower silver dollar.“It sounds dumb,” Ms. Alvarez said, but the preference for quickly settling a tie is rooted in Texas’ deep-seated aversion to big government, which in this case would mean holding another election.“We think, ‘You know, if it’s a tie, they ought to settle it among themselves, if they want,’” Ms. Alvarez said. “Why cost the city a bunch of money if we can flip a coin and shake hands?”In Dickinson, the ceremony was held inside City Hall.It came after a runoff election in December between Ms. Lawrence, a mechanical engineer, and Mr. Skipworth, a former City Council member and a professor of government at the College of the Mainland in Texas City, Texas, ended with exactly 1,010 votes for each. A recount certified the unlikely outcome on Tuesday.Together, the two candidates received 2,020 votes, which Mr. Skipworth said seemed like “evidence of higher intelligence in the universe.”About 100 people were in attendance at the drawing. The top hat was placed on a table that had been draped in a sparkly gold sheet. Dickinson’s current mayor, Julie Masters, presided.“Welcome, everybody, to this historic event in our community,” Ms. Masters said, before lifting the top hat for all to see, according to a video posted on the city’s Facebook page.“I just want to show everybody — the hat is empty,” Ms. Masters said, as someone cracked a joke about a rabbit.After Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Skipworth placed their signed Ping-Pong balls in the hat, Ms. Masters lifted the hat and rattled them around.The honor of plucking the names fell to Mike Foreman, the mayor of Friendswood, Texas, who said Ms. Masters, his friend, had asked him to serve as an “unbiased ball-picker.”“I got one!” Mr. Foreman declared, holding the ball up high, before Ms. Masters read the name aloud: “Sean Skipworth!”As camera shutters clicked, Mr. Skipworth fell into the arms of his wife, Melissa, and son Christopher, 8, and then hugged Ms. Lawrence. He takes office on Tuesday.The graciousness shown by the candidates, both of whom accepted the outcome, wasn’t lost on anyone at the ceremony, which happened one day after a violent mob, egged on by President Trump’s refusal to accept his election loss, rampaged through the Capitol and disrupted Congress as it was certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.“It was palpable,” Mr. Foreman said. “You realize, ‘Hey, there’s all this stuff going on nationally, but here they are — friendly, gracious, there’s no us against them. It was all of our residents and citizens coming together. It was a cool, friendly atmosphere, and I was proud of that.”Ms. Lawrence, who was running for office for the first time, said the loss was a heavy blow but also a relief after a tough, 10-month campaign. She said she had had a feeling that she was going to lose the drawing.“I had respect for Sean, and I knew if I was going to lose, I was going to lose with grace,” she said. “This is about our community. This is not about me winning or him winning. It’s about how we get something done for our citizens.”Mr. Skipworth said he was moved by Ms. Lawrence’s hard work and civility.“Given what happened, it is refreshing for people to see this in everyday America,” he said. “At the end of the day, we came and hugged it out and shook hands, and that was it. And that’s how it should be.”Still, Mr. Skipworth said he wanted to amend the City Charter to ensure that if a future election ends in a tie, it prompts another election, not a random drawing. He said he planned to turn his strange victory into an object lesson for his students on the importance of voting.“Every vote counts,” he said, “and I’m living proof of that — literally.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      The Race to Lead Boston Is Suddenly Wide Open

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Race to Lead Boston Is Suddenly Wide OpenThe selection of Mayor Martin J. Walsh as labor secretary has shaken up the mayoral race in Boston, which has struggled with police reform and an extreme racial wealth gap.Kim Janey, the president of the Boston City Council, will become the acting mayor if the current mayor, Martin J. Walsh, is confirmed as labor secretary.Credit…Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe, via Getty ImagesJan. 9, 2021, 3:39 p.m. ET[To read more stories on race from The New York Times, sign up here for our Race/Related newsletter.]BOSTON — Sometimes the guard changes slowly. Sometimes it changes overnight.That is what is happening in the city of Boston, which has been led by white men since its incorporation in 1822. With the nomination of Mayor Martin J. Walsh as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s labor secretary, the 2021 mayoral race is suddenly wide open, and the front-runners are all women of color.If Mr. Walsh is confirmed and resigns from his mayoral post, his replacement as acting mayor will be Kim Janey, president of the City Council, a 56-year-old community activist with deep roots in Roxbury, one of Boston’s historically Black neighborhoods. Ms. Janey has not said whether she plans to run.The two declared challengers in the race are also, for Boston, nontraditional. Michelle Wu, 35, a Taiwanese-American woman, has as a city councilor proposed policies on climate, transportation and housing that have won her the support of progressives.And Andrea Campbell, 38, a city councilor who grew up in public housing in Roxbury, has drawn on her own painful personal history — her twin brother died of an untreated illness in pretrial custody — to press for policing reforms and equity for Black residents.Andrea Campbell, a member of the Boston City Council, at a hearing in 2019.Credit…Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe, via Getty ImagesOthers are expected to jump into the race, but it has already deviated from the long-established pattern in this Democratic city, in which one figure from the white, working-class, pro-union left would hand off power to a similar man of the next generation.Paul Parara, a radio host who, as Notorious VOG, grills local politicians on his morning show, said Mr. Walsh’s departure cleared a path for long-awaited change.“I’m ecstatic that Marty is going to Washington,” said Mr. Parara, who works at 87FM, a hip-hop and reggae station. “It does represent an opportunity for Boston to turn the page, and elect someone who looks like what Boston looks like now.”The percentage of Boston residents who identify as non-Hispanic whites has steadily dropped, to 44.5 percent in 2019 from 80 percent in 1970.“Oh, we’re about to Georgia Boston,” he added, referring to voter mobilization that has reshaped the politics of that state.He said he hoped the next mayor would impose greater pressure on police unions, which he said had negotiated advantageous contracts with the city and which, as the Boston Globe has reported, remained more white than the city’s population as a whole.Mayor Walsh has been tapped to join the Biden administration.Credit…Kriston Jae Bethel for The New York Times“I think that’s going to change,” he said. Mr. Walsh, he added, “is a labor guy, and that’s what benefited the police — they were negotiating a contract with a labor guy.”A new mayor could also rethink development in Boston, where a technology boom and housing shortage have squeezed out poor and middle-income families, or grapple with the city’s egregious wealth inequality: In 2015, the median net worth for white families was almost $250,000, while that figure was $8 for Black families, according to a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.Mr. Walsh, who has been mayor since 2014, has responded to progressive activists, but he has also styled himself as a consensus-builder, trying to satisfy a range of stakeholders, including the police and developers.His successor may, for the first time in the city’s history, emerge from “a left that derives from the civil rights movement, or the residents of color in the city or the left-wing intellectuals in the city,” said David Hopkins, an associate professor of political science at Boston College.“We don’t have a model of what a different type of mayor would look like because we really haven’t had one,” Mr. Hopkins said. “What’s so interesting about this situation we’re in now is that there isn’t an obvious next Marty Walsh figure in line to take the baton.”Despite weeks of hints that Mr. Walsh would be tapped as labor secretary, the news of his selection seemed to catch many off guard. The power of incumbency is extraordinary in Boston; the last time a sitting mayor was defeated was in 1949.So many people were now floating possible runs that Segun Idowu, the executive director of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, renamed his Twitter account Not a Boston Mayoral Candidate.Michelle Wu, a city councilor, spoke last year at a campaign event for Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.Credit…Mary Altaffer/Associated PressOn Saturday, Ms. Wu received a heavyweight endorsement from Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, her former professor at Harvard Law School and the person she credits with steering her into politics.“Bostonians can count on Michelle’s bold, progressive leadership to tackle our biggest challenges, such as recovering from the pandemic, dismantling systemic racism, prioritizing housing justice, revitalizing our transportation infrastructure and addressing the climate crisis,” Ms. Warren said.But after a year of national soul-searching about race, voters may be drawn to a candidate from the heart of Boston’s Black community, like Ms. Campbell or Ms. Janey.When she started her campaign in September. Ms. Campbell focused squarely on the city’s history of inequality, noting that “Boston has a reputation as a racist city.”“I love this city,” she said. “I was born and raised here, as my father was before me. But it’s important to realize that this isn’t just a reputation nationally. It’s a reality locally. Plain and simple, Boston does not work for everyone equitably.”Progressives should not presume that young voters will turn out for a city election, warned David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.Historically, participation has skewed older and whiter than the city as a whole, with a disproportionate number of votes cast in white, middle-class enclaves like West Roxbury and Hyde Park. Turnout in recent mayoral elections has consistently remained below 40 percent.The city has changed so much and so rapidly, though, that past experiences may not be an accurate guide.Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist, noted that Representative Ayanna Pressley pulled off the biggest political upset in the state’s recent history, ousting a 10-term incumbent and fellow Democrat in 2018, despite being outspent two-to-one.“Southie is not the old Southie,” Ms. Marsh said, referring to South Boston. “Southie is a lot of young professionals, it’s not South Boston, Irish, Catholic labor families anymore. It is mostly young millennials. It’s a very different place, and that’s true in many pockets of the city. People will be very interested in the race.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Yang Presses Forward, Wiley Is Sidelined: Highlights From Mayor’s Race

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyYang Presses Forward, Wiley Is Sidelined: Highlights From Mayor’s RaceAndrew Yang met with the Rev. Al Sharpton, and Maya Wiley is in quarantine. Yet another candidate joined those seeking to become New York City’s next mayor.Andrew Yang met last week with the Rev. Al Sharpton, discussing his vision for New York City and the problems he thought were most pressing.Credit…Pete Marovich for The New York TimesDec. 28, 2020Updated 4:32 a.m. ETFew elected officials seem more eager than Mayor Bill de Blasio to put, as he phrased it, this “God-forsaken” year behind him. But 2020 was not without its lessons for this mayor and for those seeking to succeed him.On Wednesday, Mr. de Blasio said this year had taught him the importance of self-care, and he recommended that whoever succeeds him bear that lesson in mind.“One thing I’ll tell you that I’ve learned — this is something Chirlane used to lecture me on all the time — that sleep really matters,” said the mayor, referring to his wife, Chirlane McCray. “And I’ve not been someone who has traditionally gotten enough sleep.”No one disputes the value of sleep. Yet it seemed bizarre for the mayor — whose sometimes somnolent approach to schedule-keeping prompted The New York Post to give him an alarm clock in 2014 — to focus on his sleeping habits.Sure enough, his comments provoked ridicule on social media, another Post front-page headline — “Bedtime for Blasio”— and an opportunity for several mayoral hopefuls to offer their own lessons that they learned this year.Here’s what you need to know about the week that was in the mayor’s race.The path to City Hall still goes through HarlemBefore actually running for mayor of New York City, many candidates follow an informal task list: Quietly consult with New York political hands; register a campaign committee but insist it is merely exploratory in nature; and then, after a dutiful amount of time has passed, declare.And somewhere in the middle of all that, meet with the Rev. Al Sharpton.Representative Max Rose of Staten Island is most of the way through that process. He met with Mr. Sharpton in November and filed for his campaign committee in early December but has yet to formally announce he’s running.He’s now in lock step with Andrew Yang.Mr. Yang met with Mr. Sharpton on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, he formally opened a mayoral campaign committee with the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Per the script, someone close to his formative campaign insisted the move was merely procedural — that Mr. Yang registered so that if and when he decides to run, no bureaucratic hurdles will stand in his way.In an interview, Mr. Sharpton said Mr. Yang was better prepared than he had expected him to be. Mr. Yang, who ran for president on the promise of creating universal basic income, talked about alleviating poverty, improving broadband access, food deserts and bringing “the fizzle” back to New York City, Mr. Sharpton said.The meeting came about because Mr. Yang asked for it. That’s no surprise, according to the reverend.Mr. Sharpton runs a prominent civil rights organization, hosts his own radio and television shows and holds weekly rallies simulcast on the radio. He says more than 60,000 people tune in.“Some of the right-wing media says, ‘Oh, they’re kissing Sharpton’s ring,’” Mr. Sharpton said. “No, they’re using my platform to talk to prime voters.”Another one joins the scrumArt Chang, a former JPMorgan Chase managing director, is not the first mayoral candidate to position himself as an outsider — someone who is not beholden to special interests or burdened by decades of political baggage.But no other outsider shares his back story: a Korean-American resident of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with a degree from Yale in women’s studies and a childhood spent with an abusive father.On Dec. 21, Mr. Chang, 57, announced he was running for mayor, and on Thursday he released his first campaign video.He says his heart is “on the far left,” but it’s also important to be able to get things done.Comparing himself to his competitors, he said, “I don’t think I’m like any of them, and I will put myself in a lane which is very, very different from any of them, because of what I’ve done and what I’ve been through in my life.”Mr. Chang was born in Atlanta, grew up in a white school district in Akron, Ohio, and lived with an abusive father and a strong mother, he said. He has worked in and around city and state government since the 1990s, including at the corporation counsel’s office and at the agency now known as Empire State Development. He has also worked in venture capital and has served on the boards of the Brooklyn Public Library, Safe Horizon and the Campaign Finance Board.Should he become mayor, he would institute universal day care for all children from the age of 1 to serve “a city of people who primarily live on the edge.”“These communities need leadership now more than ever,” Mr. Chang said.They’re just like usMaya Wiley announced that she was quarantining for 14 days after being in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. Credit…Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesAs it turns out, being a mayoral candidate in the year 2020 is not all that different from being any other sort of New Yorker in the year 2020: You spend a lot of time at home.Forced off the hustings by the threat of contagion, the mayoral candidates have been severely constrained in their ability to glad-hand parishioners at Brooklyn churches or kibitz with nursing home residents.Asked to reflect on the lessons they’ve learned about themselves, they will say, like so many of us, that 2020 has reminded them of what they truly value — time with family, small acts of kindness, the release that comes from a walk in the park.“The pandemic has brought us back to the family dinner table, reminding us that we like sitting together,” Maya Wiley, the mayor’s former counsel, said. “But I’ve learned that listening to each other, hearing about our days and what’s on our minds is also a matter of emotional survival.”Joycelyn Taylor, who owns a general contracting firm, said this upside-down world has reminded her of the importance of flexibility. “The expression, ‘We make plans and God laughs,’ comes to mind,” she said.As the father of two young children, Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, faced another challenge.“I also had to learn how to do third-grade math,” he said. “It’s a humbling experience, especially when you’re essentially the chief accountant of the City of New York. In my defense, they changed math.”As for sleep?“I already knew the value of sleep,” said Kathryn Garcia, the mayor’s former sanitation commissioner who is now running for mayor herself. “I’ve done a few emergencies in my time.”No one is immuneThe virus has profoundly changed the mayoral race, dominating the issues and affecting the way candidates raise money and gather attention. It has also hit some candidates more directly.Shaun Donovan, a former Obama administration housing secretary now running for mayor, caught a mild case of the virus earlier this year. Mr. Stringer’s mother died of Covid-19, and now Ms. Wiley is in quarantine following a possible exposure.“I’ve been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid,” she wrote on Twitter last Tuesday. “So quarantining for 14 days and awaiting my Covid-19 test results.”The well-wishes poured in, including from Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, who said he hoped to see her back on the campaign trail soon.Ms. Wiley is the first major candidate to be sidelined from a race that — like much of life these days — is largely being conducted from the sidelines, anyway.After Mr. Stringer’s mother died, he mourned with those who loved her, remotely.“I didn’t know you could have a shiva over text,” he said. “But that’s 2020 for you — we all learned that you don’t need to be together to feel close.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Will Progressives Be Kingmakers in the New York Mayor’s Race?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWill Progressives Be Kingmakers in the New York Mayor’s Race?It’s not yet clear if voters want bold ideas from the left or a leader who can manage the city out of a crisis. Or maybe they want both.Scott Stringer, the New York City comptroller, has been endorsed for mayor by several young progressive Democratic lawmakers, but it is unclear if the city’s progressive groups will coalesce behind him.Credit…Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesKatie Glueck and Dec. 23, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ETLast summer, the rising influence of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing in New York seemed almost boundless.Progressive activists helped knock off an incumbent congressman, fueled upsets in several state legislative races and pushed policies on taxation and policing that put an anxious business community further on edge.Next year, the movement may face its sternest test in the New York City mayoral race, a wide-open contest that will be the city’s most momentous in decades.New York officials and strategists across the ideological spectrum say that the Democratic electorate has plainly shifted to the left in recent years, and a unified liberal front helped make the difference in a number of high-profile congressional and legislative races in the city and around the country.But at a time of extraordinary economic crisis, staggering public health challenges and rising gun violence, the mayor’s race may serve as a barometer of whether the electorate will be swayed more by bold, progressive ideas or evidence of managerial competence — or whether they believe a single candidate can deliver both.The challenge for progressive leaders will be to try to replicate their successes — best exemplified by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shocking win in 2018 — to a citywide race with more than 3.7 million registered Democratic voters, in a political landscape where more traditional political gatekeepers still hold influence.“We have an opportunity to really radicalize and get people behind a lot of the things that we’ve been talking about for a very long time,” said Tiffany L. Cabán, a progressive candidate who nearly won the Queens district attorney race last year and is now running for City Council. “What’s at stake here is the opportunity in this moment to have a mayor that is going to say that this is not about safe, small, incremental change that tinkers around the edges.”The progressive push fell short in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor, when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo decisively defeated Cynthia Nixon, the candidate of choice for many left-leaning organizations and leaders. Nor was it quite sufficient to avoid Ms. Cabán’s narrow defeat, or to win some contested House contests.Some Democratic leaders argue that the ideas that excite young progressives have not always resonated in older, working-class communities of color across the five boroughs. The mayoral primary in June will test whether any candidate can bridge that divide.“The socialist left is on the rise, particularly in neighborhoods where Black and Latino residents are being gentrified out of existence,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens and may become the first Black House speaker. “To the extent the success of the socialist left is in part tied to gentrifying neighborhoods, it remains to be seen how that will impact a citywide race.”How left-wing activists and organizations will choose to wield their influence is unclear. Were all the groups affiliated with the progressive movement to align behind one candidate, they could have a sizable impact on the race.So far, they are not coalescing.“There’s a big question of whether folks do,” said Jonathan Westin, the executive director of New York Communities for Change. “I think the candidate that is able to cobble together all of those groups is the candidate that is going to win.”The New York City Democratic Socialists of America has endorsed six candidates for the City Council, a move that promises significant organizational assistance. But it has yet to make an endorsement in the mayoral race, and several people affiliated with the organization do not expect it to.“If we had a mayoral candidate who came from the D.S.A., I think that would have been one thing,” said Susan Kang, a D.S.A. member and a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “We’re trying to be very strategic in how we use our labor.”Another complicating factor is the popularity of Scott Stringer, the city comptroller and a leading mayoral candidate, among some prominent younger progressive lawmakers. In 2018, Mr. Stringer endorsed a D.S.A. stalwart, Julia Salazar, in her race for State Senate over the incumbent, Martin Dilan. Ms. Salazar won her race, and Mr. Stringer won her endorsement for mayor, along with several other high-profile endorsements from progressives.Mr. Stringer has also won the backing of a few key unions, including most recently the Communications Workers of America, an early supporter of Mayor Bill de Blasio.“Some people are a little bit disappointed that the current progressive front-runner is a white guy and certainly not an insurgent in terms of his background,” said Michael Kinnucan, a New York City D.S.A. member.Nor is it clear whether several other progressive groups, including the Working Families Party, will play a role in the primary. “We see ourselves as coalition builders, aligning the left, aligning working people’s institutions behind a candidate, a movement or a set of issues that can help shape a much stronger landscape for working people in New York City,” said Sochie Nnaemeka, the party’s state director.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez offered her endorsement in a number of congressional and state primaries earlier this year, and a number of the mayoral candidates would probably covet her backing. A spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment about Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement plans in the race.Even if New York progressives don’t unite behind a single candidate, they are already affecting the discourse of the race, as even candidates like Raymond J. McGuire, a longtime Wall Street executive, sound increasingly open to higher taxes on the wealthy. But some traditional New York City power brokers are skeptical of a fiercely ideological pitch in this race, when city residents face so many tangible challenges.“People are a little bit beleaguered when it comes to all of these ideological fights,” said Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers. “It’s more, ‘OK, who can start to steer this ship toward a better horizon?’”The upcoming primary will also probe the citywide appeal of progressives’ language and policy proposals after their success in a series of more local races.For example, there is evidence that in some poor and middle-class communities of color, slashing funding for police, a major left-wing priority, is controversial. That’s an issue that has divided the mayoral field.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a former police officer, and Mr. McGuire have both made overtures to the donor class while stressing their appeal to working-class Black New Yorkers. Both are betting that a citywide race will draw a diverse range of voters who do not all share the most far-reaching goals — defunding the police or imposing more taxes on the wealthy, for example — of prominent progressive organizations.“I’ve never walked into one meeting, one civic group, one block association, one NYCHA development meeting where someone said to me, ‘I want less cops on my block,’” said Mr. Adams, who ran a police reform organization while at the New York Police Department. “Just the opposite: ‘Where are my police? What are they doing?’”Several of the candidates are seeking to present themselves as the right blend of visionary progressive and seasoned administrator — perhaps none more so than Mr. Stringer, who has promised to “manage the hell out of this city” as he also seeks to rack up a list of endorsement from left-wing leaders.He dismissed concerns that progressives might not want to elect a white man at this moment in history, noting he is the only candidate to have won citywide office and pointing to the racially diverse coalition supporting him.“I don’t think I would be attracting this very powerful coalition if I was in simply the lane of what I look like,” he said.Councilman Carlos Menchaca, of Brooklyn, and Dianne Morales, the former nonprofit executive, are running among the most progressive campaigns in the race. Asked whether she had spoken with key left-wing organizations about a possible endorsement, Ms. Morales said “beginnings of conversations” were underway, though she declined to specify which groups she was talking to.“I have been on the ground as an organizer and activist,” she said. “My candidacy in particular is one that speaks to kind of mobilizing and organizing on the ground.”Mr. Stringer said he had yet to reach out to the D.S.A. about an endorsement. Mr. Menchaca said he would welcome the support of any organization that wants to help him “turn the page” on the de Blasio era.Mr. Jeffries suggested that in a time of deep crisis, a candidate with a more pragmatic message may have an edge. He also made a point to speak highly of incoming Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who, boosted by leading progressive groups, defeated Representative Eliot L. Engel last summer in a district that covers parts of the Bronx and Westchester County. Mr. Jeffries had backed Mr. Engel.“The person who rises to the occasion of a forward-looking, progressive attainable vision is the mayoral candidate who is likely to prevail,” he said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s Race: A Subway Pledge and Police Scrutiny

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Race and PolicingFacts on Walter Wallace Jr. CaseFacts on Breonna Taylor CaseFacts on Daniel Prude CaseFacts on George Floyd CaseAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s Race: A Subway Pledge and Police ScrutinySome New York City candidates vowed to reform the Police Department — or to ride the subway more often than Mayor Bill de Blasio.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, was less critical of how the police handled Black Lives Matter protests than some of his rivals.Credit…Elizabeth D. Herman for The New York TimesEmma G. Fitzsimmons and Dec. 21, 2020, 3:00 a.m. ETThe Democratic candidates running for mayor of New York City differ on many issues, but they tend to agree on one thing: All aspire to be different from Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat in his second term whose approval rating dropped after his failed run for president last year.On Friday, the city Department of Investigation released a report that sharply criticized the de Blasio administration for its handling of the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this year.The findings were uniformly welcomed by the mayoral hopefuls, many of whom have been critical of the police tactics deployed. One went further, vowing to remove the police commissioner, Dermot F. Shea, if elected mayor.One other way they vow to differ from Mr. de Blasio? They say they will ride the subway more often.Here’s what you need to know about the week that was in the mayor’s race:Who’s landing the big political guns for hire?The huge field of candidates running for mayor — as well as the City Council and other local races in New York — is expected to be a bonanza for campaign consultants, and some key hired guns have landed in some interesting places.L. Joy Williams, the president of the Brooklyn N.A.A.C.P., signed on with Raymond J. McGuire, a Black businessman. She was an adviser for Cynthia M. Nixon, the actress and activist who ran for governor in 2018.Ms. Williams could help Mr. McGuire, a first-time candidate, reach Black voters in Brooklyn, especially women — a critical constituency that will be courted by other Black candidates, including Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Maya Wiley, a former top counsel to Mr. de Blasio and MSNBC analyst.Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, hired Rebecca Katz, a confidante of Mr. de Blasio’s who helped shape his image, but has been critical of the mayor recently. Ms. Katz has worked for progressive candidates, including Representative Jamaal Bowman.Ms. Wiley hired Alison Hirsh, who left Mr. de Blasio’s administration earlier this year and worked for the powerful 32BJ local of the Service Employees International Union; and Maya Rupert, who worked on the presidential campaigns of Julián Castro and Elizabeth Warren.Maya Rupert, a former campaign manager for Julián Castro in the 2020 presidential race, was hired to work on Mara Wiley’s mayoral campaign.Credit…Michael Starghill Jr. for The New York TimesMr. Adams hired Katie Moore, political director of the influential Hotel Trades Council.But the competition is fierce.Abbey Lee Cook, the campaign manager for Representative Max Rose, who just announced his mayoral bid, already signed up to work with Tali Farhadian Weinstein, a former prosecutor who is running for Manhattan district attorney. A high-profile political firm led by Stu Loeser, an aide to former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is also working on Ms. Weinstein’s campaign.Be like Bill de Blasio and ride an SUV? Not likely.Mr. de Blasio has been criticized for not riding the subway regularly to see riders’ commuting misery up close, opting instead to view the city from the windows of his chauffeured SUV.Admitting that he could do better, Mr. de Blasio told reporters last week that he would ride the subway soon, to show New Yorkers that it is safe during the pandemic.But some candidates are pledging to do more. Shaun Donovan, a former housing secretary under President Barack Obama, promised to ride the subway every day. Mr. McGuire said in an interview that the subway is the “easiest, cheapest and quickest way to get around,” and that he would ride the subway as much as possible if elected.Others followed suit after Streetsblog, a website dedicated to street safety, inquired about their commuting habits. Mr. Adams said that he was already a regular subway rider, and would continue to be one if elected mayor.Carlos Menchaca, a Brooklyn city councilman, committed to taking the subway or riding his bike while “significantly limiting car trips.”It should be noted that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo actually controls the subway, and is rarely seen aboard a passenger train. But the mayor appoints members to the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency that oversees the subway, and can use his or her bully pulpit to help the system, which is in a deep financial crisis.Being early contenders pays off for Stringer and AdamsThe city’s Campaign Finance Board announced last week that it had approved more than $17 million in matching-funds payments to 61 candidates in races across the city next year.The initial outlay underscored the advantages of establishing early candidacies: Mr. Adams’s campaign qualified for about $4.4 million in matching funds, while Mr. Stringer’s campaign received about $3.3 million.The city comptroller, Scott Stringer, qualified for about $3.3 million in public matching funds; the only other mayoral candidate to receive matching funds was Mr. Adams.Credit…Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesNo other candidate met the dual threshold of raising at least $250,000 in contributions of $250 or less from at least 1,000 city residents by July.Mr. McGuire is not participating in the 8-to-1 matching-funds program, which effectively turns a $10 campaign contribution from a city resident into $90. Lupé Todd-Medina, a spokeswoman for Mr. McGuire, said the campaign felt good about not accepting taxpayer resources during a financial crisis and could raise enough money to get its message out.But Paul J. Massey Jr., a wealthy real estate executive who ran against Mr. de Blasio in 2017, suggested that mayoral candidates like Mr. McGuire may regret not participating in the matching-funds program. He said his biggest mistake as a first-time candidate was deciding to opt out; Mr. Massey raised $1.6 million, but spent it quickly on consultants and lent his campaign $1.2 million.“Being involved in the matching-funds program or writing checks the size Michael Bloomberg wrote are probably the few practical paths to financing a campaign for mayor,” he said in an interview.A ‘monumental failure of leadership’One candidate called for an elected Civilian Complaint Review Board and “massive disinvestments” in the New York Police Department. Another said the mayor demonstrated a “monumental failure of leadership.” And one candidate called for the dismissal of the police commissioner.The reactions came in response to a Department of Investigation report that concluded that the Police Department’s use of aggressive tactics had inflamed the summertime protests over the death of George Floyd, and violated protesters’ rights.The strongest reaction came from Dianne Morales, considered among the most progressive candidates in the race, and Ms. Wiley, a former chairwoman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates accusations of police misconduct.Ms. Morales said the Police Department committed “acts of violence,” and called for “dedicated prosecutors” for police misconduct.Ms. Wiley said the police used “brutally violent tactics” against the protesters, and called for the dismissal of Commissioner Shea and a policy change that would require the police to be more accountable to civilian review.Mr. Stringer, Mr. Donovan and Mr. McGuire focused on what they saw as a failure of leadership.“When I’m mayor, I’ll make certain that my police commissioner understands my values and the perspective of people who look like me,” said Mr. McGuire, who is Black.Mr. Stringer, who has collected a string of endorsements from progressive candidates, called for “wholesale reform” because the Police Department operated without “real accountability.”Mr. Adams, a former police officer, had perhaps the most moderate view among the major candidates. He said the report detailed “tactical errors and acts of heavy-handed policing” and called for more diverse leadership and enhanced de-escalation and implicit bias training.Lawsuit against ranked-choice voting suffers setbackA lawsuit seeking to prevent the use of ranked-choice voting in the June primary was dealt a significant blow last week when a State Supreme Court judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order in the matter.“This court is disinclined to take any action that may result in the disenfranchisement of even one voter or take any action that may result in even one voter’s ballot being nullified,” Justice Carol R. Edmead of State Supreme Court in Manhattan wrote in her ruling.Under a new system approved by referendum last year, voters in primary and special elections can rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority, the last-place winner is eliminated and the second-choice votes of those ballots are counted. The process continues until a candidate has won a majority.But several members of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus of the City Council have filed a lawsuit suggesting that voters had not been educated about the new process, and that people of color and immigrants would be disenfranchised as a result.Two Black mayoral candidates, Mr. Adams, the borough president of Brooklyn, and Mr. McGuire, a businessman, both expressed concerns about Black voter disenfranchisement. Other Black mayoral candidates, Ms. Morales, a former nonprofit executive who is Afro-Latina, and Ms. Wiley, support the use of ranked-choice voting.The ruling directly affects a Feb. 2 special election for a City Council seat in Queens, which is slated to be the city’s first contest to use ranked-choice voting since the referendum was passed. Justice Edmead noted that overseas ballots for the race were about to be mailed out.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Rep. Max Rose Launches Exploratory Bid to Run for N.Y.C. Mayor

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRep. Max Rose Launches Exploratory Bid to Run for N.Y.C. MayorThe congressman, who lost his re-election bid last month, is casting himself as a blunt populist who would end New York’s cycle of “broken politics.”Representative Max Rose, a Staten Island Democrat, is a relative moderate in a field that may be defined by debates over ideology and competence.Credit…Stephanie Keith for The New York TimesDec. 13, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ETRepresentative Max Rose, the brash Staten Island Democrat who recently lost his re-election race, appears all but certain to run for mayor of New York City, confirming for the first time that he is exploring a bid and casting his potential candidacy as a sharp rebuke of the de Blasio administration.Mr. Rose’s entry into the race at a moment of extraordinary crisis for New York would test whether a relatively moderate Democrat could catch fire in a crowded field that may be defined by debates over both ideology and matters of competence.Mr. Rose has little background in navigating the byzantine corridors of city bureaucracy, and on Thursday, his team took the unusual step of registering a mayoral campaign committee with the city’s Campaign Finance Board, with no announcement or much public elaboration.In his first extensive remarks since then, Mr. Rose positioned himself as a blunt, populist possible contender who hopes to frame his background outside of city government as a source of fresh perspective rather than a mark of managerial inexperience.“If you want someone with a typical politician, typical government experience, you’ve got plenty of other folks,” Mr. Rose, a military veteran, said in an interview on Saturday. “But if you want someone with experience and guts and ability to end our broken politics, then I could be your candidate.”Taking an apparent swipe at rivals who are more rooted in local politics, he continued, “If someone wants to tout their experience in city politics, then they certainly should not be pointing at problems that they helped — big problems — that they helped create. They can’t act as if they aren’t holding the shovel.”For some of the Democrats already in the race, experience in city politics brings with it a record to defend, but it also provides valuable advantages in Democratic-vote-rich pockets of New York.Eric L. Adams is the Brooklyn borough president, for example, and is backed by many of Brooklyn’s Democratic power brokers. Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, is closely tied to Manhattan’s West Side and has already secured endorsements from several progressive Democratic leaders.Staten Island, the city’s most conservative, Trump-friendly borough, simply does not offer the same kind of liberal power base. Mr. Rose, 34, and a relative newcomer to politics, may face a challenge in constructing a citywide coalition without built-in infrastructure and strong early support in traditional Democratic circles, though certainly the race is fluid at this stage.“He’s got to figure out how you go from being the congressman from Staten Island and then losing, to running for mayor of New York City,” said Marc H. Morial, the head of the New York-based National Urban League, a major civil rights organization. Mr. Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, added: “He’ll be an energetic candidate, and energetic candidates sometimes break through. But starting out, you’re from Staten Island.”A person close to Mr. Rose’s operation said the team was ramping up quickly, interviewing staff members and talking with pollsters, and engaging with potential supporters and donors.“This will be an underdog campaign,” Mr. Rose acknowledged. “This would not just be a campaign that involves me being the underdog. This is a campaign that would be fighting for the underdog.”In the wide-ranging interview, Mr. Rose sketched out his vision for a possible bid, stressing issues of economic inequality; he is on the side of “working people,” he said repeatedly. He contended that he would be fully focused on the city, contrasting himself with Mayor Bill de Blasio, who, even before running for president, had made frequent trips to Iowa.“There should be a pledge that in their first two years, they are not leaving New York City,” Mr. Rose said as he expounded on city challenges that require urgent attention. “‘Sweetie, we are vacationing in Breezy Point.’ OK? We’re not leaving. We’re not going. No traveling to Iowa. No thinking about your next higher office.”Mr. Rose repeatedly laced into Mr. de Blasio’s stewardship of the city on matters from managing school openings during the pandemic to his handling of Covid-19 testing issues. That he would cast himself as the antithesis to Mr. de Blasio is little surprise; during his congressional campaign, he released an ad calling Mr. de Blasio “the worst mayor in the history of New York City.”If Mr. Rose runs, he must persuade voters that his set of past experiences — as a decorated Army veteran, an executive for a nonprofit health care company and a one-term congressman — has prepared him to manage a vast government at a moment of peril for the city. Asked about the greatest number of people he had managed, he cited his time as chief of staff at the health care company, saying it employed around 1,000 people.Mr. Rose pointed to a range of policy proposals that he would support as a candidate, including raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers — he did not directly define “wealthy,” beyond urging “millionaires and billionaires” to pay their “fair share” — and giving city employees a property tax deduction if they live in New York City. He also said he backs a universal basic income program. (He is not the only champion of a universal basic income who is eying a run; that has been a top priority of Andrew Yang, who is expected to enter the race next month).He described New York schools as “deeply segregated” and urged changes, but he opposes eliminating the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, the controversial exam that determines who is admitted to New York’s most elite public high schools.“I do think that the SHSAT plays a role,” he said. “Should that be the only consideration? No, you can have a holistic process here. But under no circumstances should it be ignored.”As a candidate, Mr. Rose would face significant challenges around issues of politics and geography, identity and experience.In Congress, he represented a slice of Brooklyn and all of Staten Island. There, Mr. Rose embraced a number of positions that put him to the right of many New York Democratic primary voters, including his reluctance to impeach President Trump, though he ultimately voted to do so.“The city’s ideology is drifting leftward, and to survive in his district, Max had to reflect a less progressive ideology,” said Steve Israel, the former eight-term House Democrat of New York who was seen as one of his party’s top strategists. “On the other hand, it could be that the progressives cannibalize each other and then Max has a clear shot.”Mr. Rose insisted that he has a record of rebuking Mr. Trump, noting his strong opposition to “the racist Muslim ban” and saying that he voted to impeach Mr. Trump, “knowing that it could be the end of my career.”“Did I work across the aisle to get things done? Absolutely,” he said, casting himself as focused on those “who need action today.” “If you’ve got a problem with that, sue me. And you know what? You’ve got 30 other candidates to choose from.”Mr. Rose, who was the first member of Congress to endorse former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s presidential bid, already appeared to be recalibrating his message. In the interview, he did not say whether he would want Mr. Bloomberg’s endorsement; he highlighted his past criticism of stop-and-frisk policing tactics; and, asked to name the best mayor in his lifetime, he suggested David N. Dinkins.Still, running from the center may resonate with some New Yorkers who are alarmed by a surge in shootings; worried about businesses leaving and are simply in a less ideological mood these days given the struggles of the city. But Mr. Rose would have competition for those voters, too: Raymond J. McGuire, a longtime Wall Street executive, has attracted the support of many centrist business leaders, a sign of just how competitive every lane of the primary will be. (Mr. Israel, a relative moderate who does not live in the city but intends to contribute financially, is supporting Mr. McGuire, too.)Then there is the matter of identity.This year, as issues of police brutality and racism have torn at the fabric of the city and communities of color have been hit disproportionately by the virus and its aftermath, many New Yorkers would like to see a mayor of color. There is a diverse slate of candidates already running, including Mr. Adams; Mr. McGuire; Maya D. Wiley, a former top lawyer for Mr. de Blasio; and Dianne Morales, a former executive of nonprofit social services groups.“I do think someone of color is best suited for this moment,” said Leah D. Daughtry, a veteran Democratic Party strategist with close ties to New York politics. Asked about Mr. Rose, she said, “I don’t know him.”Mr. Rose, who devoted his final floor speech in Congress in part to grappling with racial injustice, said that it would be his “No. 1 responsibility,” should he run, to build a diverse campaign and potential administration. But he knows he has some introducing of himself to do.He met recently with the Rev. Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights leader who called Mr. Rose hard-working and “fiery” and said Mr. Rose would “add some excitement to the campaign.”But even as he moves forward, Mr. Rose said that he was “intent on listening far more than talking.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More