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      Why Kamala Harris Is a Star of the N.Y.C Mayor’s Race

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceA Look at the RaceAndrew Yang’s Candidacy5 TakeawaysWho’s Running?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhy Kamala Harris Is a Star of the New York City Mayor’s RaceThe candidates are competing over who can best capture Washington’s attention and assistance as New York navigates its recovery from the pandemic.Several mayoral candidates have boasted of ties to Vice President Kamala Harris, including Andrew Yang, seen greeting her at a presidential debate in 2019.Credit…Tamir Kalifa for The New York TimesJan. 22, 2021, 11:28 a.m. ETIn many tight political races, candidates battle over not just what they know, but whom they know. In the New York City mayor’s race, the most popular person to know isn’t even a New Yorker.“I’ve literally got the vice president’s number,” Andrew Yang told the news channel NY1.“We introduced the vice president-elect to New York City,” Raymond J. McGuire said on a podcast last month.Maya D. Wiley, another mayoral candidate, has a picture featuring that vice president — Kamala Harris of California — splashed across the top of her Twitter page.As a new administration takes over in Washington, there are signs of fresh battle lines in New York’s mayoral race, centered on connections to federal power.Political candidates often claim ties to major party figures in an effort to energize their bases, and that may be especially true with regard to Ms. Harris, the first woman and woman of color to serve as the country’s vice president.Yet this year, in a contest that may be defined by promises to stabilize an economically imperiled city, several prominent candidates are also competing over who is best equipped to capture Washington’s attention — and its assistance.“Having the bragging rights to relationships with these folks is appealing to voters,” said Jay Jacobs, the chairman of New York State’s Democratic Party. “It probably allows them to suggest that maybe they’ll be able to get additional help for the city if they become mayor.”New York already has vigorous champions for federal aid, starting with the new Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, who is known to be attentive to his home state’s needs. And for mayors, the most urgent and fraught relationship to manage is often the one with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has vast control over city operations and has his own dealings with Washington.But after New York’s rough relationship with the Trump administration, many mayoral candidates agree that the city needs as many strong ties as possible to the new Washington to help navigate issues like housing, transportation and pandemic relief.Yet there are sharp distinctions in the ways the candidates approach discussing Washington.Some of the leading contenders — like Scott M. Stringer, the city’s comptroller, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president — are vocal about the need for more federal relief, and they appear to be betting that the next mayor of New York will get through to Washington regardless of previous relationships.“It’s a powerful argument to remind people in power time and time again in Washington that New York City continues to be the epicenter of the national economy,” said Mr. Stringer, who as comptroller laid out New York’s “most urgent” economic needs in a recent letter to President Biden, Mr. Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. “The quicker we bring back New York City, the better it will be for everybody.”For candidates with fewer established ties to city politics, national name-dropping can be part of a broader effort to explain the less conventional ways they would fight for New York, or simply a tactic aimed at standing out through association.It is an approach that may attract attention from donors and endorsement gatekeepers, though many New York political experts are skeptical that such appeals move votes.The city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, right, has working relationships with leaders in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, left.Credit…Richard Drew/Associated PressEmbracing the new administration may not be viewed as a particular asset in the most liberal corners of New York, where the White House is sure to be seen as too moderate. And strategists warn that the impact that Washington has on New York can be an abstract concept for voters grappling with more tangible challenges.“If you’re an insider, it obviously plays a larger factor,” the Queens borough president, Donovan Richards Jr., said. “For the person on the food line who’s disconnected from government, they don’t necessarily care about your relationship to Washington, D.C. They care about you being able to put some food on their plate.”Mr. Yang is trying to address the latter concern with a broad suite of policies as he seeks to emerge as the anti-poverty candidate. But Mr. Yang, a former presidential contender and political surrogate, is also emphasizing national relationships — even as he faces scrutiny over his connections to the city in which he has never voted for mayor.“My ties are strong with our partners in the White House and the Capitol; I have a lot of their phone numbers,” he said last week, adding that Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia had recently called him (though newly elected officials often make many phone calls to thank supporters).Calling Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary nominee, “friends of mine,” Mr. Yang added, “These relationships will pay dividends for our city when we want to get things done.”He also posted pictures of himself with Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris and Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Cory Booker of New Jersey. (Mr. Booker, declining to name the mayoral candidates he knew best, said he did not expect to endorse in the race because “I have so many friends that are running.”)The candidate with the deepest federal management experience is Shaun Donovan, who was a housing secretary under former President Barack Obama, and Mr. Donovan makes no secret of it. The biography on his campaign website opens with the promise to work with Mr. Biden, “ensuring that New York City’s voice is heard in the White House.”His campaign also issued a news release that highlighted “Obama-Biden alumni” donors, including Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Mr. Biden’s choice to lead the Homeland Security Department, and Tom Vilsack, his choice for agriculture secretary.Mr. Donovan said in an interview that his Washington relationships positioned him to see fresh opportunities for collaboration.“The question is, how deep are those relationships, how much trust do you have in the ability not just to call them on the phone, but to actually have worked side by side with them in moments of crisis?” he said. “No one has the depth and breadth of relationships that I do.”Shaun Donovan, center, a former housing secretary, has the deepest federal management experience among the mayoral candidates. Credit…Larry Downing/ReutersDespite those high-profile contacts, Mr. Donovan failed to meet the thresholds to qualify for the city’s matching-funds program, according to numbers released last week.Then there is Mr. McGuire, a longtime Wall Street executive, who has been a major Democratic donor himself and was a supporter of Ms. Harris before she ran for president.Mr. McGuire does not mention her at every turn, but he does have ties to her 2020 presidential primary infrastructure: The national finance chairman of her campaign, Jonathan Henes, is now a finance co-chair of his campaign, and there is additional overlap among prominent donors and on the finance team.Mr. McGuire and his wife, Crystal McCrary McGuire, also have personal relationships with Ms. Harris, according to a person who has worked for both Mr. McGuire and Ms. Harris. The person recalled, for instance, that after Ms. Harris gave a book talk at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan several years ago, she and her husband dined on cartons of Chinese takeout at the McGuires’ home.That doesn’t mean a Harris endorsement is imminent for Mr. McGuire or anyone else. A Harris aide said her team had been focused on the inauguration and on managing the coronavirus crisis. Others who have worked with her are skeptical that she would wade into a crowded mayoral primary.But the relationship is part of Mr. McGuire’s pitch that he would activate his sprawling network on behalf of the city. Mr. McGuire has publicly cited his ties with Ms. Harris and his connections with Washington decision makers.“Given that this is arguably the most important city in the country, it is important to have a relationship with one of the two most important leaders of the country,” he said last week, asked why that relationship was relevant.Ms. Wiley’s embrace of Ms. Harris is literal: The photo on her Twitter page shows her cheek touching Ms. Harris’s temple.In an interview, she detailed her own experiences navigating Washington, including testifying before Congress and meeting key officials across federal agencies, and described opportunities for the next mayor to work with an increasingly powerful New York delegation. And Ms. Wiley, who is Black and hopes to be the first woman to serve as the city’s mayor, also noted the historic nature of Ms. Harris’s ascension to the vice presidency.Female voters, she said, are “very energized by this White House, and by what it represents, not just symbolically but practically.”“The national and local are deeply connected for folks because we do need help from Washington,” said Ms. Wiley, a former MSNBC analyst who has worked with Ms. Harris’s sister, who added that she had traded the occasional text with Ms. Harris.Then there are the veteran New York politicians like Mr. Stringer and Mr. Adams who lack much of a national platform but do have deep local relationships.Given New York’s stature, some officials say, that should be enough — a stance adopted by Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner who is also running for mayor.“You are still the mayor of the premier city of the United States,” she said. “They’re going to take your call.”The former Representative Charles Rangel, the onetime dean of the New York House delegation, suggested that the mayoral candidates should keep fully focused on their own city.“I refuse to say anything that could be misinterpreted as not being positive about the power of the vice president of the United States,” he said. “But I’ll be goddamned if I can ever remember going to the vice president for any help for my city.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Rivals Mock Andrew Yang: 5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s Race

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceA Look at the RaceAndrew Yang’s Candidacy5 TakeawaysWho’s Running?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRivals Mock Andrew Yang: 5 Takeaways From the Mayor’s RaceAndrew Yang’s visit to a “bodega” drew digs from other contenders, and his entry in the New York City’s race seemed to shake up the contest.Andrew Yang’s entry into the mayoral race last week prompted criticism from his rivals.Credit…James Estrin/The New York TimesEmma G. Fitzsimmons and Jan. 18, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETAndrew Yang made a big splash last week as he entered the mayor’s race, adding a jolt of energy to a campaign season that has been relatively staid and polite until now.Other campaigns pounced on Mr. Yang, questioning his authenticity as a New Yorker and his commitment to the city. While their digs highlighted some of his weaknesses, they also illustrated how the candidates view Mr. Yang as a threat.The campaigns also released their fund-raising figures last week, showing which candidates are in the strongest financial position, while a former Wall Street executive known for a #MeToo complaint entered the lesser-known Republican field.Here are some key developments in the race:The knives are out for YangEven before Mr. Yang entered the race, he had already faced social media ridicule for a remark he made to The New York Times explaining his decision to leave New York City for his weekend home in the Hudson Valley early in the pandemic.That was before the bodega incident.A day after Mr. Yang held an in-person campaign launch in Morningside Heights, he posted a video on Twitter about his love for bodegas — a safe stance that few would challenge. But Mr. Yang recorded the video in a spacious, glistening store that few New Yorkers would consider a bodega.The video brought Mr. Yang more ridicule — and 3.7 million views by Sunday afternoon.Rival campaigns took other swipes at him. After Mr. Yang finished a walking tour of the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, the campaign of Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, said: “Eric doesn’t need a tour of Brownsville. He was born there.”The campaign manager for Maya Wiley, a former counsel for Mayor Bill de Blasio, knocked Mr. Yang’s swerve from the presidential campaign trail to the New York mayor’s race: “Maya is running — not as a backup plan — but because she’s dedicated her entire life to improving, empowering and lifting up New Yorkers.”Mr. Stringer’s campaign spokesman, Tyrone Stevens, also took a dig: “We welcome Andrew Yang to the mayor’s race — and to New York City.”Could Yang’s entry be divinely inspired?The choice of music to accompany a candidate’s official launch or acceptance speech is usually a calculated decision. “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac was Bill Clinton’s campaign theme song in 1992; Lorde’s “Royals” prefaced Mr. de Blasio’s victory speech in 2013.Mr. Yang arrived at his launch event in Morningside Park in Manhattan dancing to the song “God’s Plan” by Drake, which features the lyrics: “They wishin’ on me/Bad things.”Indeed, Mr. Yang faced a barrage of questions from journalists over why he left the city during the pandemic and why he had not voted in local elections. One key question is whether Mr. Yang views the job as a steppingstone to run for national office again — like Mr. de Blasio who received criticism for his lackluster bid for president in 2019 and several trips to Iowa.Asked by The New York Times if he would commit to not running for president while serving as mayor, Mr. Yang declined to do so. But he said being mayor of New York would be the job of a lifetime.Mr. Yang’s family attended the announcement of his candidacy. He has acknowledged spending much of the pandemic out of New York.Credit…James Estrin/The New York Times“New Yorkers have nothing to worry about,” he said.Mr. Yang made a suggestion: The city should take control of the subway away from the state. There’s only one obstacle: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has seized near total control of the transit agency and is not known for ceding power.“Who knows? Maybe he’ll be happy to have the city take it off his hands,” Mr. Yang told reporters gathered on a subway platform, who laughed incredulously at the thought.He spent his first day on the campaign trail crossing four of the city’s five boroughs (sorry, Staten Island). On NY1’s “Inside City Hall” that evening, Mr. Yang disappointed some by saying the city might not be able to close the jail at Rikers Island by the year 2027.“Rikers Island should be closed, but we need to be flexible on the timeline,” he said.A rising star’s endorsement stirs resentmentMr. Yang touted a key endorsement as he hit the trail: Representative Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, a rising star in the Democratic Party who helped to counter criticism that Mr. Yang was out of touch with the city.Mr. Torres and Mondaire Jones are the first openly gay Black men to serve in Congress, and Mr. Torres was being courted by several campaigns. He had met or had conversations with Ms. Wiley, Mr. Adams, Mr. Stringer, Raymond J. McGuire and Shaun Donovan, a former housing secretary under President Barack Obama.Mr. Torres said he gave the losing campaigns a heads-up about his decision even while he was engrossed with the vote to impeach President Trump.“No mayoral candidate endorsed me in my race,” Mr. Torres said. “I did not owe anyone anything.”Mr. Torres said Mr. Yang’s endorsement of a universal basic income would be a victory for the South Bronx district he represents, one of the poorest in the nation. He said that he also likes the fact that Mr. Yang is not a part of the city’s political establishment.The endorsement allows Mr. Torres to align himself with a fellow moderate progressive. If Mr. Yang wins, it would boost Mr. Torres’s standing while giving him a powerful ally in City Hall.Asked about the response to his decision, Mr. Torres said: “Eric Adams was gracious, most were disappointed and one campaign in particular was hostile.”Mr, Yang and Congressman Richie Torres, who has endorsed him, rode the subway to a campaign stop. Credit…James Estrin/The New York TimesSeveral people who were familiar with the discussions said that the McGuire campaign was the one that responded with hostility. Mr. Torres met with Mr. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, at an event in the Hamptons over the summer, and his campaign believed it had the inside track.Mr. McGuire’s campaign denied being upset about the snub.“Ray is not a politician and doesn’t hold grudges,” his spokeswoman, Lupé Todd-Medina, said. “He looks forward to working with the congressman when he is mayor.”Kathryn Garcia has fans but is short on fundsMany officials who have worked in and around city government think highly of Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, who is running as a proven manager capable of leading the city’s recovery from the pandemic. But she is falling behind in the money race.Ms. Garcia has raised about $300,000 and failed to qualify for public matching funds.Still, the recent filings revealed that Ms. Garcia received campaign donations from a number of high-powered New Yorkers, including Joseph J. Lhota, the former head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority who ran as Republican against Mr. de Blasio in 2013; Polly Trottenberg, the city’s former transportation commissioner; and Kathryn Wylde, the leader of a prominent business group. Ms. Wylde also donated to Mr. McGuire, who is a favorite among Wall Street donors.Monika Hansen, Ms. Garcia’s campaign manager, said that many city employees back her bid.“Kathryn has the support of the doers in New York City government at every rank,” she said.A lesser-known candidate, Zachary Iscol, a nonprofit leader and former Marine, has raised nearly $750,000 and said he expects to qualify for matching funds soon.Another candidate who worked in Mr. de Blasio’s administration is struggling: Loree Sutton, a former veteran affairs commissioner who has $398 on hand and $6,000 in outstanding liabilities. She said her campaign has experienced some bumps but that she is reorganizing and “is in this race and in it to win it.”A former Wall Street executive joins as a RepublicanThe Democratic primary in June is expected to decide the mayor’s race, with registered Democrats far outnumbering Republicans in New York City. But there is also a Republican primary in June, and a new candidate entered the race last week: Sara Tirschwell, a former Wall Street executive who once filed a #MeToo complaint against her boss.In an interview, Ms. Tirschwell touted her experience as a single mother and a moderate Republican with liberal social views. She highlighted her “managerial competence” as a rare woman who rose to high positions at financial firms.“I think there is a need for a moderate in this race, and it’s not clear that a moderate is going to survive a Democratic primary in New York City,” she said.Ms. Tirschwell, who grew up in Texas, echoed the complaints of many Republicans — and some Democrats — that “Bill de Blasio is probably the worst mayor in our lifetime.” But she did not want to discuss the recent violence in Washington or Mr. Trump’s impeachment.“This race is about New York, and it’s about New Yorkers and the crisis that this city faces, and that is what my campaign is focused on,” she said.Other names that have been floated in the Republican primary: John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of the Gristedes grocery store chain; Fernando Mateo, an advocate for livery cabdrivers who was linked to a scandal over Mr. de Blasio’s fund-raising; and Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Cash Is Pouring Into the N.Y.C. Mayoral Race. Here’s Who Has the Most.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceA Look at the RaceAndrew Yang’s Candidacy5 TakeawaysWho’s Running?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCash Is Pouring Into the N.Y.C. Mayoral Race. Here’s Who Has the Most.Eric Adams and Scott Stringer, two of the best-known candidates, continue to far outpace the rest of the Democratic field in raising money.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, left, has raised the most money so far in the New York City mayor’s race.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesJan. 15, 2021Updated 8:58 p.m. ETFor several months, the New York City mayor’s race seemed to revolve around two presumed front-runners: Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller.The two Democrats had name recognition, ties to party leaders and established bases of political and financial support. They had far outpaced the rest of the field in raising money, and were the only two candidates who had raised enough to qualify for public matching funds.Another Democratic candidate, Maya Wiley, may have qualified for the matching-funds program on Friday by meeting the criteria of raising at least $250,000 from at least 1,000 donors, according to her campaign.The contours of the race changed this week with a double jolt of news from two other Democrats: Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citigroup executive, reported raising $5 million in three months, and Andrew Yang, a 2020 presidential candidate, officially joined the race.But the fund-raising numbers, which the city’s Campaign Finance Board released late Friday, offered even more shape to the crowded race, which has more than a dozen candidates.Mr. Adams has raised the most money overall so far, $8.6 million, and will have just over $8 million on hand once matching funds are distributed, his campaign said. He raised $438,000 in the most recent period, with $123,000 of it matchable, and expects a $1 million matching funds payment.Mr. Stringer was expected to have raised at least $8.3 million overall, and to have $7.5 million on hand after raising $458,000 in the latest period, keeping pace with Mr. Adams. Mr. Stringer’s campaign said it expects $1.57 million in matching funds. Ms. Wiley a former MSNBC analyst who served as counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, may have solidified her status as a contender by meeting the matching-funds threshold with her latest fund-raising figures. Ms. Wiley raised $715,000, $280,000 of it matchable, qualifying her for $2.2 million in public money, and bringing the total she has raised to almost $3 million, her campaign said.Ms. Wiley’s campaign flooded email inboxes and social media before this week’s deadline with desperate pleas for donations of as little as $10, offering “Maya for Mayor” bumper stickers to contributors and raising questions about whether she would qualify for matching funds.In a message to her supporters, Ms. Wiley celebrated meeting the threshold and said the fund-raising support she received showed that “we gon’ win this race.”.Mr. McGuire, the only mayoral candidate who is not participating in the matching-funds program, raised much of his money from the business community. At least 20 billionaires — including the hedge fund founder John Griffin and Howard Schultz, the former chief executive of Starbucks — appear on Mr. McGuire’s donor list, which also includes people who have been big contributors to Republican candidates. Mr. McGuire had $3.7 million on hand.Because Mr. McGuire has raised so much money, the spending cap for the June primary will probably be increased to $10.9 million from $7.3 million, meaning candidates like Mr. Adams and Mr. Stringer who were close to the spending limit can continue to raise money.The city’s public campaign-finance system is built to withstand that sort of shock because of the emphasis it places on small-dollar donors, said Matthew Sollars, a Campaign Finance Board spokesman.Democratic candidates who failed to meet the matching-funds threshold included Zach Iscol, a nonprofit entrepreneur and former Marine; Shaun Donovan, a former federal housing secretary under President Barack Obama; and Dianne Morales, a nonprofit executive.Mr. Donovan reported raising a total of $1.6 million and had $913,000 on hand. Mr. Iscol reported falling just short of qualifying for matching funds. Ms. Morales said she had missed the threshold by about $70,000. Ms. Morales told supporters that her campaign had raised $340,000 overall and had 4,100 contributors from the city who gave an average of $50. About 30 percent of Ms. Morales’s donors described themselves as unemployed, her campaign said. Ms. Morales’s campaign, which is focused on working-class and poor New Yorkers, expects to qualify for matching funds at the next deadline after a strong showing in raising money in the past week.“If we keep making money the standard for viability then you have to be connected to wealthy networks,” Ify Ike, a senior adviser for Ms. Morales, said. “We are not going to have a billionaire donate to our campaign.”Several other candidates, including Carlos Menchaca, a councilman from Brooklyn; Kathryn Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner; and Loree Sutton, a former veteran affairs commissioner, also failed to qualify for matching funds. Ms. Sutton’s campaign reported a $4,400 deficit.Mr. Yang, who entered the race officially on Thursday, is expected to be competitive with other leading candidates in raising funds. He had 21,000 donors from New York City during his presidential run, giving him a list of potential contributors that he is expected to tap into quickly.Before the pandemic, fund-raising had proceeded at a rapid pace, and face to face. Before he dropped out of the race in November, the City Council speaker, Corey Johnson, held 55 house parties from March 2019 to March 2020. Mr. Stringer held 65 house parties over the same period, including six events in January and February last year.Now, most candidates are holding virtual fund-raisers. Mr. McGuire’s son, Cole Anthony, who plays for the N.B.A.’s Orlando Magic, held a fund-raiser with a teammate, Mo Bamba. Mr. McGuire has had 41 fund-raising events in three months, his campaign said.The Campaign Finance Board could issue almost $5 million in taxpayer money to the three candidates who are accepting, and have qualified for, public funds, according to estimates from the candidates.The board must audit the donations before distributing any money, which it is scheduled to do next month based on the latest filings. Those filings covered money raised from July 12, 2020 to Jan. 11. That would bring the total of public funds to be distributed in the race to close to $14 million. Ioanna Niejelow, Mr. Donovan’s finance director, said was “very different” to be campaigning through a pandemic. Mr. Donovan has been holding hourlong virtual fund-raisers with 50 to 75 people to allow him to interact with attendees.“I know all about grip and grin, and there’s a real beauty to that,” said Ms. Niejelow, a veteran fund-raiser who has worked on campaigns for Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. “But given this environment, virtual has been remarkable in terms of getting out there and having great conversations.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Wall Street Favorite Raises $5 Million in Race for New York Mayor

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceA Look at the RaceAndrew Yang’s Candidacy5 TakeawaysWho’s Running?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWall Street Favorite Raises $5 Million in Race for New York MayorNew York’s business community is coalescing behind Raymond J. McGuire, an ex-Wall Street executive, but the support may turn off some left-leaning voters.At least 20 billionaires have donated to the mayoral campaign fund for Raymond J. McGuire, far left.Credit…Simbarashe Cha for The New York TimesJan. 13, 2021Updated 8:37 a.m. ETAs thousands of restaurants, Midtown office towers and Broadway theaters lay empty last summer, leaders of New York’s business community decided enough was enough: They wrote a scathing letter expressing no confidence in Mayor Bill de Blasio, and intensified efforts to find someone of their liking to replace him.They drafted Raymond J. McGuire, one of the longest-serving and highest-ranking Black executives on Wall Street, to run for mayor, and promised their assistance.Now, three months after announcing his candidacy, that support has come: Mr. McGuire’s campaign will report this week that it has already raised just over $5 million. It was an unusually high sum for such a short period, approaching the fund-raising totals of established candidates like Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president.The amount is likely to jolt the race, pushing Mr. McGuire to the forefront of the free-for-all Democratic primary contest, placing pressure on Mr. Adams and Mr. Stringer to keep pace, and damaging the hopes of the other dozen or so candidates still struggling to meet fund-raising minimums to qualify for public matching funds.Mr. McGuire’s donor list reads like an index from corporate America, Wall Street, the entertainment industry and real estate. There are at least 20 billionaires on the list, including owners of sports teams and oil company chief executives. There’s old money dating back to the Ottoman Empire, and new money earned with the kings and queens of hip-hop culture.While the support illustrates the potency of Mr. McGuire’s candidacy, the ties to big business may be anathema to many left-leaning Democratic voters in New York, a city where political pressure has torpedoed efforts to expand Industry City in Brooklyn, and discouraged Amazon from pursuing a headquarters in Queens.Indeed, prominent Republican donors are among Mr. McGuire’s supporters, including Ken Langone, one of the founders of Home Depot, and his wife, Elaine, who each donated the maximum amount of $5,100. Kara Ross, a jewelry designer and the wife of Stephen Ross, a friend and fund-raiser of President Trump who founded Related Companies, also donated $5,100, according to campaign finance data shared with The New York Times.Mr. McGuire also received large donations from James L. Dolan, a major Republican and Trump donor who owns the Knicks and Madison Square Garden; and Richard S. Fuld Jr., the last chief executive of Lehman Brothers, which declared the largest bankruptcy in United States history during the 2008 financial collapse, and his wife, Kathy.Mr. McGuire, a former vice chairman at Citigroup, did not shy away from his support in the business community.“New Yorkers of all walks of life have shown they believe in our movement to lead the greatest comeback this city has ever seen, and everyone will be a part of it, no matter your race or religion, ZIP code or bank account, ideology or orientation,” Mr. McGuire said in a statement this week.Mr. McGuire raised so much money that it will actually benefit the candidates participating in the city’s matching funds program; when a candidate who is not participating in the program — Mr. McGuire is not — raises or spends more than half of the spending cap for program participants, the $7.3 million spending limit for primary candidates may be increased by 50 percent, according to Campaign Finance Board regulations. The change would push the primary spending limit to $10.9 million.Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Mr. Stringer, the comptroller, are the only two candidates who have met the threshold for matching funds so far.Mr. McGuire’s campaign has more than 3,700 donors who gave an average amount of $1,100. About 575 donors contributed the maximum amount. At least 75 percent of donors live in New York City, mostly in Manhattan.Scott Stringer, the city’s comptroller, is one of two mayoral candidates with more campaign funds than Mr. McGuire.Credit…Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesPaul T. Schnell, a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom who oversees mergers and acquisitions, has known Mr. McGuire for 38 years and counts himself among the business leaders who nudged Mr. McGuire to run for mayor. Mr. Schnell and his family donated a total of $11,700 to Mr. McGuire. As the head of “Lawyers for Ray,” Mr. Schnell held a fund-raiser that raised more than $142,000, much of it from those who work at his law firm.“He’s got a combination of leadership, management and business skills but also great people skills and empathy,” Mr. Schnell said. “He will use those skills to restore the city’s economy and he’s going to do that for small businesses as well as large employers.”Mr. de Blasio has mostly avoided any relationships with business leaders, long priding himself on being a champion of the working class. When asked in December about equity in education, the mayor said that his “mission is to redistribute wealth.”As the 2021 mayoral field began to take shape, it became clear that none of the presumed front-runners seemed interested in working with business leaders, and Mr. McGuire was strongly encouraged to enter the race.A tipping point came last year, when the mayor was asked whether he worried that the wealthy were abandoning the city during the pandemic. The mayor responded, “We do not make decisions based on the wealthy few.”The frustration in the business community has now translated into keen support for Mr. McGuire. He received donations from prominent business leaders such as William A. Ackman, chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management; Danny Meyer of the Union Square Hospitality Group; Steve Stoute, a former record executive turned marketing executive; and Robert Reffkin, a co-founder and chief executive of the real estate brokerage Compass.Hutham S. Olayan, a member of one of the wealthiest families in the Arab world, gave two donations of $2,500; there were 11 donations from members of the Tisch family and five donations from members of the Lauder family, including maximum donations from Leonard A. Lauder, the philanthropist and chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder Companies, and his wife, Judy Glickman Lauder; his son William P. Lauder, executive chairman of the Estée Lauder Companies; and his niece Jane Lauder, who is also a high-ranking executive at the firm.Voters are not likely to be surprised that Mr. McGuire, a Wall Street executive, would turn to wealthy friends to raise money, though progressives could make an issue of it, said Bruce Gyory, a Democratic strategist.But with so many people vying for the Democratic nomination, including several progressive-minded candidates, it is not clear how much Mr. McGuire’s business ties will damage his chances, especially with ranked-choice voting allowing as many as five candidates to be chosen.Mr. Gyory said that Mr. McGuire’s credibility in the business world could shore up support among Black voters.“The question is can he take his fund-raising prowess and turn it into support in the Black community in Southeast Queens and the North Shore of Staten Island and create a message that resonates,” Mr. Gyory said. “African-American voters may say, we have a candidate who can compete and we should take a second look.”Mr. McGuire also leaned on his personal business connections. Charles Phillips, Mr. McGuire’s campaign co-chairman and the former president of Oracle who sits on several corporate boards, and William M. Lewis Jr., co-chairman of investment banking at Lazard, are both personal friends. They co-hosted the initial fund-raiser for the campaign, which raised more than $400,000. Both also made maximum contributions.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, leads all mayoral candidates in fund-raising.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesSeveral well-known people in the entertainment industry also donated money to Mr. McGuire, including the filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife, the producer Tonya Lee Lewis; Mr. Lee provided the narration for Mr. McGuire’s campaign launch video.Others included Michael Ovitz, co-founder of Creative Artists Agency; the ballerina Misty Copeland; Jessica Seinfeld, the cookbook author, philanthropist and wife of the comedian Jerry Seinfeld; Gwyneth Paltrow; Debra L. Lee, the former head of Black Entertainment Television; Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama; and the music executive Lyor Cohen.The campaign has approximately $3.7 million on hand, which means that Mr. McGuire has been spending about $442,000 per month to keep his campaign staff of 25 running. By comparison, Mr. Stringer has $5.7 million on hand and has spent just over $429,000. Mr. Adams has $6.6 million on hand and has spent just over $367,000, according to the most recent campaign finance filings.Carlos Menchaca, a councilman from Brooklyn, is one of the mayoral candidates who is not expected to reach the threshold for public matching funds. Mr. Menchaca, who was instrumental in turning back the proposed expansion and rezoning of Industry City, said that New York City is now committed to rejecting “candidates connected to toxic policy around development and Wall Street.”“I’m incredibly confident that New Yorkers will see through these campaigns that have not distanced themselves,” he said. “Viability is not connected to money.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Under Attack, Andrew Yang Explains His Family’s Escape From NY

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceA Look at the RaceAndrew Yang’s Candidacy5 TakeawaysWho’s Running?AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAfter Rivals Pounce, Yang Explains His Family’s Escape From New YorkAndrew Yang said that his family decided to leave the city during the pandemic in part to help his autistic son “adapt to our new normal.”Andrew Yang’s initial explanation of why he left New York City for the Hudson Valley was criticized as insensitive.Credit…Jordan Gale for The New York TimesJan. 11, 2021Updated 7:08 p.m. ETAndrew Yang could be days away from declaring himself a New York City mayoral candidate, but he’s already found himself on the defensive over his decision to spend significant parts of the pandemic in the Hudson Valley.In an article published Monday in The New York Times, Mr. Yang addressed his decision to spend time during the pandemic outside of New York City in a tone that struck some political observers as discordant for anyone hoping to lead a city grappling with catastrophic loss fueled by the pandemic.The moment offered a preview of the challenges that may await Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate who would be the most prominent figure in the race, but who is a newcomer to the unforgiving landscape and scrutiny of New York City politics.“Can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to do work yourself?” Mr. Yang said in the initial interview.“Yes, actually I can,” Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller and a mayoral contender, responded on Twitter, in a reference to his own two young children.Indeed, Mr. Yang’s remarks shattered the sense of relative comity in the mayoral field, at a time when many candidates hope to be broadly acceptable to their opponents’ supporters ahead of ranked-choice voting to decide the June primary. A torrent of barely veiled criticism played out on Twitter.“I spent all of 2020 in NYC, living with THREE generations under one roof, AND running a campaign from home,” Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, wrote on Twitter.Maya Wiley, the former MSNBC analyst and counsel for Mayor Bill de Blasio, posted a video of eerily empty streets, save for the sirens, a scene familiar to New Yorkers who were in the city in the spring. And the Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, another mayoral contender, said that “at this pivotal moment in our city’s history, we deserve better than out-of-touch politicians.”Mr. Yang was in New York last spring as the city shut down, he has said, and he has been back and forth between the city and the Hudson Valley since. But he also allowed that he spent “more time upstate than in the city over the last number of months” as he also spent time as a presidential and Senate campaign surrogate.In a statement Monday afternoon, Mr. Yang sought to give more personal context around the decision to spend significant time in New Paltz, N.Y., rather than his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. He has signaled that his campaign would center on anti-poverty themes, and he nodded to that ambition as he alluded to the charitable and nonprofit work he has done in the city.“Every New York parent has struggled with educating our children in a time of Covid,” he said. After schools shut down, “we took our two kids, including my autistic son, to upstate New York to help him adapt to our new normal. Evelyn and I know how lucky we are to have that option, which is why I’ve committed the past several years of my life to lifting up working families and eliminating poverty.”Mr. Yang is hardly the only New Yorker to spend time outside the city over the last year. Some wealthier New Yorkers who had the option to leave did so, at least temporarily; the vast majority of city residents remained.Nor is he the only possible mayor to have a home outside the city. The former mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, for instance, spent many weekends at a waterfront estate in Bermuda.But a number of seasoned New York political figures signaled that Mr. Yang’s living arrangement over the last year may give voters pause.“We all stayed here and fought for New York,” said the Manhattan borough president, Gale Brewer. “The people I respect are the people who stayed here.”Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic consultant, added, “This is not an auspicious beginning to an upset mayoral race. He’s upset people as opposed to winning an upset mayoral race.”Leah D. Daughtry, a veteran Democratic Party strategist with close ties to New York politics, said she did not believe his remarks or his location last year were “disqualifying” — but they do create a “larger hurdle.”“Anybody who’s running for mayor, no matter their name recognition, is going to have to demonstrate to people that they understand the problems of folks” in the five boroughs, she said. “It’s not like anyplace else.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Can Andrew Yang Make It in New York City Politics?

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

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

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

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      How to Ensure This Never Happens Again

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyOpinionSupported byContinue reading the main storyHow to Ensure This Never Happens AgainThe election and its aftermath have revealed weaknesses in our democracy. Here’s how we can fix some of them. Beverly Gage and Ms. Gage is a professor of history and American studies at Yale. Ms. Bazelon is a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine.Jan. 8, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETCredit…Illustration by The New York Times; from left: Eli Durst for The New York Times, Angela Weiss, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images, Drew Angerer, via Getty Images and Pool photos by J. Scott Applewhite.The path from the Nov. 3 election has been harrowing for American democracy. Though state and local officials ran clean, well-functioning elections, leaving no doubt that Joe Biden was the victor, President Trump and a sizable faction of Republicans in Congress have relentlessly tried to subvert the results. Their assault culminated in yesterday’s insurrection at the Capitol, a physical attack on the home of our democracy, incited by the sitting president.This dark reality owes much to Trump’s malign political style — his narcissism and demagogy, his willingness to sell lies to his political base — and to the ways that the Republican Party has fed his worst tendencies. But certain aspects of the electoral system also helped bring us to this point. With even the soon-to-be Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, now conceding that elections are not supposed to look like this, the months ahead may present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix what’s wrong with American democracy — or risk losing it altogether.Generally speaking, politicians don’t like to run on a platform of small “d” democratic reforms. Structural change can seem abstract and the obstacles to success too great. But history shows that it can — and must — be done. In other fraught moments, under pressure from an outraged American public, politicians have managed to transcend party and regional divisions to strengthen the democratic process.During the Progressive Era, Congress and the states approved two constitutional amendments that changed the nature of national elections. The first, ratified in 1913, allowed Americans to vote directly for their senators rather than leaving the choice to their state legislatures. The second was the 1920 women’s suffrage amendment, which roughly doubled the size of the electorate.By the 1960s, the civil rights movement finally forced Congress, with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, to end the exclusion of most Black people from voting. A few years later, both parties reformed their primary systems to give their voters a real say in choosing their party’s presidential candidate. And in 1971, it took the states less than four months to ratify a constitutional amendment lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 in response to widespread protests over the Vietnam draft, which called up men starting at age 18.Since then, bipartisan majorities in Congress have passed more technocratic but still useful reforms. The 1993 National Voter Registration Act (also known as the motor voter law) required states to offer voter registration materials to people who get or renew a driver’s license or apply for public assistance. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 addressed meltdowns in the 2000 election — when an estimated four to six million ballots were not counted — by providing federal funds to replace faulty punch-card and lever-based balloting.Now we are once more in dire need of reform. But some proposals will be far easier to enact than others, and each will require a different strategy. Here are some ideas for fixing what ails, from the most feasible in the short run to the biggest reach.Fix the Electoral College ProcessThe 1887 Electoral Count Act, which is supposed to govern the resolution of a disputed presidential election, is “impenetrable or, at the very least, indeterminate,” according to Edward B. Foley, a scholar who has spent his career studying it. If we’re stuck with the Electoral College, we should at least make the rules for how it operates in the event of a dispute crystal clear.Congress could detail narrow circumstances in which a state election would be deemed to have failed (in the event of a natural disaster on Election Day, for example). A new law could also clarify that state legislatures have the power to choose electors only in those circumstances or not at all (the Constitution leaves the door open to more meddling). And it could outline what happens if a state submits dueling slates of electors, along with the current rules for choosing a president in the House if all else fails.Establish national best practices for voting and election securityAmerican elections don’t follow a set of best practices to enhance both access and security. Better election laws could provide for equitable access to polling places, early voting, and vote by mail, while protecting eligible voters from being purged from the rolls and ensuring that no one could vote twice. States could also build infrastructure that’s safe from hackers.Legislation in the House provides one possible blueprint. A bill it passed in 2019 would set national standards and fund election infrastructure. It also would grant the right to vote to people who have been convicted of a felony if they’ve been sentenced only to probation or released from custody (several states have since introduced their own such laws). And it sets up a pilot program to give high school students information about registering to vote before they graduate.Register voters automaticallyAutomatically registering voters — through drivers licenses, for instance — would add up to 50 million people to the rolls, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. When the House passed national automatic voter registration in 2019, no Republicans voted for it. If national legislation proves unlikely, states can enact automatic voter registration on their own. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have some version, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.Turn D.C. and Puerto Rico into statesThe Senate’s structure, with each state, regardless of population, having two senators, favors rural, white, Republican-leaning states, creating a body that fails to reflect the national electorate. Diverse, blue-leaning California, with almost 40 million residents, has just two senators, while the states of South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho and Alaska — all red-leaning and mostly white — have a combined 10 senators for fewer than five million residents overall. Statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico would not only provide representation in the national government to millions of Americans who now lack it, but would begin to address (though not eliminate) the imbalance in the Senate by adding four new Senate seats representing racially diverse, densely populated urban areas.The Democratic House passed a statehood bill for D.C. for the first time last year. Statehood itself would require both approval by Congress and by the state’s residents.End gerrymanderingPartisan gerrymandering reduces the number of competitive electoral districts, contributing to the polarization of Congress and state legislatures by pushing candidates away from the center and all but guaranteeing one party’s success in most races.In 2019, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering claims are beyond the reach of federal courts. But state courts can limit gerrymandering based on state constitutions, as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did in 2018. States can also adopt nonpartisan redistricting commissions, as several have done. Research shows that these commissions have succeeded in drawing electoral maps that neutralize partisan bias.Make People VoteCompulsory voting is, hands down, the most effective way to increase turnout. It also changes politics: Suppressing the vote is no longer a strategy. “Campaigns have to focus on persuasion, not demobilizing voters,” says Nathaniel Persily, co-director of the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project.A city or a county could pass an ordinance imposing a penalty on people who fail to vote. The idea wouldn’t be to force voters to pick a candidate. They could turn in a blank ballot. But they couldn’t ignore the election without some penalty. (A potentially more popular alternative — giving people a tax credit or another benefit in exchange for voting — would probably require a change in federal law.)Shorten the TransitionIn the early 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, Congress and the states came together on a constitutional amendment to shorten the presidential transition from four to two-and-a-half months. That change came too late to prevent a disastrous and lengthy transition between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt, which accelerated the country’s banking crisis and deepened the depression. Now, the period from Nov 3 to Jan 20 itself seems too long, given the fast-paced nature of political events. Rather than a time of peaceful transition, it has this year became an opportunity for mischief that can rattle democracy to its core. A new constitutional amendment could update the transition timeline, with no partisan implications.Eliminate the Electoral CollegeThe Electoral College, which apportions its electors based on the size of each state’s congressional delegation, skews elections by concentrating attention on a handful of swing states. One result is that a candidate can lose in the Electoral College while winning the popular vote. Ask Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.Eliminating the Electoral College altogether would require a constitutional amendment. As a more viable alternative, reformers have proposed a National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. States would pledge to award all of their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The compact would take effect once states with the winning minimum total of 270 votes join. So far, states with 196 electoral votes combined have signed on.Beverly Gage is a professor of history and American studies at Yale. Emily Bazelon is a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More