Morales, Dianne

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      Crime and Qualifications at Issue in Heated N.Y.C. Mayoral Debate

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      The eight Democratic contenders jousted over the economy, education and the fundamental question of who among them was qualified to run New York City.The Democratic candidates for mayor of New York City forcefully attacked their opponents’ records and ethics in starkly personal terms on Wednesday night, tangling over how they would address growing concerns over rising violent crime and the city’s economic recovery.In their first in-person debate of the campaign, the eight leading contenders battled over crime, justice and the power of the police, questions of education and charter schools and, in the debate’s most heated moments, the issue of who is qualified to lead the nation’s largest city.The debate was the first opportunity for the candidates to confront each other face to face, and the setting and the timing — just 20 days before the June 22 Democratic primary — elevated the importance and the tension of the gathering.One of the most heated exchanges unfolded between Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate — two contenders who have generally been considered the front-runners, though the race is tightening.“Eric, we all know that you’ve been investigated for corruption everywhere you’ve gone,” Mr. Yang charged, accusing Mr. Adams of involvement in a “trifecta of corruption investigations.”“Is that really what we want in the next mayor? he asked. “Did you think you were going to enter City Hall, and it’s going to be different? We all know it’s going to be exactly the same.”Mr. Adams, who defended his integrity, noted Mr. Yang’s lack of past political experience in the city and remarked, “You do not vote in municipal elections at all. I just don’t know — how the hell do we have you become our mayor, with this record like this?”The candidates laid out their ambitions on vital city issues, including how to account for educational losses during the pandemic and the need to boost small businesses.The debate also touched on broader thematic questions: whether New York needed a political outsider with boldly ambitious ideas, or a leader with traditional experience in city government who might be more knowledgeable about how to tackle the staggering challenges that await the next mayor.

      .s-carousel{margin:0;padding:0;max-width:600px;margin:auto}.s-carousel__slides{position:relative;padding-top:min(600px,100%);background:#000}.s-carousel img,.s-carousel video{margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:contain}.s-carousel figure{margin:0;padding:0;position:relative}.s-carousel__credit{z-index:10;position:absolute;bottom:15px;left:15px;text-align:left;font-family:nyt-franklin,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:500;font-size:.75rem;color:#fff;opacity:.6}.s-carousel figcaption{z-index:10;top:15px;left:15px;width:75%;letter-spacing:.01em;position:absolute;text-align:left;font-family:nyt-franklin,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:700;text-shadow:0 0 10px rgba(0,0,0,.25),1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.35),-1px -1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.35);font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#fff}.s-carousel li,.s-carousel ol{list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.s-carousel__viewport{width:100%;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;display:flex;overflow-x:scroll;overflow-y:hidden;scroll-behavior:smooth;scroll-snap-type:x mandatory}@media (prefers-reduced-motion){.s-carousel__viewport{scroll-behavior:auto}}.s-carousel__viewport{-ms-overflow-style:none;scrollbar-width:none;scrollbar-color:transparent transparent;-webkit-user-select:none;user-select:none}.s-carousel__viewport::-webkit-scrollbar{width:0;display:none}.s-carousel__viewport::-webkit-scrollbar-track{background:0 0}.s-carousel__viewport::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb{background:0 0;border:none}.s-carousel figure:focus,.s-carousel image:focus,.s-carousel video:focus{outline:0;box-shadow:none}.s-carousel__slide{width:100%;height:100%;position:relative;flex:0 0 100%;scroll-snap-align:start}.s-carousel__slide figure{width:100%;height:100%;display:flex;align-items:center}.s-carousel__tap-to-unmute-overlay{height:100%;width:100%;position:absolute;z-index:100;animation:fade-in .5s ease-out forwards;background-color:transparent;border:none}.s-carousel__tap-to-unmute-icon{pointer-events:none;background-color:#00000099;padding:10px;border-radius:50%;position:absolute;top:15px;right:15px}.s-carousel__tap-to-unmute-icon svg{display:block;fill:#fff;width:20px;height:20px}.s-carousel__tap-to-unmute-icon svg path{stroke:#fff}.s-carousel__kebob{display:flex;justify-content:center;margin-top:15px}.s-carousel__bob{display:inline-block;width:6px;height:6px;background:#121212;opacity:.3;background-clip:content-box;border:3px solid transparent;border-radius:50%;font-size:0;transition:transform .4s}.s-carousel__bob[data-active=true]{opacity:.8}.s-carousel__navigation{margin-top:15px;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center}.s-carousel__arrows{width:50px;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center}@media (hover:none){.s-carousel__arrows{visibility:hidden}}.s-carousel__arrow{all:unset;cursor:pointer}.s-carousel__arrow svg{pointer-events:none;fill:#333;transition:fill .15s}.s-carousel__arrow:hover svg{fill:#ccc}.s-carousel__closed-captions-container{position:absolute;z-index:11;bottom:35px;margin:0 auto;left:0;right:0;text-align:center}.s-carousel__closed-captions{font-size:1rem;color:#fff;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.9);padding:5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;visibility:hidden}@media (max-width:600px){.s-carousel figcaption{width:75%;letter-spacing:.01em}.s-carousel__closed-captions{font-size:.8125rem}}Eric AdamsJames Estrin/The New York TimesAndrew YangJames Estrin/The New York TimesMaya WileyJames Estrin/The New York TimesRaymond J. McGuireJames Estrin/The New York TimesShaun DonovanJames Estrin/The New York Timesslide 1slide 2slide 3slide 4slide 5 Mr. Yang, who spent months running as an above-the-fray front-runner who billed himself as a cheerleader for New York City, has demonstrated a growing willingness to lace into his opponents — especially Mr. Adams — in recent days. He is seeking to cast the race as a choice between a change candidate and sclerotic status quo contenders, as he competes against others who have the kind of significant city government experience he lacks.The candidates took the stage at a moment of extraordinary uncertainty in the race, even as the contest nears its conclusion.In recent weeks, Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, has demonstrated real traction in both sparse public polling and more concretely, in fund-raising numbers — potentially joining Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams as front-runners.Those three candidates all have distinct bases, but they are in direct competition over some moderate white voters, and Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams have both criticized Ms. Garcia in recent weeks in a sign of her emerging strength — and a sharp departure from their previous friendly postures toward her.But onstage, the fire was directed more often at Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams than at Ms. Garcia, who pitched herself as a steady and serious government expert. She stayed out of the fray during the debate, but also at times was out of the spotlight.“We don’t need a politician right now,” Ms. Garcia said. “And perhaps from this stage, maybe you will agree with me.”The first hour of the debate, co-hosted by WABC-TV, aired on broadcast television and may have been the biggest stage yet for the mayoral candidates, though the station pre-empted the second hour with a game show, “Press Your Luck,” forcing viewers to switch to another channel or an online stream. After months of staid online forums, the debate on Wednesday took on the trappings of a prize fight, with fans of the candidates holding rallies outside the Upper West Side television studio, waving signs, blaring music and mixing with the contenders.Inside, several of the candidates appeared eager for confrontation. In the tense exchanges between Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams, Mr. Yang suggested that Mr. Adams’s advice about confronting others over the use of illicit fireworks led to a woman’s death, and Mr. Adams said at another point that people of color are “wrongly accused often in this country” and called on Mr. Yang to apologize for his insinuations on corruption.Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller who maintained a low profile in the first debate, issued bitter denunciations of several of his rivals. “As your consultants have told you time and time again, they admit you are an empty vessel,” Mr. Stringer said to Mr. Yang, peering over his podium to address the former presidential candidate directly. “I actually don’t think you are an empty vessel. I think you are a Republican who continues to focus on the issues that will not bring back the economy.”Mr. Stringer, who is casting himself as a progressive with deep government experience, also ripped Maya Wiley, the former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, claiming she had been a “rubber stamp” for the Police Benevolent Association when she chaired the Civilian Complaint Review Board.And he suggested that Mr. Adams and others believe “the only solution to preventing crime is going back to the Giuliani days with stop-and-frisk and a Republican agenda that put a lot of kids in our criminal justice system.”Ms. Wiley, who defended her tenure, slammed Mr. Yang’s record leading Venture for America, the nonprofit he ran before running for president, over its record of job creation and how, records show, he failed to recruit many participants of color. And in one of the most revealing exchanges of the night, she and Mr. Adams had an extended back-and-forth over remarks he made about guns.“Mr. Adams has said he’s carried a gun to church, he has asked off-duty officers to carry guns to church, he’s said he will carry a gun as mayor,” Ms. Wiley said. “Eric, isn’t this the wrong message to send our kids we’re telling not to pick up the guns?”Mr. Adams stressed that he saw a distinction between off-duty officers carrying guns and the proliferation of illegal guns, describing an incident that occurred when he was a transit police officer, and he stopped an anti-Asian hate crime on a subway train..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}“I was off-duty, I was able to stop those armed perpetrators from carrying out the actions while off-duty,” he said. “The state law states that a police officer can carry off-duty because he has to respond 24 hours a day to any crime that is taking place in this city.”“We also had an off-duty officer shoot his friend and murder him carrying his gun,” Ms. Wiley shot back.Ms. Wiley is working to assemble a coalition of both voters of color and white progressives, and she has increasingly billed herself as “the progressive candidate that can win this race,” as she seeks to emerge as the left-wing standard-bearer in the race. On Tuesday, she released a striking ad highlighting the police attacking peaceful protesters, betting that the attitudes around reining in police power that animated Democrats and others following the killing of George Floyd last year remain resonant.Mr. Adams, a Black former police captain who pushed for change from within the system, has in some ways made a very different bet about the mood of the electorate regarding public safety. Amid a spike in shootings, jarring episodes of crime on the subway and a spate of hate crimes around the city, he has argued that public safety is the “prerequisite” to prosperity even as he also presses for policing reforms. He sees a need for more police in the subway system, while Ms. Wiley has said the focus should be on more mental health professionals.“No one is coming to New York, in our multibillion dollar tourism industry, if you have 3-year-old children shot in Times Square,” Mr. Adams said. “No one is coming here, if you have people being pushed on the subway because of mental health illnesses. If we’re going to turn around our economy, we have to make this city a safe city.”“We can’t do safety at the expense of justice,” Ms. Wiley said. In an implicit swipe at Mr. Adams’s positions, she added, “We cannot, and that means we can’t have stop-and-frisk back, or the anti-crime unit.”For much of the race, the battle for the left has been crowded, as Mr. Stringer and Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, sought to engage the most deeply progressive voters in the city along with Ms. Wiley.Mr. Stringer is a well-funded candidate with significant labor support, but an accusation that he made unwanted sexual advances 20 years ago — which he denies — sapped his momentum and appears to have complicated his ability to grow beyond his Upper West Side base. Onstage, though, he was one of the most vigorous combatants.Ms. Morales was a favorite of the activist left, but her campaign has been embroiled in inner turmoil to an extraordinary degree, with a bitter unionization battle spilling into public view.Ms. Wiley’s challenge is to both unite and energize the most liberal voters in the party around her candidacy, and her ability to do so is not yet clear.Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary, and Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citi executive, both took the debate stage as well-funded candidates who have struggled to gain significant traction.In different ways, both Mr. Donovan and Mr. McGuire sought to cast themselves as city government outsiders with serious executive experience who can fix the problems that have daunted others more closely tied to the current administration.“Other candidates on this stage have had a chance, these last eight years, to make progress,” Mr. Donovan said. “I would leave New York in a new and better direction.”Or as Mr. McGuire put it, borrowing from President Barack Obama, “I’m the change that you can vote for. I’m the change that you can believe in.”Emma G. Fitzsimmons More

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      Dianne Morales's Top Adviser Joins a Rival Campaign: Maya Wiley's

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      Hours before the second Democratic debate was set to begin, Ifeoma Ike, the former senior adviser for Dianne Morales’s campaign, announced that she had joined Maya Wiley’s team in the same capacity.“Much love to my former team fighting for all the right things,” read her tweet announcing the change. “20 days left.” She elaborated on her decision in a blog post for The Grio.Ms. Ike and Whitney Hu, Ms. Morales’s campaign manager, resigned last week following a storm of accusations of staff misconduct, discrimination and an unhealthy work environment. The exits were a protest against what they considered the candidate’s mishandling of personnel issues.“I’m proud of the work I’ve done,” wrote Ms. Ike in a tweet last week. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done. I am formally resigning from the campaign as it no longer aligns with my values.”The sudden resignations of the two senior staffers left the Morales staff in chaos. Remaining aides launched a unionization effort for the final weeks of the campaign. But soon after, four employees, all involved in the unionization efforts, were terminated without a clear explanation. The employees who are left have staged a walkout until those staff members are reinstated.Left-leaning voters may find themselves choosing between Ms. Morales and Ms. Wiley on the ballot. In recent months, Ms. Wiley has said that she would rank Ms. Morales second under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, which enables voters to select five candidates in order of preference. After news of the staff implosion, Ms. Wiley declined to say if that was still the case. More

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      How to Watch Tonight's Mayoral Debate

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      The second Democratic debate, featuring eight candidates for New York City mayor, takes place Wednesday night from 7 to 9 p.m.The second official debate among the eight major Democratic candidates for mayor of New York City takes place Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m.The candidates set to attend are Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Raymond J. McGuire, Dianne Morales, Scott M. Stringer, Maya Wiley and Andrew Yang.The event comes as the contest moves into its final weeks before the June 22 primary, at a crucial time when the dynamics of the race and voter preferences still appear fluid.The first debate was held virtually, and Wednesday’s in-person session will offer clearer opportunities for the candidates to distinguish themselves with standout moments — and to better land the criticisms of one another that they have ramped up in recent weeks.The state of the race now also looks different in several ways from the last debate.Ms. Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, has gained traction in the limited polling available, placing her as a front-runner alongside Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams. Other candidates, like Ms. Wiley, are looking to build similar momentum. And the campaign of the most left-leaning candidate in the field, Ms. Morales, is facing internal strife and disillusion.Here are some of the ways you can watch and follow the debate:Reporters from The New York Times will provide commentary and analysis throughout the evening.The first hour of the debate will be televised on WABC Channel 7, with the second hour scheduled on WABC’s streaming platforms and over the air on Channel 7.2. Streams will also be available online from ABC 7 New York and Univision.The debate will also be carried on cable networks including Optimum on Channel 110; Spectrum on Channel 1240; Verizon Fios on Channel 467; and Comcast on Channel 790.NYC Life TV will broadcast the entire debate on Channel 25.1.Bloomberg Radio New York will stream the debate on 1130-AM. Listeners can also tune in to a broadcast on 92.7 FM from the Spanish-language station WQBU-FM.Other streams are expected to be available on YouTube. More

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      5 Takeaways from NYC Mayor's Race: Garcia Rises, and Yang Changes His Tune

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      A new survey put Kathryn Garcia in the lead, shaking up the mayoral race with just weeks to go before Primary Day.As the mayoral campaign of Dianne Morales, a progressive champion, continues to disintegrate around her, a moderate has ascended in the polls. Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, continued to gain momentum, and even some negative attention from a rival who once lavished praise on her.The polling in the mayor’s race remains spare and potentially unreliable, but if it is to be believed, three of the front-runners in the race — Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate; Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president; and now Ms. Garcia — are moderate Democrats, not progressives.That may have something to do with the post-pandemic state of New York City. But it may also have something to do with the progressives’ inability to unify behind a particular candidate.Garcia gets a super PACIt is the new, must-have accessory for any serious New York mayoral candidate, and Ms. Garcia is finally getting one, too — a super PAC.Jon Jones and Ronnie Cho, two veterans of Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, are putting together an independent expenditure committee in an effort to inundate New Yorkers with pro-Garcia advertising in the final weeks of the mayoral primary.Their move leaves just one candidate out of the top eight without a super PAC supporting her: Ms. Morales. Recent polling indicates Ms. Garcia has entered the race’s top tier of candidates, alongside Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams, both of whom already have well-funded super PACs behind them. This is the first New York City mayor’s race to see this level of outside spending. The onslaught of barely regulated money comes at the same time that the city is implementing its new, more generous matching funds system, which is designed to reward small-dollar donations from local residents. Critics worry the super PAC spending threatens the efficacy of that public financing system.Mr. Jones and Mr. Cho say they already have financial commitments worth six figures, and are aiming to ultimately raise more than $1 million. They declined to name their donors.“The city is broke and we’ve got big economic, cultural and operational challenges in N.Y.C.,” they said in a joint statement. “It’s not the time for big rhetoric and personalities, undeliverable promises or idealistic dogma. Simply put, we need someone who can get the job done.”Yang goes negative on GarciaFor months, Mr. Yang has parried criticism of his lack of experience in government with a promise to surround himself, once in office, with the most skilled government hands. Consistently, he has named Ms. Garcia among them.“She is a disciplined operator with great experience and I hope that she’s a partner in my administration,” Mr. Yang said in a recent video interview with The New York Times. “Kathryn, if you’re watching this, Kathryn, let’s team up. We’re going to do it, got to do it for the city.”At the time, Ms. Garcia did not seem to pose a threat to Mr. Yang. All it took for him to change his tune were a couple of polls.“She is a disciplined operator with great experience and I hope that she’s a partner in my administration,” Andrew Yang once said of Ms. Garcia.Jordan Gale for The New York TimesLast Tuesday, the Boston-based Emerson College Polling released a survey finding Ms. Garcia leading the field, followed by Mr. Adams and Mr. Yang. That survey came just the day before a poll by Core Decision Analytics finding Ms. Garcia in the top three, trailing Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams.And suddenly, Mr. Yang was singing a different song.“We talk about her experience as the head of the Department of Sanitation,” Mr. Yang said on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” on Wednesday. “Right now, New Yorkers complain to me just about every day about the piles of trash that we’re seeing around us that get higher and higher.” Ms. Garcia left the sanitation department in September, and in her resignation letter she criticized the mayor for cutting the department’s budget. Reached over the weekend, she said she didn’t find the attacks surprising.“They’re looking at the polls and seeing my numbers rise,” Ms. Garcia said in a text message. “Momentum!” she continued, adding a smiling emoji.Asked why Mr. Yang had a change of heart, his senior adviser Eric Soufer said, “Our city needs a change at the top, not a de Blasio third term.”Morales’s staffers wage a protest against herOn Friday morning, the wind at Bryant Park carried the regular scents of grass and food — and palo santo. The newly unionized members of Ms. Morales’s mayoral campaign had gathered near the park’s lawn, crafting signs, practicing chants and burning pieces of the aromatic wood, readying for a march to Ms. Morales’s Manhattan headquarters.The workers moved to unionize last week following the resignation of two high-level staff members, among them the campaign manager, and the termination of six more, including four members involved in union efforts. Following the dismissals, organizers began a work stoppage, calling for the reinstatement of the staff members. The tumult, just weeks before the primary, has caught Ms. Morales in a bind, trying to balance running a mayoral campaign — a stressful, chaotic undertaking under any circumstances — and living up to the progressive ideals that she and her staff have put at the center of her race.Dianne Morales in Manhattan in May. Workers on her staff moved to unionize last week, following the resignation of two high-level staff members.Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times“It’s a beautiful and messy thing,” Ms. Morales said of the unionization efforts during an interview with NY1 Thursday night, calling it a “reflection” of her “transformative” campaign. It wasn’t enough for her increasingly skeptical staff. The next morning about 40 of her employees gathered on the sidewalk outside her Midtown office. People encouraged each other to mind sidewalk violations, in case a minor infraction gave the campaign leaders inside an excuse to call the police. “I don’t put it past the campaign office that we’re in front of to call the cops,” said Nia Evans, a union organizer. .css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-1jiwgt1{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;margin-bottom:1.25rem;}.css-8o2i8v{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-8o2i8v p{margin-bottom:0;}.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;}Ms. Morales’s campaign has embraced cutting the budget of the New York Police Department by $3 billion. In a private video for staff released late this week, Ms. Morales admitted to replicating “the very systemic and structural issues that this campaign has intended to repair.” But the candidate was not swayed by recent events, claiming, “I’m not going anywhere.” Adams wants to crack down on loud dirt bikesThe dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles that constantly speed through the city are loud, but they can also be dangerous — for pedestrians and for the people operating them. They appear regularly during warmer months with seeming impunity.Last week, Mr. Adams announced a plan to crack down on them. “It’s a quality-of-life crisis,” Mr. Adams said at a news conference in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan on Wednesday. As Mr. Adams and Representative Adriano Espaillat gathered with leaders to express concern, a group of roaring bikes whizzed by. The drivers were not wearing helmets as they passed several police vehicles, traveling the wrong way into traffic. Eric Adams greets supporters in the Bronx in May. Last week, Mr. Adams announced a plan to crack down on loud dirt bikes.Ahmed Gaber for The New York TimesMr. Adams, a former police captain who is running as the public safety candidate, said that many dirt bikes are unlicensed and uninsured, and called on the police to enforce existing traffic laws to stop reckless drivers. He also wants to use speed cameras and red light cameras to ticket drivers, and to expand the hours when speed cameras operate. And he would like to require dealers who sell dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles to confirm that a buyer has a vehicle registration and insurance. Mr. Adams said the vehicles were more than a nuisance. “They are a signal that our city is becoming lawless and unsafe,” he said.Quality-of-life issues take on growing importanceMr. Adams was hardly the only candidate to take on quality-of-life issues in recent days — in fact, the problems are increasingly occupying the spotlight in this year’s mayoral race.Last week, Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, released a proposal to reduce noise pollution, in part by banning nonessential helicopter flights and promoting efforts to “curb rampant drag racing and get ATVs off the streets.” The proposal was called “Hear Our Noise Complaints!” — or “H.O.N.C.!”Ms. Garcia promoted a plan for street cleanliness with a focus on “clean curbs and rat-resistant containers.”And Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citi executive, offered a plan to combat illegal fireworks.“Illegal firework use is not just a quality-of-life issue, it poses a threat to the safety of New Yorkers and can lead to fires, injuries and deaths,” he said.Like Mr. McGuire, a number of candidates are arguing that quality-of-life issues are linked to public safety — one of the most dominant subjects in the race — making it likely that they will be a growing focus in the final stretch of the race. More

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      Key Question in NYC Mayoral Race: Who Will Get Latino New Yorkers’ Votes?

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      Hispanic voters, who may account for a fifth of turnout, are considered to be up for grabs.Eric Adams was not Representative Adriano Espaillat’s original choice to become New York City’s next mayor, but now that he had landed the coveted endorsement, Mr. Adams was in a forgiving mood.It was more of a come-to-Eric moment than a come-to-Jesus moment, but he credited divine intervention with winning over Mr. Espaillat, the first Dominican-American to serve in Congress.“Today, all of that praying, all of those candles that I’ve burned, all of those incense that I put in place, all of those Hail Marys that I called up,” Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, thundered earlier this month. “Finally, Jesus Christ looked down on me and brought me Congressman Espaillat!”Less than one month before the Democratic primary that will almost certainly determine the city’s next mayor, the battle for Latino voters and endorsers is accelerating, and the fight for that diverse constituency is emerging as one of the most crucial and uncertain elements of the race to lead New York.All the leading Democratic mayoral candidates sense opportunity. In the race’s final weeks, they are pressing their cases through advertising, Spanish-language phone banks and Latino affinity groups, deployment of surrogates and rallies in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods across the city.Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate, and Shaun Donovan, a former federal housing secretary, went up with Spanish-language advertising last week. Others, including Mr. Adams and Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller who lost Mr. Espaillat’s initial endorsement, had already released ads in Spanish.The next major Democratic debate, set for Wednesday night, is being co-hosted by Univision 41 Nueva York and the Hispanic Federation, among other sponsors, and may further focus the candidates’ attention on those voters.“When we look back at the winner of this primary, what put them over the top, even with ranked-choice voting, is their ability to connect late with Hispanic voters,” said Bruce Gyory, a veteran Democratic strategist who has closely studied the New York City electorate. “That’s what June is going to be about: Who finds a message that resonates, and who backs it up with resources?”In 2013, the last mayoral primary in New York City without an incumbent in the race, Hispanic voters made up 18 percent of the electorate, according to exit polls, and supported the eventual winner, Mayor Bill de Blasio, making up a vital part of his coalition. Those voters are expected to make up around 20 percent of the electorate again this year, Democratic consultants say, and strategists and lawmakers describe them as motivated by issues including economic opportunity; affordability and support for small businesses; education; public safety; and public health.“We know that Latinos, more than many other groups, were directly impacted in a very negative way” by the pandemic, said Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a New York Democrat who was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and is supporting Maya D. Wiley in the mayoral race. “So people want to know, what are you going to do to address those inequities that were exposed during Covid-19?”The so-called Latino vote in New York is diverse generationally and geographically, culturally and ideologically. Indeed the political spectrum runs the gamut from young, left-wing Latino New Yorkers typified by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and up-and-coming lawmakers from parts of Queens, to culturally conservative voters across the city who voted for former President Donald J. Trump in surprising numbers last fall.New York City’s immigrant neighborhoods strongly favored President Biden — but virtually every predominantly Latino precinct shifted significantly to the right compared with the 2016 election results, including heavily Dominican neighborhoods in Manhattan and the Bronx, and in Corona, Queens, where there is a large Latino population.But without a front-running Hispanic candidate in the race, the political demographic is considered to be mostly up for grabs.“You have so many candidates running for mayor, and only one is really a Latina,” said the longtime political strategist, Luis A. Miranda Jr. He was referencing Dianne Morales, a left-wing candidate who identifies as Afro-Latina. (Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, is white, though her ex-husband is of Puerto Rican descent and she has referenced the fact that her children are half Puerto Rican.)“You really need validators from our community that are telling you, ‘So-and-so is good for the Latino community, so-and-so is good for the neighborhood you live in,’” Mr. Miranda said. (Neither Mr. Miranda nor his son, the actor and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, has endorsed a candidate in the race.)Mr. Adams may have the most significant institutional support in the field, reflecting his background as a veteran city politician with extensive relationships. He promises to be a “blue-collar” mayor who connects in working-class communities and prioritizes public safety.Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, stars in ads for Mr. Adams and is supporting him, as is Fernando Ferrer, the 2005 Democratic mayoral nominee who built a formidable coalition of Black and Latino voters in his unsuccessful bid.“I saw him in the South Bronx on a street corner where I used to shine shoes,” Mr. Ferrer said of Mr. Adams. “He’s comfortable. And you have to be comfortable with people.”Still, Mr. Adams has not always smoothly navigated his outreach over the years. In 1993, for instance, his remarks criticizing the Puerto Rican-born comptroller candidate, Herman Badillo, for not marrying a Hispanic woman became such a point of controversy that Mr. Badillo highlighted the issue in an advertising campaign.Mr. Yang, the former presidential candidate who pledges to be an anti-poverty mayor, has also made a major push for Latino voters.He has been endorsed by a number of prominent younger Latino leaders, from City Councilman Carlos Menchaca, a left-wing Mexican-American who dropped out of the mayoral contest, to Representative Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, who identifies as Afro-Latino. Mr. Yang spent Thursday in the Bronx, home to the city’s largest Latino population, laying out his public safety vision.“We know the Latino base is the one everyone is going after,” said Assemblyman Kenny Burgos, a 26-year-old Hispanic Yang supporter who represents the Bronx. “The youth vote, so to speak, is going to be something heavily in effect here.”Then there is Ms. Garcia, who has risen in some recent polls. Last Saturday afternoon, she was at a lively outdoor food market in the Bronx, greeting voters and discussing the biggest issues she hears from Hispanic New Yorkers.“Where’s the economy, do they feel safe, and are you educating the kids? Those are at the top of mind, and housing affordability, you hear it over and over again,” Ms. Garcia said. “They care about boots on the ground. They care about you showing up.”In a ranked-choice election in which voters may back up to five candidates in order of preference, Ms. Garcia’s surname may help her stand out, Mr. Miranda said..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-1jiwgt1{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;margin-bottom:1.25rem;}.css-8o2i8v{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-8o2i8v p{margin-bottom:0;}.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 city in which we live, it’s pretty tribal,” he said. “They’ll gravitate to a Spanish name because they’ll believe that person will be Latino.”There is limited public polling available on the mayor’s race overall, much less on Hispanic voters specifically. But a new survey out Wednesday from Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics found Mr. Yang virtually tied with Mr. Adams among Hispanic voters, when including voters who leaned in their directions, with roughly a quarter of those voters undecided. Ms. Morales, a former nonprofit executive, came in third place among Hispanic voters in that poll.Ms. Morales is unlikely to connect with older Latino voters who are leery of calls to defund the police, but she had recently shown promise as a standard-bearer for young, deeply progressive voters from a range of ethnic backgrounds.Dianne Morales, a left-wing candidate who identifies as Afro-Latina, may alienate some older Latino voters because of her calls to defund the police.Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times“We might see maybe a little bit of a wild card in this election because young people are so energized by her campaign,” Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas of Queens said in an interview last week. “She’s been very intentional about bringing young people into the conversation.”Later in the week, internal turmoil from the Morales campaign spilled into public view, and it is not yet clear how a late-stage campaign shake-up nearly three weeks before the primary will affect that standing.Ms. González-Rojas, however, said on Wednesday that she stood by her remarks. She has also said that she had pitched Ms. Morales’s candidacy to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s team.Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is among the most powerful potential endorsers still remaining on the sidelines of the mayoral race. Ms. Velázquez, who has recorded radio ads on behalf of Ms. Wiley, has spoken with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez directly about the contest, encouraging her to meet with Ms. Wiley, she said.Other candidates are also ramping up their Latino engagement. Ms. Wiley released an agenda aimed at Latino communities last week. In his new ad, Mr. Donovan narrates in Spanish, and he visited a major Latino church in Queens this weekend. Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citi executive, has Spanish-language radio ads and the support of, among others, Assemblyman Robert J. Rodriguez of East Harlem. Mr. Stringer, for his part, has long seen opportunities to cement his standing with Latino voters in the final weeks of the race. He lost Mr. Espaillat’s backing, among others, following an accusation that he made unwanted sexual advances during a 2001 campaign, which he has denied.But even lawmakers who retracted their endorsements say that Mr. Stringer remains well known in some of their neighborhoods.He is planning a rally aimed at Latino voters in Washington Heights, where he grew up, on June 12. His stepfather, Carlos Cuevas, is Puerto Rican and narrates a Spanish-language ad for Mr. Stringer, and Mr. Stringer’s extended Puerto Rican family is expected to join him at the rally, his campaign said.Many Latino voters are just starting to take notice of the race, said Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz of Queens, who pulled her endorsement from Mr. Stringer and has not backed anyone else. “They don’t really start talking about the election until like a month out,” she said. “You will see them start paying a lot more attention in the couple weeks leading up to the election itself, unless there’s somebody that completely electrifies them.” More

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      Dianne Morales Tries to Calm a Sudden Crisis in Her Campaign

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      Two staff members have quit, two have been fired and four others involved in a unionization drive have been terminated.The Rev. Al Sharpton hosted a mayoral forum in Harlem on Tuesday night in preparation for his expected endorsement in the Democratic mayoral primary. All the leading candidates were in attendance, save for one — Dianne Morales, who cited a “family emergency.”In reality, she was meeting with her staff as her progressive grass-roots campaign began to implode.By Thursday, two high-level campaign staff members had left, two other staff members had been dismissed, a unionization drive had heated up and four employees active in the unionization effort had been fired, leading to a strike among the staff.The internal strife is a significant distraction or worse for Ms. Morales, 53, who has been able to attract a large number of small donors and an avid group of supporters as the most left-leaning candidate in the field. But the uproar over the unionization effort and complaints of a toxic workplace suggested that her campaign had fallen far short of progressive values.There is no indication that Ms. Morales will drop out of race. But on Thursday evening, Farudh Emiel Majid, a senior organizer for the candidate, called on her to suspend her campaign, saying she had created “a hostile work environment towards Black and Brown staffers.”Over five hours at the meeting Tuesday night — after the first resignation, of Ms. Morales’s campaign manager, Whitney Hu — the candidate listened to staff members share grievances about harassment, race-based mistreatment and exploitation and call their working environment toxic. Employees told her they felt siloed; work felt repetitive and unstructured.Staff members in attendance called the meeting “candid” and “raw” and said Ms. Morales spoke at length about the challenges of her unique candidacy: She is an Afro-Latina first-time candidate running to the far left of her peers, and her campaign is heavily reliant on public funds.She also spoke about the challenges of the recent explosive growth of her team — from half a dozen people to around 80, in just a few months. Ms. Morales openly accepted her role in the creation of any strife that might have taken place.It wasn’t enough. Ifeoma Ike, a senior adviser, resigned early Thursday, leaving the campaign in even deeper chaos, with less than a month to go before the Democratic primary election on June 22.Ms. Hu and Ms. Ike’s exits followed concerns over two other staff members accused of mistreatment: one who staff members said used a previous professional relationship with Ms. Morales to try to impose authority in an abusive manner, and another accused of making female staffers uncomfortable, according to three staff members who did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation.Krysten Copeland, a campaign spokeswoman, said on Thursday that two campaign staff members, Ramses Dukes and Amanda van Kessel, had been dismissed. She said they were the employees accused of misconduct. Ms. van Kessel had previously worked with Ms. Morales at the social services arm of Phipps Houses, a housing development group. Mr. Dukes could not be reached for comment, and Ms. van Kessel did not respond to requests for comment.In her statement, Ms. Morales addressed the issues in her campaign.“Our campaign works to intentionally center the voices of those who are excluded from politics,” the statement read, “and we acknowledge that mistakes have been made in our attempts to do this.”In response to the recent allegations of misconduct, staff members had launched a unionization effort that they said was intended to rectify what many considered a toxic work environment, as well as to codify the progressive principles that were espoused in Ms. Morales’s campaign — but not, they said, within her workplace. According to the union, the union has majority support, and Ms. Morales has voluntarily recognized it.But on Thursday, four staff members involved in the unionization effort were terminated minutes before a scheduled meeting to discuss the collective’s demands.Employees began a work stoppage late Thursday.“It is deeply disappointing that a candidate who claims to support unions refused to engage in this conversation,” the employees who had formed the union said in a statement.Ms. Copeland said that the candidate had not known that the terminated employees were involved in unionizing. She did not immediately explain why the four were fired.Ms. Morales said on NY1 on Thursday night that the unionization drive was “a beautiful and messy thing” and added: “I think it’s a reflection of a very transformative campaign that we have been running that they’ve organized this way, and I’ve been fully supportive of that from the moment it was raised to me.”Union organizing had begun in earnest after Ms. Hu and Ms. Ike resigned.“I officially resigned from the Morales campaign on Tuesday on my own accord after demanding that I would no longer be able to continue on the campaign until harmful actors were removed,” read a statement from Ms. Hu. “I continue to stand in solidarity with the team.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-1jiwgt1{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;margin-bottom:1.25rem;}.css-8o2i8v{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-8o2i8v p{margin-bottom:0;}.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;}Early Thursday morning, Ms. Ike said on Twitter: “I am formally resigning from the campaign as it no longer aligns with my values.”According to several staff members, tensions in an already fraught campaign rose in recent weeks after some employees approached Ms. Hu with personnel complaints, including those about the colleagues they accused of being abusive.Ms. Hu and Ms. Ike were the most senior staff members of the group that took these concerns to Ms. Morales, and the two said that if the candidate did not sufficiently address the complaints, they would quit, according to several staffers familiar with the exchange.But Ms. Morales did not respond as they expected. The staff member who was accused of abusing power was demoted twice, then terminated on Sunday.A team-building consulting firm was brought in and introduced an externally created code of conduct that employees were expected to adhere to, a departure for a team that prided itself on open communication and collaboration.Staff members met on Monday to discuss growing concerns, but Ms. Morales, while invited, did not attend.On Tuesday, Ms. Morales encouraged campaign staffers to practice “self-care.” On Wednesday, campaign headquarters were closed. Some returned to the office to find that the access code had been changed, and they could no longer gain entry. A Wednesday press event for New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools was canceled with little warning.“To be honest, it doesn’t look good,” said Gina White, a Harlem resident who came to the schools event, hoping to hear the candidate speak. “At least if she wasn’t here, she should’ve sent someone from her campaign staff to represent and give a statement.”In a statement released on Thursday, Ms. Morales again addressed the issues arising in her campaign, saying that she took swift action when allegations of misconduct arose.“By making these changes, it is my hope and responsibility to guide our team through the last stretch of this race in a way that espouses our values of honesty, transparency and loving disruption,” she wrote. More

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      Top N.Y.C. Mayoral Hopefuls Under Fire as Primary Nears

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      With less than a month before the June 22 primary, Democratic candidates are focusing on the perceived front-runners, Eric Adams and Andrew Yang, in a bid to shift momentum.First came the fevered pitch of the warm-up speeches and the catchy campaign jingle, in English and Spanish, which rang through the air at the park just south of City Hall. The New York City mayor’s race was approaching a pivotal moment, and Eric Adams, one of the top candidates, seemed prepared to seize it.Mr. Adams proclaimed his readiness for a brutal final stretch of the mayoral primary — and, in ways implicit and overt, proceeded to rip into the track record of Andrew Yang, his chief rival, as he sketched out his own vision for the city.Just a day earlier, Mr. Yang, whose campaign has been typified by congeniality and optimism, lashed out at Mr. Adams’s fund-raising practices, in his most direct criticism of an opponent to date.Other attacks came from Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, who laced into both Mr. Adams and Mr. Yang for currying favor from “hedge-fund billionaires,” and challenged Mr. Yang over education issues. And Maya D. Wiley held a news conference last week to skewer Mr. Yang over his knowledge of policing matters.Four weeks before the June 22 Democratic primary that will almost certainly determine New York City’s next mayor, the race is approximating a traditional campaign brawl after months of somewhat passive but decorous exchanges over video forums.For much of the race, Mr. Yang, the former presidential candidate, has led the sparse public polling, and most of the broadsides from other candidates have been aimed at him. Mr. Yang, whose campaign has been typified by congeniality and optimism, has lashed out at Mr. Adams’s fund-raising practices.Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York TimesBut Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, has increasingly appeared to occupy at least as much of his rivals’ head space — a reflection of his strength in the contest.“You don’t aim at what’s weak, you aim at what’s strong,” said Donovan Richards, the Queens borough president who is supporting Mr. Adams, ahead of his City Hall rally. “We’re moving into the final stretch and the race will intensify more, but clearly he’s resonating.”The next mayor of New York will play a central role in determining how the nation’s largest city recovers from the pandemic and overlapping crises concerning the economy, inequality and public safety. Aware of those stakes, the candidates are racing to press their cases, bombarding voters with flurries of campaign literature, accelerating in-person campaign schedules and sharpening their contrasts with each other.Since Jan. 1, there has been more than $24 million in Democratic spending in the mayor’s race, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking firm, including a flood of outside spending on behalf of several of the candidates. A number of the contenders still have significant war chests available to fuel a barrage of ads through the end of the race.According to political strategists, advisers to the candidates and the public polling available, Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams are generally seen as the front-runners, but another candidate could still surge, even at this late stage.Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, is working to build momentum after endorsements from the editorial boards of The New York Times and The New York Daily News, and she has shown some traction in the limited available polling.Maya Wiley, center, picked up an endorsement from Representative Hakeem Jeffries as key influencers in the race choose sides.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesMs. Wiley, who delivered an assertive debate performance, released her second ad last week, and is seeking to build a coalition that includes Black voters and white progressives. She is competing with Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, to emerge as the left-wing standard-bearer in the race, a position Mr. Stringer had hoped to occupy.An accusation that Mr. Stringer made unwanted sexual advances during a 2001 campaign, which he denies, has derailed that ambition, with several key left-leaning supporters rescinding their endorsements. For the last fund-raising period, he raised less than the seven other leading candidates, though his campaign noted that the haul was bigger than that of the preceding two-month period.Mr. Stringer remains well-funded, is advertising extensively and has the support of some powerful unions. He has also received air cover from a super PAC associated with teachers’ unions. Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citi executive, and Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary, are also well-funded candidates with active campaign schedules and the support of super PACs who are looking for ways to break out. In the last fund-raising period, Mr. McGuire, Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams appeared to pull in the most money, though Ms. Wiley and Ms. Garcia in particular showed growth compared with the previous period.The arrival of ranked-choice voting in New York City, in which voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference, has also injected a measure of significant uncertainty into the contest — and on the ground, there are signs that many voters have not yet made decisions about their first choices, much less the rest of their ballots.There are two more official Democratic debates scheduled — one is for “leading contenders” — that may help voters decide, though the candidates are frustrated that the June 2 matchup is slated to be virtual. And in the final weeks, key influencers like Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who endorsed Ms. Wiley, are now choosing sides.On Sunday, Representative Adriano Espaillat, a prominent Dominican-American lawmaker who pulled his endorsement of Mr. Stringer, announced his support for Mr. Adams — a decision that was being closely watched as the battle for Latino voters intensifies. Scott Stringer, who faces an accusation of unwanted sexual advances, which he denies, remains well-funded and has the support of some powerful unions. James Estrin/The New York TimesOther high-profile Democrats are weighing how best to use their influence as the four-week countdown arrives. State Senator John C. Liu of Queens, an influential voice in New York Asian-American politics, is expected to endorse Mr. Yang on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Representative Grace Meng, the highest-ranking Asian-American elected official in New York, also backed Mr. Yang earlier this month.“I was leaning toward not endorsing, I’m leaning more toward it now,” said Jumaane D. Williams, the public advocate.“If I do endorse it would be a combination of where I think I ideologically align and who I think shouldn’t run the city,” or, he added, “who I’d have concerns about running the city.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-1jiwgt1{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;margin-bottom:1.25rem;}.css-8o2i8v{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-8o2i8v p{margin-bottom:0;}.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;}He declined to specify which candidates were stoking those worries. But some on the left oppose Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams over matters including their relatively moderate approaches to policing and dealings with the business community. (Mr. Williams has, however, spoken highly of Mr. Adams’s focus on combating gun violence.)Earlier this month, Mr. Yang drew a public rebuke from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York over a tweet of unqualified support for Israel amid violence in the region. He later offered a more modulated statement.More broadly, Mr. Yang continues to face sharp criticism from rivals over his grasp of city government. On Thursday, for instance, he struggled to navigate, among other issues, a question about a statute that shielded the disciplinary records of police officers, one that has been a focus of debate in recent years and was repealed.“Can you imagine a woman running to be the mayor of the largest city in the nation, not actually knowing or understanding how the Police Department works?” Ms. Wiley said on Friday. “The fact that any of us, with one of the major issues in this race, doesn’t actually understand what the conversation has been in this city is one that really should cause us to ask about qualification.”Chris Coffey, Mr. Yang’s co-campaign manager, argued that Mr. Yang was knowledgeable about the substance of the core issues in the race.“If they’re looking for a mayor who is kind of the most insider-y person and knows the debt limit for the M.T.A., then maybe Andrew’s not going to be their candidate,” he said at a news briefing. “Andrew is someone who has a big vision for cash relief, for getting schools open and for bringing New York back and making it more safe.”Mr. Adams, for his part, has found himself under fire from Mr. Yang and others following a New York Times report about how he mixed money and political ambitions. His campaign has denied wrongdoing and demanded an investigation into Mr. Yang’s fund-raising.Mr. Adams, a former police officer who challenged issues of police misconduct from within the system, is running on a message focused on combating inequality and racial injustice, and above all else, promoting public safety.There are signs that the spike in shootings and unsettling episodes of violence on the subway in recent weeks have emerged as one of the most consequential, and divisive, matters in the contest.Mr. Adams, who says he was once a victim of police violence, bristles at the idea that his position on public safety is in conflict with support for reining in police abuse.“You can critique me on a lot of things, but the audacity of some people to say, ‘He has not been a leading voice on stop-and-frisk,’” Mr. Adams said at a Harlem-area rally on Saturday, shortly after Ms. Wiley criticized him on that very issue at a debate. “Where have you been? If you don’t know my history on that issue, then something is wrong with you.”Emma G. Fitzsimmons More

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      Adams Gets a Major Endorsement: 5 Takeaways From Mayor’s Race

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      Representative Adriano Espaillat, who had backed Scott Stringer, switched to supporting Eric Adams, while Andrew Yang had a rocky week on the campaign trail.With just over four weeks left before the New York mayoral primary — and with in-person early voting set to begin on June 12 — the leading Democratic candidates are racing to distinguish themselves in an election that has so far remained relatively static, according to the limited polling available.The two front-runners, Andrew Yang and Eric Adams, both made news this week, but for different reasons: Mr. Yang, a former presidential hopeful, made a series of gaffes that seemed to highlight one of his critics’ most frequent complaints — that he has parachuted into the mayor’s race with little knowledge of the city and no government experience.Meanwhile, Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, continued to gain steam, picking up a critical endorsement from one of the city’s most powerful Latino politicians and gaining the lead in another public poll.Adams gets second dibs on an influential endorsementIn the messy aftermath of Jean Kim’s sexual harassment allegations against Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller and a leading mayoral candidate, Representative Adriano Espaillat, the most powerful Dominican-American politician in New York City, signed a terse joint statement rescinding his endorsement of Mr. Stringer.A scramble ensued, with several leading candidates courting Mr. Espaillat for his endorsement — a rush that ended Sunday when Mr. Adams traveled to Washington Heights, in the heart of Mr. Espaillat’s district, to receive the congressman’s formal embrace.Mr. Espaillat said he got into politics after witnessing someone shot in the head on a city street. Gun violence is again on the rise in New York City, and Mr. Espaillat said he is endorsing Mr. Adams, a former police captain, because “we don’t want that happening again.”Mr. Espaillat has helped several acolytes win office, including, most recently, his former campaign staffer Oswald Feliz, who won a competitive race for the Bronx City Council seat once occupied by Representative Ritchie Torres.“For Eric, the Espaillat endorsement, this is better than mangú,” said Eli Valentin, a political analyst for Univision, referring to the Dominican dish of mashed plantains. “I don’t think there’s anyone else among Latinos that has that influence within the Latino electorate.”The Latino vote is estimated to make up 20 percent of the Democratic primary vote, Mr. Valentin said. The congressman’s backing is expected to matter more than that of many other powerful city politicians, in part because it comes with Mr. Espaillat’s team of loyal supporters who can help get out the vote.“At a time when the machine style of politics has been waning, Mr. Espaillat has built a machine of his own that can move votes,” said John DeSio, who once directed communications for the Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr.Andrew Yang’s plan for city control of the subways has been criticized as lacking detail.Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York TimesAndrew Yang’s rough weekMr. Yang has characterized himself as a political outsider, someone who will not be beholden to special interests and who would be open to new ways of getting things done. Although he has been leading in many polls, that outsider image has inspired criticism that he doesn’t know enough about New York to be mayor.That critique came into focus last week when Mr. Yang fumbled or didn’t know the answers to several questions about city government and policy.On Thursday, Julia Marsh, a reporter from The New York Post, asked if he agreed with last year’s repeal of 50-a, a law that shielded the disciplinary records of police officers from public view.“The repeal of 50-a?” Mr. Yang asked.“Do you know what 50-a is?” Ms. Marsh asked.Mr. Yang stumbled over an incorrect response before Edwin Raymond, a New York Police Department lieutenant who is running for the City Council, explained the law.On the same day, Mr. Yang said during a forum on homelessness that it would be “extraordinarily helpful” to “have specific shelters for victims of domestic violence who are often fleeing from an abusive partner and is a distinct population with distinct needs.”The moderator, the NY1 anchor Courtney Gross, quickly pointed out that there are already a number of domestic violence shelters in the city, but that the issue has been capacity.“Oh, no, of course they do exist,” Mr. Yang said.Earlier in the week, Mr. Yang was also criticized for his proposal for the city to take control of the subway and bus system, which some saw as being light on details.Chris Coffey, Mr. Yang’s co-campaign manager, said Mr. Yang misspoke when addressing domestic violence shelters and that he had been briefed on the issues around 50-a several times. Mr. Coffey said his candidate understood the issues, but that doesn’t mean he knows “every piece of terminology or the debt limit for the M.T.A.”Mr. Yang’s opponents pounced on the missteps.“Andrew Yang’s ignorance of critical issues facing our city isn’t just insulting — it’s dangerous,” said Mr. Stringer, whose campaign also trolled Mr. Yang with a video of the perceived gaffes.How ranked-choice voting could play outUnder ranked-choice voting, winning the most votes in the first round does not necessarily mean a candidate will win the election — contenders near the top could still triumph if they get more second- and third-choice votes than the first-round winner.That could conceivably happen in next month’s Democratic primary. A new poll by Public Opinion Strategies for the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, shows how the winner could be determined in 11 rounds with surprising twists and turns.Ranked-choice voting will allow New Yorkers to rank up to five mayoral candidates in order of preference. The Board of Elections will eliminate the last-place finisher among the candidates. If a voter’s first choice was eliminated, then their second choice vote will be counted. And so on until a winner emerges.In the poll, Mr. Yang received the most votes in the first round, at 22 percent, followed closely by Mr. Adams. But once voters’ ranked choices were tallied, and candidates with less support were cut, Mr. Adams came out on top with 52 percent of votes, compared with 48 percent for Mr. Yang.Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, finished third, picking up support from voters who liked Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, and Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-1jiwgt1{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;margin-bottom:1.25rem;}.css-8o2i8v{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-8o2i8v p{margin-bottom:0;}.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;}Once Ms. Wiley was cut in the 10th round, more of her supporters listed Mr. Adams higher on their ballot than Mr. Yang, helping Mr. Adams come out on top.The poll found other interesting trends. Mr. Yang polls best among men, moderate and younger Democrats and Asian voters. Voters with more education tended to support Ms. Garcia, and more liberal voters tended to back Ms. Wiley. Black, conservative and Brooklyn voters liked Mr. Adams. And Mr. Stringer attracted support from older women.Donovan PAC leads in ad spending. But to what end?For $5.5 million, one could buy a townhouse in Greenwich Village, a five-bedroom mansion in Sag Harbor or a swath of TV advertising for a mayoral candidate now polling in the single digits.New Start N.Y.C., a super PAC supporting Shaun Donovan’s campaign, has spent more on T.V., radio and online advertising than any other entity in the mayor’s race, according to Ad Impact, an advertising analytics firm. That is twice as much as the next-highest spender, Mr. Stringer’s campaign.Michael Donovan, the candidate’s father and the primary funder of the super PAC, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Nor did Brittany Wise, the super PAC’s treasurer. Since February, Michael Donovan has pumped $6.8 million into the super PAC supporting his son. All other contributors to the PAC combined have put in about $100,000.The money has gone toward ads like “Fix the Mess,” which, like Mr. Donovan’s campaign, touts the former federal housing secretary and budget director’s work in the Obama administration.Mr. Donovan has an impressive governmental résumé and working relationships with the most powerful elected officials in the country, according to Kenneth Sherrill, a professor of political science at Hunter College. But, Mr. Sherrill said, candidates with the best résumés are often not the best campaigners — and all the money in the world can’t necessarily change that.“You can rattle off all kinds of qualifications, but we don’t choose mayor by competitive examination,” Mr. Sherrill said, adding, “High-spending candidates rarely win.”McGuire puts $1 million into campaign as poll numbers lagMr. Donovan is not the only candidate with ample resources to spend but arguably little of substance to show for it, according to the latest fund-raising numbers released by the city’s campaign finance board last week.No one raised more money in the last two months than Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citigroup executive, who brought in $2.4 million from the likes of the hedge fund managers Paul Tudor Jones and Daniel Loeb. Mr. McGuire put his own money where his mouth is, too, pumping $1 million into his campaign on May 6. Mr. McGuire also lent his campaign $2 million this month.Even without that personal donation, he would have raised about as much as the $1.37 million garnered by Mr. Yang, and more than the $878,000 raised by Mr. Adams or the $661,000 that Ms. Garcia raised.The latter three contenders are participating in the city’s matching funds program, which rewards campaigns that raise small donations from New York City residents. It is not yet clear how much in matching funds they will receive this round. Mr. McGuire is not participating in the program and is not subject to its stricter fund-raising limits. His campaign has also spent more than those of his competitors.But he remains toward the back of the pack.In the recent public poll by Public Opinion Strategies, he was the first choice of only 6 percent of potential Democratic primary voters.His spokeswoman, Lupe Todd-Medina, argued that Mr. McGuire does in fact have much to show from that spending: Polls are often inaccurate, she said particularly when polling communities of color. And she noted that Mr. McGuire had no political experience before jumping into the mayor’s race.“In this short period of time, without selling gimmicky tricks to New Yorkers, Ray has created widespread support for his comprehensive plan for the greatest, most inclusive economic comeback this city has ever seen,” Ms. Todd-Medina said. More