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      Shaun Donovan's N.Y.C. Mayor Endorsement Interview

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      Shaun Donovan served as housing secretary and budget director under President Barack Obama and as housing commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.This interview with Mr. Donovan was conducted by the editorial board of The New York Times on April 21.Read the board’s endorsement for the Democratic mayoral primary here.Kathleen Kingsbury: Secretary Donovan, good to see you. You are muted.I’m a bit of a rookie on Google Meet.Kathleen Kingsbury: Thank you so much for being with us. We only have a limited time together, so if you don’t mind, I’m just going to jump right in. My first question will give you a chance to tell us a little bit more about yourself, which is, why do you want this job? Why would you be better than anyone else in the field of candidates?Well, thank you all for having me today, and it’s a real pleasure to be with you even in this format. I wish we were meeting at The New York Times. Look, I fundamentally believe that this city is in a moment of reckoning and that this is the most important mayoral election of our lifetimes. Our city can either slide backward or rebound from this crisis and tragedy. And like every disaster, this one has not affected all of us the same.For many, there’s a palpable sense of excitement that our city is coming back, and I will build on that as mayor. But for millions of others, profound loss remains. Thirty thousand of our neighbors are gone and half a million more are out of work. There are millions of others who are struggling just to pay the rent and to put food on the table, and so many of those people were struggling even before this crisis hit.We need a mayor who can bind up our wounds and move this city forward, a mayor who understands that once the health pandemic is behind us, the economic and equity pandemics will still be in front of us. And I believe there is only one candidate who has actually seen a crisis like this, led through it and knows how to bring our entire city back. We have to get this decision right. We need a mayor who will not just repair and rebuild this city, but reimagine it as a city that works for everyone.Now, I became a public servant because I grew up in the city at a different time of crisis. As a child, I saw homelessness exploding on our streets. I saw neighborhoods like the South Bronx and central Brooklyn crumbling, even burning to the ground. And it made me angry and made me ask, how can we allow our neighbors to sleep on our streets, our communities to crumble?So I went to work. I started volunteering at a homeless shelter. In college, I interned for the National Coalition for the Homeless, and I learned about a remarkable leader in Brownsville and East New York in Brooklyn named Bishop Johnny Ray Youngblood, who was building thousands of Nehemiah homes to rebuild his community, to build Black and brown wealth. When I finished school, I came to him and I said, ‘Put me to work,’ and I went to a nonprofit that was working directly with him to rebuild those communities. That began a 30-year career on the front lines of housing and homelessness, of economic and racial justice, a career that’s taught me again and again what it means to lead through crisis.In fact — I try not to take it personally — a crisis seems to follow me wherever I go in public service. I was housing commissioner for Mayor Bloomberg in this city in the wake of 9/11. I was housing secretary in the midst of the worst housing crisis of our lifetimes, when Sandy hit our shores. President Obama asked me to lead the entire federal recovery effort, and then he asked me to lead the $4 trillion federal budget. Just weeks later, Ebola hit and later Zika, and I ended up side by side in the Situation Room with Dr. Fauci, with all our military leaders, with President Obama and then-Vice President Biden, making sure that emerging global health threats didn’t become pandemics that cost tens of thousands of our neighbors their lives.So I know what it means to lead through crisis, and I know that those who are the most vulnerable before a crisis are always hurt the worst by it. I was angry, but not surprised, that Black and brown communities have been hurt the worst. And that’s why I’ve put the most vulnerable, and equity, at the forefront of all of my work, whether it’s leading the strategy to dramatically reduce homelessness around this country, making sure by giving real meaning to the Fair Housing Act of 1968 that Black and brown people could live wherever they choose, becoming the first cabinet secretary in history to endorse marriage equality. My work on climate change and immigration and so many other issues.In fact, I believe I’m the real progressive in this race because I’ve made the most progress on issues of inequality. And that’s why I put those issues at the forefront of my campaign with the biggest, boldest ideas to make sure that our neighborhoods don’t determine our futures, by creating 15-minute neighborhoods ——Mara Gay: In fact, I want to ask you about that, if you give me a chance. You have some of the best ideas in this race: transforming every neighborhood in New York into a 15-minute neighborhood — which, for my colleagues, is actually an idea that came from Hidalgo, from Paris — that every New Yorker would have good health care, school, a coffee shop within a 15-minute walk; an equity bonds plan to give every kid $1,000 when they’re born that would grow; speeding the closure of plants and subsidizing air-conditioners to low-income communities in harm’s way. As mayor, how would you turn these ideas into reality, and can you talk a little bit about your management style?So. Mara, all credit due, Mayor Hidalgo also borrowed that from, I think, the mayor of Vancouver originally. Look, just to make a larger point, one of the things about me that’s different from anybody in this race is I’ve worked with mayors across the country and across the globe. If we really want to be the leading, most innovative city in the world, I think we need to look at other places and make sure we’re building on those.You know, what I would say is, first, don’t take my word for it. Look at my record. I’ve actually been able to make big change. It would start, for me, by ensuring that we create the city’s first-ever chief equity officer, reporting directly to the mayor, who has jurisdiction over every single agency and is really driving equity through everything that the city does. We need a mayor who understands every issue is an issue of equity, and that would be central to creating real accountability on those plans.I would also just say that I’m a leader who really understands how to make government work across different agencies. One of the fundamental problems we’ve seen these last few years is a lack of collaboration. Just to pick a very specific example, on homelessness: We try to solve homelessness with homelessness programs when, in fact, the way we made progress in the federal government was to bring together every agency that touches the issue, whether it’s substance abuse, criminal justice — everybody needs to be at the table — and we need to create real accountability through data, holding folks accountable and making sure that we’re doing more of what actually works and less of what doesn’t.Actually, David Brooks wrote a piece about the work we did on HUDStat and homelessness that got to the center of the way I led on those issues. Finally, I think I’m the only candidate that has that broad experience to make these ideas real.Kathleen Kingsbury: I’m glad you brought up homelessness and housing in general. You were the housing commissioner under Bloomberg at a time when we saw the cost of housing in this city skyrocket, and tens of thousands of people became homeless. Can you talk a little bit about what you think went wrong there and why we saw some of those things happen?Katie, just to be specific, if you go back and look at what happened during my time leading housing in this city, I think what you’ll see is that homelessness actually went down rather than up. The big increase happened later and accelerated under de Blasio. I would also say that the issue that we saw during my time was the emergence of the mortgage crisis, and actually the challenges around that became more and more prominent. I led the country with the very first response to that, the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, that really did create innovative solutions with housing counseling, with mortgage assistance, with legal assistance.And so I do believe if you look at my record, you’ll see a real record of creating innovative solutions on housing, and that we did dramatically accelerate the creation of affordable housing in the city. More

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      McCarthy Officially Backs Stefanik to Replace Cheney in House Leadership

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      “We need to be united,” said the Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who worked behind the scenes for days on behalf of Representative Elise Stefanik of New York.WASHINGTON — Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, on Sunday officially endorsed Representative Elise Stefanik in her bid to oust the No. 3 House Republican, Representative Liz Cheney, who has hemorrhaged support over her repudiation of former President Donald J. Trump’s lies about election fraud.“Yes, I do,” Mr. McCarthy told the Fox News host Maria Bartiromo when she asked whether he supported Ms. Stefanik’s push to become the Republican conference chairwoman.“We need to be united, and that starts with leadership,” Mr. McCarthy said. “That’s why we will have a vote next week.”The endorsement from Mr. McCarthy — who had been working behind the scenes on Ms. Stefanik’s behalf for days — came after Mr. Trump and Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican, endorsed Ms. Stefanik.The move made clear that fealty to Mr. Trump and willingness to embrace his false claims of election fraud have become the ultimate litmus tests among Republicans for holding a leadership position in the House. Ms. Cheney, who represents Wyoming and was once considered a future speaker, has a more conservative voting record than Ms. Stefanik. But Ms. Stefanik, a fourth-term congresswoman from New York, has joined in Mr. Trump’s efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, made the case against Ms. Cheney on “Fox News Sunday.”“Right now it’s clear that she doesn’t represent the views of the majority of our conference,” Mr. Banks, who has co-sponsored legislation with Ms. Cheney opposing troop reductions in Afghanistan, told the show’s host, Chris Wallace.Mr. Banks — who like Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Scalise joined in objections to certifying Mr. Biden’s victory — added that his split from Ms. Cheney came after she criticized a memo he had written outlining a strategy for winning working-class voters.Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, helped Representative Liz Cheney turn back a challenge to her leadership post in February.Joshua Roberts/Reuters“Liz Cheney is the only Republican leader who attacked the memo about making the Republican Party the party of the working class,” he said.Some House Republicans tried to oust Ms. Cheney from her leadership post in February after she voted to impeach Mr. Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Ms. Cheney easily turned back that challenge — winning a 145-to-61 caucus vote — after Mr. McCarthy delivered an impassioned speech in her defense.But now it is other Republicans who are rallying to her side.Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Mr. Trump in his second impeachment trial, argued that the party needed to adopt a bigger-tent philosophy in which both supporters and critics of Mr. Trump were welcome.“You look at polls, there’s a whole group of folks that agree with Liz Cheney, and so for us to win in 2022 and 2024, we need everybody,” Mr. Cassidy said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, pointed out that Mr. McCarthy had said Mr. Trump bore responsibility for the Capitol riot — only to later insist that others stop talking about it.“It is incredible,” Mr. Kinzinger said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Liz Cheney is saying exactly what Kevin McCarthy said the day of the insurrection. She has just consistently been saying it.”“For me, I’m a conservative,” he added. “I’m going to fight for the soul of this party. But every member, not just leadership, every congressman, every state representative, every member of the party that pulls a ballot in the primary has to decide, are we going to exist on lies or exist on the truth?” More

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      Scott Stringer Campaign Moves Forward Amid Sexual Assault Allegation

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      While Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller, has lost crucial supporters in his drive to become mayor, other backers have stood by him.From a distance, Scott M. Stringer’s campaign for mayor doesn’t appear to have changed much since last week, when he was accused of sexually assaulting a campaign volunteer 20 years ago.On Monday, a union representing 24,000 school safety agents and public housing employees endorsed him. Later that night, he answered questions about hate crimes and police funding at a forum sponsored by interfaith youth. Since the allegations first surfaced, he’s been to at least four candidates’ forums, three churches, two news conferences, three subway stations and one editorial board interview.The message at each stop is a forceful denial of the allegations from Jean Kim, a lobbyist, that he sexually assaulted her 20 years ago when he was running for public advocate. Each time, Mr. Stringer, 61, makes a statement similar to the one he gave during a television interview Tuesday: “I’m going to be the next mayor and win the Democratic primary.”But up close, Mr. Stringer’s hopes for becoming mayor have suffered a devastating blow. Members of the progressive coalition that assembled behind him began rescinding their endorsements on Friday.And much of the uptick in attention from the news media, like a 15-minute interview on NY1 on Tuesday morning, has focused as much on Ms. Kim’s allegations as it has on Mr. Stringer’s plans if elected mayor.On Wednesday morning Mr. Stringer appeared on “The Brian Lehrer Show” on WNYC to discuss the city’s economic recovery from the pandemic.Mr. Lehrer said the show was “trying to focus our candidate interviews on policy,” but immediately added that “we can’t ignore the elephant in the room of the sexual abuse and harassment allegation and your significant loss of endorsements.”Mr. Stringer’s campaign points out that the increased media coverage gives him a chance to dispute the allegations and talk about his plans for the city.During the interview on WNYC, Mr. Stringer, who declined to be interviewed for this article, talked about how his wife, Elyse Buxbaum, is a survivor of sexual assault. He mentioned that his mother had died of Covid-19, one of the reasons he said he wants to become mayor and help the city recover. And he said he wanted his two sons to be able to look back on this moment and understand that he strongly denies the allegations against him.None of that has been enough to stanch the flow of progressive groups and leaders abandoning the candidate.Sochie Nnaemeka, head of the New York State Working Families Party, said her group’s decision to drop Mr. Stringer was based in part in concern about “toxic male leadership.” The ideas of the progressive movement are now permeating city and state politics, and progressive groups have to guard their “governing values,” she said.“It cannot be that the candidate is the sole vehicle and the only option to make people’s lives better and to make our city different,” said Ms. Nnaemeka, whose group is now endorsing both Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, and Maya Wiley, the former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio.While Mr. Stringer’s progressive coalition has dissolved, members of his labor coalition, including the influential United Federation of Teachers and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, have stood by him.Jean Kim, left, and her attorney, Patricia Pastor, right, have accused Mr. Stringer of sexual assault.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesThe U.F.T.’s most active political volunteers met on Sunday and decided to reaffirm their support for Mr. Stringer. Heading into the final weeks of the campaign, the union expects to unleash its full capabilities to help him, including phone banking, canvassing and door knocking.The U.F.T. is also considering a donation to an independent expenditure committee that would boost Mr. Stringer’s campaign with advertisements.“It’s a wide-open race at this point,” said Michael Mulgrew, the union’s president.Mr. Stringer, one of the best-funded candidates in the race, continues to attract money, and he expects to have raised at least $10 million before the campaign is over. A fund-raising email said he was just over $41,000 away from receiving the maximum amount of matching public funds.A fund-raiser on Zoom this week went on as planned. And the campaign continued to purchase ads, a long-planned, multimillion-dollar effort seen as part of a final push to fulfill Mr. Stringer’s longtime goal of becoming mayor.Some voters received surveys from a polling firm to examine how concerned they are about the sexual harassment allegations. Mr. Stringer’s campaign declined to comment..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}“I actually think Scott still has a path,” said Jonathan Westin, director of New York Communities for Change, a progressive grass-roots organizing group that rescinded its endorsement of Mr. Stringer last week. “One of the main things I’ve heard from my membership is, ‘They did this to Joe Biden, they went after him and he still prevailed’” — a reference to allegations by Tara Reade in 2020 that Mr. Biden had sexually assaulted her.Gregory Floyd, the president of Teamsters Local 237, which announced its support for Mr. Stringer after the allegations were unveiled, said many members of his 24,000-person union may even feel a personal connection with the candidate. Among them are 5,000 school safety agents who say they have been unfairly accused of abusing students.“They, more than anybody, understand what it is to be accused of something they didn’t do, so this resonates with them,” Mr. Floyd said.Mr. Mulgrew said his members were also concerned about due process.“The basic work of why unions form is about workplace rules, and allegations are a major piece of workplace rules,” he said. “Their thing when they see something like this is, what’s the due process?”Ms. Kim has called for Mr. Stringer to resign from his current job as city comptroller and to withdraw from the mayor’s race. On Tuesday, her attorney, Patricia Pastor, filed a complaint with the New York attorney general’s office.“Jean will participate fully” with any investigation, Ms. Pastor said in a statement. The attorney general’s office is reviewing the complaint.Mr. Stringer has also faced criticism for the way in which he has responded to Ms. Kim’s allegations, including his characterization of their relationship as consensual — a point he repeated during the interview Wednesday on WNYC, citing an article from The Intercept that quoted anonymous sources saying that he and Ms. Kim had had a “casual” relationship. He described their relationship as “a friendship with a little more.”Mr. Stringer said that they had remained on good terms and that she had donated to his campaign multiple times, but he said that things soured after Ms. Kim was not offered a job on his 2013 run for comptroller. The campaign accused her of working for the front-runner in the race for mayor, Andrew Yang, which Ms. Kim denies.Ms. Wiley said last week that Mr. Stringer was “running a smear campaign.” She has called on Mr. Stringer to drop out of the mayor’s race.Despite his significant remaining support, it’s still unclear if Mr. Stringer will be able to fully recover, said Bruce Gyory, a Democratic strategist.“A week ago people presumed that Stringer was finished,” Mr. Gyory said. “A week later he’s back on his feet.”New York City voters, he noted, “like someone who can take a punch and get up.” More

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      Kathryn Garcia Makes Push in N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race Amid Rival’s Crisis

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      A sexual harassment allegation against Scott Stringer may open a lane in the New York City mayor’s race for Ms. Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner.In her years as a leader in New York City government, Kathryn Garcia earned a reputation as a veteran problem solver and the admiration of political insiders.But in the months since Ms. Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, began her campaign to be the next mayor of New York, she has struggled to use that track record to capture voter interest and break through a crowded field.With seven weeks until the Democratic primary contest and many city residents just beginning to pay close attention to the race, there may be an opportunity for Ms. Garcia to try to jump-start her campaign — and she is seizing the moment.On Tuesday, Ms. Garcia will air her first television ad of the campaign and announce an endorsement from Loree K. Sutton, a former city commissioner who ended her own mayoral bid in March.The one-two punch comes just days after Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, who, like Ms. Garcia, has campaigned on his record in government, was confronted by 20-year-old allegations of sexual harassment from a former campaign worker.The allegations against Mr. Stringer may have opened up a path for Ms. Garcia to win over voters who value experience. Mr. Stringer has vehemently denied the allegations against him, but he has nonetheless lost several key endorsements, and many candidates have called on him to drop out.Ms. Garcia has also gained attention from remarks made by Andrew Yang, the race’s apparent front-runner, suggesting that he would welcome Ms. Garcia to serve as his No. 2 — a prospect that she has rejected with disdain.“It definitely feels like the winds have shifted, and they are blowing into our sails,” Ms. Garcia said in an interview this week.The new ad and Ms. Sutton’s endorsement will emphasize the message that Ms. Garcia has stuck to since kicking off her mayoral bid in December: that her pragmatic approach and experience in city government make her the person best suited to lead New York City.“It’s not conjecture to wonder how Kathryn would operate, how she would function, how she would govern during a time of life-and-death crisis,” Ms. Sutton, who ran on a similar message, said.Before last year, Ms. Garcia had never before run for political office, but she racked up extensive experience at the city’s sanitation, finance and environmental agencies.“She clearly knows more about government than almost anyone I know, and I know a lot of people who know a lot about government,” said Howard Wolfson, who served as a deputy mayor under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.Ms. Garcia became known for being particularly effective during crises. In 2012, she helped bring the city’s water systems back online after they were knocked out by Hurricane Sandy.Ms. Garcia, center, at a recent volunteer cleanup event.Hilary Swift for The New York TimesDuring her tenure as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s sanitation commissioner, she was also deployed to temporarily oversee the troubled New York City Housing Authority in 2019. When the coronavirus swept into the city, he put her in charge of an emergency initiative to feed the needy and the homebound.But that expertise does not appear to have resonated with voters. While polling on the race remains limited, Ms. Garcia has consistently received single-digit support.A recent poll conducted by the news channel NY1 and Ipsos found that only 29 percent of likely voters said they were familiar with Ms. Garcia, while 37 percent said they had not heard of her at all..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Still, a large percentage of city residents remain undecided in the race, and Ms. Garcia said she was confident that she could win over those voters with her record.“They want to make a thoughtful decision,” she said. “And they are looking for expertise and experience.”Christina M. Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University, said she expected that the accusations against Mr. Stringer would prompt some of his supporters to reconsider his candidacy. Ms. Garcia’s campaign, she added, is well poised to scoop up some of them.“If her campaign can just transfer some of those types of voters who say ‘I really just want someone who knows government’ — well, she fits the mold,” Dr. Greer said.Ms. Garcia may also pick up voters who, in the wake of the accusations against Mr. Stringer, are convinced that a woman should lead the city for the first time in its history, Dr. Greer said.But support from Mr. Stringer’s base is far from guaranteed. He has sought to become the leading progressive candidate in the race, while Ms. Garcia has billed herself as a nonideological technocrat.Ms. Garcia’s campaign ad doubles down on that messaging. In the 30-second spot, she stands inside a red box labeled “in case of emergency, break glass.” As she slips on a leather jacket, she mentions her record as the city’s “go-to crisis manager.”Then, Ms. Garcia puts on a pair of safety glasses. “When there’s a crisis,” she says, “sometimes you’ve got to break glass to solve it.”The metaphors — escaping a box, shattering the glass ceiling, the emergency response — are beyond clear.“It is about breaking out,” Ms. Garcia acknowledged. “But there’s also this underlying message of other people are trying to define you. And I’m going to define myself.”Dana Rubinstein contributed reporting. More

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      Stringer, Facing Sexual Harassment Accusation, Loses Key Endorsements

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      The Working Families Party, a major left-leaning institution, and several lawmakers withdrew their backing of Scott Stringer for mayor of New York City.Several of New York’s leading left-wing lawmakers and the New York chapter of the Working Families Party pulled their support for Scott M. Stringer’s mayoral campaign on Friday following an allegation of sexual misconduct.The withdrawal of the endorsements dealt seismic blows to Mr. Stringer, and significantly complicated his path forward in the mayor’s race in New York City.Representative Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat; State Senators Alessandra Biaggi, Julia Salazar and Gustavo Rivera and Assemblywomen Yuh-Line Niou and Catalina Cruz — many of whom had been at Mr. Stringer’s campaign announcement and had served as prominent surrogates for his mayoral bid — issued a joint statement.“We are rescinding our endorsement of Scott Stringer’s mayoral campaign,” it said simply.Mr. Stringer, the city comptroller, has sought to be the left-wing standard-bearer in the high-stakes mayoral contest, and he had gained momentum in recent weeks, in part because of the backing of the Working Families Party, which his allies had seen as a turning point in the race. But the sexual misconduct accusation from a former campaign worker, which came to light this week, has sparked an outcry, placing mounting political pressure on the candidate, who has vigorously denied wrongdoing.The woman, Jean Kim, now a political lobbyist, accused Mr. Stringer of sexually assaulting her when she worked on his 2001 race for public advocate. She said that Mr. Stringer, who was then a state assemblyman, had groped her, made other unwanted sexual overtures and told her to keep those actions quiet. Mr. Stringer has strenuously denied those claims, saying that they had a consensual relationship that stretched over a few months.But he has faced increasing pressure this week, losing the endorsement of several prominent lawmakers who had supported his campaign within a day of Ms. Kim’s public statement. Jimmy Van Bramer, a Queens councilman who less than a week ago was giving impassioned remarks at a rally for Mr. Stringer, wrote on Twitter on Friday that he no longer backed his candidacy. The fresh defections from the lawmakers may land as especially personal rebukes for Mr. Stringer, who had cultivated relationships with a number of those Democrats for years, serving as a mentor to several of them and endorsing them early in competitive campaigns. In turn, he relied on their endorsements to make the case that he, a career politician with deep ties to New York political institutions, could also be the candidate of the activist left. Their departures unquestionably weaken Mr. Stringer’s candidacy, and some on the left fear that Mr. Stringer’s stumbles will help Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, two more centrist contenders in the race. Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, has been competing for some of the same deeply progressive voters Mr. Stringer has sought, and some political observers see an opening for her as well.A person familiar with the Working Families Party’s decision said its members felt Mr. Stringer was dismissive toward Ms. Kim and her account.“We approached this moment with the deliberate reflection, discussion, and input from members and leaders across the party that it required,” Sochie Nnaemeka, the party’s state director, said in a statement. “Jean Kim shared her experience of sexual assault and Scott Stringer failed to acknowledge and consider his responsibility for that harm.”Mr. Stringer, who has stressed a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and has said he believes women deserve to be heard and treated respectfully, issued a pre-emptive statement earlier Friday afternoon.“I understand that this is a difficult moment for my supporters, and I know that some of them will feel compelled to withdraw their endorsement of my candidacy,” he said. “This campaign was always going to be about the people. I’ve received a lot of support on campaign stops over the last two days, and I’m going to be campaigning in every neighborhood, in every borough for the next two months.”Certainly, Mr. Stringer remains well funded, and so far still maintains support from major unions including the United Federation of Teachers, as well as from officials like Representative Jerrold Nadler..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The Working Families Party had endorsed Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive and perhaps the most left-wing candidate in the race, as its second choice, and Ms. Wiley as its third choice ahead of the city’s ranked-choice mayoral election on June 22.“We are enthusiastically reiterating support for our other endorsed candidates, Dianne Morales and Maya Wiley,” the statement said. “The New York Working Families Party will be forging forward in the critical weeks ahead to ensure one of these fearless, bold women is the next Mayor of New York.”Party leaders had a series of tense calls over whether to rescind Mr. Stringer’s endorsement, and ultimately the decision to do so came down to three factors, according to a member of the organization who was not authorized to discuss the deliberations. There was a sense that Mr. Stringer was too defensive in his response to the allegations, and did not acknowledge the power imbalance he had with Ms. Kim; members felt he could no longer win the mayor’s race; and there was a fear that if they did not rescind Mr. Stringer’s endorsement, women would no longer feel supported within the organization.Whether Ms. Morales would now be treated as the first choice of the organization was not clear Friday afternoon.Sunrise NYC, the New York chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-driven organization focused on climate, also rescinded its endorsement of Mr. Stringer; it had previously co-endorsed Mr. Stringer and Ms. Morales.“As of today,” the organization wrote on Twitter, “our sole endorsement for NYC Mayor is @Dianne4NYC.” More

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      Eric Adams Endorsed by Top Bronx Leader, Giving Him Lift With Latinos

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      The endorsement from Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, could help Mr. Adams reach Latino and Bronx voters in the New York City mayor’s race.When Ruben Diaz Jr. dropped out of the New York City mayor’s race last year, his decision surprised many. He had the support of the powerful Bronx Democratic Party, an alliance with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and strong ties to Latino voters.But Mr. Diaz, the Bronx borough president, still can influence the race: His endorsement became one of the most coveted in the contest — potentially carrying weight in the Bronx and among Latino voters, who make up roughly one-fifth of Democratic primary voters.On Monday, Mr. Diaz will announce that he is endorsing Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, boosting Mr. Adams’s hopes of trying to assemble a diverse coalition to defeat Andrew Yang, the former presidential hopeful.“There have been so many issues where I witnessed firsthand how much Eric loves New York, but also how critical it is to have someone who has the life experience of a New Yorker to help inform them about how to fight for all New Yorkers,” Mr. Diaz said in an interview.Mr. Diaz, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said that his trust in Mr. Adams was built over a two-decade relationship, and recalled how they met in 1999 at a rally in the Bronx after the police killing of Amadou Diallo, a young Black man whose death became a rallying cry for changes to the Police Department.His endorsement follows other prominent Latino leaders who have backed Mr. Adams: Fernando Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president who twice ran for mayor, and Francisco Moya, a city councilman from Queens. None of the leading Democratic mayoral candidates is Latino or has strong roots in the Bronx.Latino voters could be a major factor in the Democratic primary and Mr. Diaz’s endorsement could be significant, said Bruce Gyory, a Democratic strategist who published a lengthy piece this month examining the demographics in the race.“If you take that endorsement and put resources and energy and outreach behind it, it could become an inflection point for reaching that fifth of the vote that is Hispanic,” he said.With Mr. Yang leading in the limited polling available, Mr. Adams has tried to consolidate support beyond his base in Brooklyn. Mr. Adams was endorsed by six elected officials in Queens last week, and declared himself the “King of Queens.”Mr. Adams said in an interview that Mr. Diaz’s endorsement was important for the coalition he was building in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. He said he believed his campaign would speak to Latino voters.“Public safety, employment, and having affordable housing and a solid school system — these are my messages I’ve been saying for the last 35 years,” he said.Mr. Adams said he would get that message out through ads and mailers in the coming weeks. Mr. Adams had the most money on hand of any candidate as of the last filing date: more than $7.5 million. He has not yet bought any advertising time on television, but was shooting an ad on Saturday.All of the mayoral front-runners have been courting Latino leaders. Mr. Yang was endorsed by Representative Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, the first openly gay Afro-Latino member of Congress.Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, has ties to the Latino community through his stepfather and was endorsed by Representative Adriano D. Espaillat, the first Dominican immigrant to be elected to Congress. Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, was endorsed by Representative Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress.Asked if Mr. Adams was the strongest candidate to beat Mr. Yang, Mr. Diaz said Mr. Adams was the best person to be mayor, but still chided Mr. Yang for leaving the city during the pandemic for his second home in New Paltz, N.Y.“This is the time when New York needs someone to run the city, not run from the city,” Mr. Diaz said.County party leaders are not officially endorsing in the Democratic primary. The Bronx Democratic Party, which is led by Jamaal Bailey, a state senator, has not made an endorsement, and neither has the Brooklyn Democratic Party, though its leader, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, a state assemblywoman, endorsed Mr. Adams.The city has never had a Latino or Hispanic mayor — except for John Purroy Mitchel, who served a century ago and whom some consider the first Hispanic mayor because he descended from Spanish nobility.In the mayor’s race this year, Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive who is of Puerto Rican descent, is running as a Democrat. Fernando Mateo, a restaurant operator and advocate for livery drivers who was born in the Dominican Republic, is running as a Republican. More

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      Andrew Yang, Looking for Endorsement, Offends Gay Democratic Club

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      Participants described Mr. Yang’s remarks as offensive, saying that even as members of the club wanted to discuss policy issues, he mentioned gay bars.Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate and leading contender for mayor of New York City, met with a prominent L.G.B.T. Democratic political organization on Wednesday to seek its endorsement.It did not go particularly well.In an interview with the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, Mr. Yang cited gay members of his staff as apparent evidence of his openness to the club’s concerns, and expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of visiting Cubbyhole, a storied New York lesbian bar, participants said.He proactively talked about resurrecting the city’s Pride March, but failed to pay sufficient heed to more substantive issues they were actually concerned about, including homelessness and affordable housing, they said.The club is arguably the leading L.G.B.T. club in New York City, according to Christine Quinn, New York City’s first openly gay City Council speaker. Its members, she said, are politically “sophisticated.” Yet Mr. Yang’s appearance struck those members as pandering and tone deaf, according to interviews, a video and a copy of the comments that unfolded during the virtual meeting.“I genuinely do love you and your community,” he said, according to a partial recording of the remarks, describing his affection for the L.G.B.T.Q. community. “You’re so human and beautiful. You make New York City special. I have no idea how we ever lose to the Republicans given that you all are frankly in, like, leadership roles all over the Democratic Party.”“We have, like, this incredible secret weapon,” he added. “It’s not even secret. It’s like, we should win everything because we have you all.”According to limited public polling as well as private polling, Mr. Yang has surged to the front of the mayoral pack, fueled by his name recognition and celebrity status, as well as his cheery demeanor and optimistic discussion of the city’s future. But in the past, he has struggled with issues of tone: His presidential campaign has been trailed by allegations of a “bro” culture; in one of his own books, he admits to having named his pectoral muscles, Lex and Rex.A woman now running for Manhattan borough president has also claimed that Mr. Yang had discriminated against her on the basis of gender when she worked for him at his test prep company, allegations that he has consistently denied.While Mr. Yang has a consistent lead in the polls and has acquired a handful of endorsements from elected officials, he has generally failed to win significant support from New York City institutions, including labor unions and the Stonewall Club, which did not endorse him.For the first time this year, New York City voters will be able to rank up to five candidates in a mayor’s race. On Wednesday, the club’s board voted to endorse a slate of three: In first place, it chose Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller; followed by Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive; and Raymond J. McGuire, a former vice chairman at Citigroup.Ms. Quinn, who was a longtime club member but was not present at the endorsement interviews, said that while people “appreciate diversity in representation and staffing,” club members have “a long and diverse agenda and want that spoken to.”Multiple participants described Mr. Yang’s remarks as offensive, saying that members of the club who raised policy issues found his mention of gay bars off-putting.“Gay, gay, gay. Wow,” one person wrote in the chat accompanying the forum, which was later shared with The New York Times. “More to us than just that.”To Harris Doran, a club member and filmmaker, Mr. Yang’s insistence on referring to members as “your community” particularly stung.“He kept calling us ‘Your community,’ like we were aliens,” Mr. Doran said.Sasha Neha Ahuja, one of Mr. Yang’s two campaign managers — both are gay — said she heard at least one other candidate on the call use the same term, and suggested that some members had gone into the interview process with their minds already made up.“I hope Andrew continues to have space for folks to listen with an open heart about the experiences of all communities that have been deeply impacted by years of oppression,” she said. “I apologize if folks felt some type of way about it.”Mr. Yang’s interview was one of nine the club held Wednesday night, before it held its endorsement vote. He was unlikely to win an endorsement, given the club’s longstanding relationship with Mr. Stringer, but Rose Christ, the club’s president, said Mr. Yang could have delivered a performance that avoided the ensuing outcry.“There were questions and critiques raised about each candidate, but I think it was the tenor with which he addressed the membership that stood out from the other candidates,” Ms. Christ said.She added that it felt “outdated.”To some Stonewall attendees, Mr. Yang’s appearance only fueled concerns about whether he can discuss the problems at hand with sufficient depth and seriousness. More broadly, the reaction speaks to how polarizing Mr. Yang’s personality can be — eliciting sincere enthusiasm and disdain in seemingly equal measure.“When I see a candidate come in just with Michael Scott levels of cringe and insensitivity, it either tells me Andrew Yang is in over his head or is not listening to his staff,” said Alejandra Caraballo, a member of the organization, referring to the character played by Steve Carell on “The Office.” “Those are both radioactive flashing signs that say he is not prepared to be mayor of New York.”Ms. Christ said members were offended that Mr. Yang chose to focus on bars, parades and his gay staff members.“Those are not the substantive issues that our membership cares about and it came off poorly,” Ms. Christ said.Michael Gold contributed reporting. More

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      Andrew Yang Wins Endorsement from Left-Wing Rival Carlos Menchaca

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      Carlos Menchaca, who bowed out of the New York City mayoral race last month, will endorse his former opponent.Andrew Yang may be leading early polls in the New York City mayor’s race, but he has nonetheless faced skepticism from many left-leaning voters and trails most of his main Democratic rivals in endorsements.On Wednesday, Mr. Yang will try to counter that skepticism, announcing that he has landed the support of Carlos Menchaca, a city councilman from Brooklyn.Before dropping out of the mayor’s race last month, Mr. Menchaca had positioned himself as one of the most left-leaning Democrats in the field.Mr. Menchaca, who is Mexican-American and grew up in public housing in Texas, is best known for scuttling the Industry City rezoning on the Brooklyn waterfront last year — the city’s biggest clash over development since the collapse of the Amazon deal in Queens — and for proposing the legislation that created identification cards for undocumented residents.He also called for defunding the police, as has Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive whom Mr. Menchaca often praised on the campaign trail, and who would have been a more expected endorsement choice.But Mr. Menchaca said in an interview that he was drawn to Mr. Yang because of the candidate’s support for universal basic income — even though Mr. Yang’s plan for New York involves a pared-down model — and his proposal to create a public bank to serve low-income and undocumented residents who do not have a bank account.“We share a lot of values that are rooted in bringing community voices to the table to shape policies,” Mr. Menchaca said.Activists in the left wing of the party have viewed Mr. Yang and Eric Adams — the two perceived front-runners in the race — with suspicion for being too moderate and too friendly toward the business and real estate communities. Neither has embraced the defund movement as Mr. Menchaca has.But Mr. Yang does have backing from two prominent left-leaning Democrats: Representative Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, the first openly gay Afro-Latino member of Congress, and Ron Kim, a Queens assemblyman who has made headlines recently for criticizing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic.Mr. Yang said in an interview that Mr. Menchaca was part of the “next generation of leaders” who were joining his campaign. Mr. Yang, 46, would be the city’s first Generation X mayor, and Mr. Menchaca, Mr. Torres and Mr. Kim are all younger than him.“Carlos is a young Latino L.G.B.T.Q. progressive leader, and we are excited to have him on board on so many levels,” Mr. Yang said. “He has been fighting for marginalized communities for years.”Carlos Menchaca has generally been associated with causes that are to the left of Mr. Yang’s stances.Gabriele Holtermann/Sipa, via Associated PressMr. Menchaca, who cannot run for the City Council again because of term limits, said he hoped to work in a Yang administration should Mr. Yang win.“We’re going to get him elected with this growing coalition, and then we can start talking about what the next government is going to look like,” he said.Mr. Yang is perhaps best known for promoting universal basic income on the presidential campaign trail. As mayor, he wants to provide 500,000 New Yorkers living in poverty with an average of $2,000 per year. He said the city will pay $1 billion each year toward the program, but he has not said where that money would come from, and critics say the payments are too low to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.He differs from Mr. Menchaca on some issues, most notably on development-related concerns. Mr. Menchaca has been a fierce critic of city rezonings that allow for new development and has raised fears over gentrification, while Mr. Yang says he is generally pro-development. Mr. Yang called the collapse of the Amazon deal a “black eye” for the city and lamented the jobs that could have been created.Mr. Menchaca said he hoped to advocate for community needs with Mr. Yang during future rezoning battles.“Government didn’t listen to constituents” during the Amazon deal, Mr. Menchaca said, “and that would not happen in a Yang administration. That’s not going to happen if I’m there or Ron is there.”Mr. Kim opposed the Amazon deal and a rezoning effort in Flushing, Queens, that was approved by the City Council last year. When Mr. Kim endorsed Mr. Yang early in the mayor’s race, he said he joined the “Yang bus” in part to influence him on issues like rezonings.“I chose to be on that bus so that I can steer that bus in the right direction,” he said.When Mr. Yang ended his 2020 presidential campaign, he related how several of his former rivals, including Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Vice President Kamala Harris, called or sent text messages to commiserate.He said he did the same for Mr. Menchaca when the councilman dropped out, sharing mutual experiences over what it feels like to end a campaign.“We connected on that human level,” Mr. Menchaca. “That’s the kind of mayor I want to have.” More