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      Scott Stringer Is Accused of Sexual Misconduct by 2nd Woman

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      The woman, Teresa Logan, accused Mr. Stringer of sexual harassment and making unwanted advances while she was working for him at a bar and restaurant he co-owned in 1992.Five weeks after an allegation of unwanted sexual advances upended Scott M. Stringer’s New York City mayoral campaign, a second woman is accusing him of sexual harassment and making unwanted advances when she said she worked for Mr. Stringer nearly three decades ago.The woman, Teresa Logan, said that she was a waitress and tended bar at Uptown Local, an establishment on the Upper West Side that was co-founded and run in part by Mr. Stringer. In an interview, she accused Mr. Stringer of once groping her as she carried trays, making unwanted sexual advances, including kissing and groping, outside the workplace at least twice and treating her in a manner that often made her uncomfortable.The first interactions, she said, took place in the spring of 1992, when Mr. Stringer was 32 and she was 18.Teresa Logan in 1992. In a statement, Mr. Stringer, 61 and now the city comptroller, said he had “no memory” of Ms. Logan, now 47.“If, in fact, I met Ms. Logan, and ever did anything to make her uncomfortable, I am sorry,” he said. In response to Ms. Logan’s description of an unprofessional work environment, he said: “Uptown Local was a long-ago chapter in my life from the early 1990s and it was all a bit of a mess.”He did not otherwise respond to the details of her account or her description of the workplace.Three people who knew Ms. Logan at the time confirmed in interviews that she had worked at Uptown Local, including her sister, a man her sister dated at the time, and a friend.There are no known witnesses to Ms. Logan’s claims of unwanted sexual advances, but her sister, Yohanna Logan, who was her roommate that summer, recalled that her sister told her of some of the alleged interactions. Yohanna Logan said that her sister came home deeply shaken at least twice and had described the unwanted advances.A friend who has known Ms. Logan for decades and requested anonymity for fear of professional repercussions said she visited Ms. Logan at Uptown Local on one or two occasions that summer. She recalled Ms. Logan saying sometime that year that Mr. Stringer had made at least one unwanted advance.Ms. Logan’s accusations follow similar allegations made by Jean Kim, an unpaid worker on Mr. Stringer’s 2001 campaign for public advocate. Ms. Kim has accused Mr. Stringer of making unwanted sexual advances during that race, charges that he vehemently denied, but that led key left-wing endorsers to withdraw their support for him in the Democratic primary for mayor.Until now, no other women had come forward with similar claims, and a number of women who have worked with or known Mr. Stringer for decades have vouched for his reputation.Ms. Logan was connected with The New York Times through Ms. Kim’s lawyer, Patricia Pastor, who set up the initial interview; several follow-up conversations occurred without Ms. Pastor’s involvement or presence. In a statement, Mr. Stringer and his team cited inaccuracies in Ms. Pastor’s past remarks concerning Ms. Kim’s allegations.“With one week to go before voting starts, Ms. Pastor is back with more allegations, this time from 30 years ago,” he said. The mayoral primary is on June 22 and early voting begins June 12.Rebecca Katz, a spokeswoman for the campaign, added that the allegations “predated decades of service and management by Scott Stringer in the public eye and should be considered in that context.”Ms. Logan, who lives in Manhattan and now works in the fashion industry, said she called Ms. Pastor after seeing her publicly associated with Ms. Kim.“I don’t have a lawyer, I don’t need the lawyer, I don’t want to press charges,” she said. “I just wanted to really just tell my story.” She is a registered Democrat and does not appear to have made donations in the mayor’s race.Ms. Logan said she had been thinking of making her claims public for at least a year, but only decided to move forward after hearing of Ms. Kim’s accusations.“It was like this trigger,” she said. “There’s like a visceral feeling hearing her on the news, and him, and hearing her and knowing she was right. I was like, I know I have to do this.”Jean Kim was the first woman to accuse Mr. Stringer of sexual misconduct. He has denied the allegation.Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesMs. Logan said she began working at Uptown Local in late May or early June 1992, around the time the bar and restaurant had filed for bankruptcy. Patrons recalled it as a dimly lit institution with middling food, started by several New York Democrats, including Mr. Stringer, who hoped it would be a premier political haunt. He was not an elected official at the time of the allegations, though he pursued political office later that year.His co-owners did not respond to interview requests or were not reachable.Ms. Logan said that Mr. Stringer sometimes stood uncomfortably close to her and would remark on her appearance.Within weeks of starting her new job came an unsettling interaction, Ms. Logan said. As she carried trays up a flight of stairs, Mr. Stringer was walking down it.“He just, like, totally pats me on the butt, and like, squeezes it,” she said. “I had no way of reacting. My hands weren’t free to even protect myself.”The situation, she recalled, “freaked me out.” But Ms. Logan, who acknowledges that attitudes around sexual harassment in the workplace were different decades ago, tried to move past it.“I sort of glossed it over for myself saying, ‘But I’m getting paid in cash, free drinks, my friends and I are getting free drinks every night,’” she said. “This dude’s a creep, so are a lot of guys at bars probably.”.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;}She stayed on and continued to socialize with Mr. Stringer, she said, celebrating her 19th birthday at Uptown Local.Ms. Logan said that on another occasion, Mr. Stringer suggested that they go out to another bar. She expected that they would go somewhere within walking distance, but instead, he hailed a cab.“I just have a memory of him in the car, putting his hand on my inner thigh,” she said, adding that he “definitely kissed me, like, made out with me.”She added: “And I was like, ‘No, no, no,’ and then when I was so strong about the ‘no’ in that situation, it stopped and he kind of laughed it off, like, ‘Oh, I’m drunk, I’m sorry.’”Yohanna Logan, who was 17 that summer, says her sister described the incident to her on the night that it happened.“I do remember her coming home and being like, more scared than I’ve ever seen her, and just telling me, like, she was really, really shaken up,” she said. “I remember her saying that she was in a cab with him and that he, like, touched her, tried to, like, kiss her and she was trying to get out of it.”Ms. Logan said she felt uncomfortable around Mr. Stringer after the cab ride, but that she hoped that was the end of any unwanted advances.One night, she said she and Mr. Stringer were drinking after work, when he suggested going to another bar.She recalled that their walk took them, eventually, to the outside of an apartment building. Mr. Stringer invited her up, she said.At first, the overture was playful, she recalled, and she responded in kind, proposing that they share a cigarette and talk but saying that there was “no way” she would join him upstairs.Then Mr. Stringer began to kiss and grope her, she said.“It was almost like this out-of-body experience, where I’m like, ‘What do I do, like this is my boss,’” she said. “Meanwhile he’s like, his hand going up my skirt, and my chest.”Ms. Logan said she knew clearly that she wanted him to stop.“I was like ‘No, no, no, I’m going home,’” she said. “And I like, turned my back, walked away. Got a cab.”She said that she told her sister about what happened that night.“She did tell me that he tried to kiss her,” Yohanna Logan said, adding that she recalled learning that Mr. Stringer had “felt her up.” She described her sister as seeking to appear “tough” — “just being like, ‘I’m OK, but it’s really creepy.’”Ms. Logan’s friend recalled Ms. Logan telling her that Mr. Stringer had sought to get her to go upstairs with him and that Ms. Logan did not go. The friend did not recall exactly when that conversation occurred.Ms. Logan left the bar by late summer for another job, and said that she never saw Mr. Stringer again. She said the experience had changed her approach to dealing with men in the workplace.“It was my first job ever in New York, and it affected the way I felt about working with men really throughout my career,” she said. “There’s like a lot of great men in my industry that I could feel more comfortable with, that I don’t.”Susan C. Beachy contributed research. More

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      After a Fiery N.Y.C. Mayoral Debate, Who’s Ahead? Who Knows.

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      With the campaign in its homestretch, candidates took turns attacking one another, but largely failed to distinguish themselves in a crowded and still undecided race.Not long into New York City’s second Democratic mayoral debate last night, the candidates were asked how they would handle reopening after more than a year of coronavirus lockdown.Some of the relatively centrist hopefuls, like Andrew Yang and Eric Adams, said they would prioritize confronting crime, which has risen in New York over the course of the pandemic. The more progressive candidates, including Maya Wiley and Scott Stringer, argued for less emphasis on policing and a greater focus on affordable housing and youth employment.But beyond specific policy differences, there was a more immediate question for the candidates to confront: how to make up for lost time on the campaign trail, now that the city is finally moving toward a full reopening.The prevailing strategy was to attack, often in personal terms. But with the candidates locked in combat, none seemed to fully break away from the pack.“A lot of the substance was repetitious: Everybody was saying we have to help small businesses, everybody was saying that we have to get the guns off the street,” Michael Krasner, a professor of political science at Queens College and co-director of the Taft Institute for Government, said in an interview.“I didn’t feel like anybody had such a compelling idea or policy proposal that it would make a big impression on undecided voters,” he added. “That made it harder for people to see distinctions.”The June 22 primary is less than three weeks away, and early voting starts in just nine days, but the race remains suspended in midair. In a Fontas/Core Decision Analytics poll released last week, no candidate was the first-choice pick of even one in five likely voters. More than that — 26 percent — said they were entirely undecided. (And even that came only after respondents were pushed to name a choice: On first blush, 50 percent of likely voters said they hadn’t settled on a top candidate.)The relatively large field, peopled by a mix of longtime public officials and relative newcomers, is complicated further by a ranked-choice voting system, new this year, which makes it difficult to determine who really has the upper hand. And the pandemic has put a damper on traditional campaigning: Only in recent weeks have candidate sightings on the streets of New York become commonplace, as the race hits the homestretch.Yang and Adams face offThough long considered the front-runner, Yang has recently been buffeted by attacks from other candidates and by lingering questions about his qualifications, while two fellow centrists — Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Kathryn Garcia, the former city sanitation commissioner — have risen in recent polls.Onstage last night, Adams painted Yang as out of touch with the city. “You started discovering violence when you were running for mayor,” he said. “You started discovering the homeless crisis when you were running for mayor.”Yang shot back, accusing Adams of shady fund-raising practices. “We all know that you’ve been investigated for corruption everywhere you’ve gone,” Yang said. (No charges have been brought against Adams, though some of his political dealings have drawn public scrutiny.)Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, was even more pointed — dinging Yang and Adams in the same breath. “You’re both right: You both shouldn’t be mayor,” he said. On the topic of public schools, Stringer accused Yang and Adams of “taking millions of dollars from Republican billionaires who want to privatize the school system.”Progressives sparOn a night of fierce attacks, Stringer put in a strong showing, Krasner said. But he arguably had the most to prove of any candidate, after his campaign — which had begun strongly, thanks to his relatively high name recognition and endorsements from major progressive groups and labor unions — nearly tanked when a former campaign worker accused him of sexual misconduct.Krasner said that the ranked-choice system could help Stringer — particularly among voters who are hesitant to put a scandal-plagued candidate at the top of their ticket. “A lot of people are going to see him as an appealing No. 2,” Krasner said. “He comes across as a competent progressive.”Wiley has emerged as the only candidate on the progressive wing not enmeshed in scandal, after the campaign of Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, was hit with allegations of blocking her former campaign staff members from unionizing, leading to a number of departures last month.Morales tried last night to clear a path for herself in the left lane, and went further than Wiley or Stringer on calls to reallocate police funding. She reiterated her pledge to redirect $3 billion from the Police Department’s budget toward crime prevention and community investment. Wiley and Stringer have each set a target of trimming $1 billion from the police budget.Centrists seek to define themselvesThe more centrist candidates took a different approach. Yang stated unequivocally, “The defunding of police is not the right approach for New York 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-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;}And Adams, a former police officer, emphasized the need to confront crime with effective policing. “We must be safe, and then on that platform we can build our economy the right way,” he said, even as he sought to turn back opponents’ attacks on his past support for stop-and-frisk tactics.Garcia has risen into the double digits in recent polls, thanks in part to editorial endorsements from The Times and The New York Daily News that have focused on what had been a relatively low-profile campaign. Last night she framed herself as a savvy technocrat, calling herself “the only candidate up here who can deliver on every promise she makes.”But she was the rare candidate onstage who rarely went on the attack, and she struggled to explain, when challenged by her opponents, why she had left the de Blasio administration in the middle of the pandemic.“She certainly seemed confident,” Krasner said, but he added, “I didn’t think she gained any ground.”Also onstage were Ray McGuire, a former Citigroup executive, and Shaun Donovan, who served as secretary of housing and urban development under President Barack Obama. Each positioned himself as an agent of change.In his opening remarks, Donovan promised “a change from the political status quo of the last eight years,” saying he “would lead New York in a new and better direction.”McGuire offered a poetic variation on the same theme, pointing out that most of his opponents had spent years in public office. “This is a bad movie, playing out at City Hall, with the same characters,” he said. “We simply cannot afford a disastrous sequel. Make the change, hope for the change.”On Politics is also available as a newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com. More

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      The N.Y.C. Mayoral Debate's Winners and Losers

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      Welcome to the Times Opinion scorecard for New York City’s second mayoral debate of 2021, which featured the eight leading Democratic candidates on Wednesday night. A mix of Times writers and outside political experts assessed the contenders’ performances and rated them on a scale of one to 10. One means the candidate probably doesn’t belong […] More

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      5 Takeaways From the Second Democratic Debate for N.Y.C. Mayor

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      With the Democratic primary just weeks away and polls showing several candidates in or near the lead, the anticipation going into Wednesday night’s debate was fairly high. Confronting each other face-to-face — though from C.D.C.-approved distances — eight candidates engaged in two hours of frenetic verbal sparring that may have been higher on theatrics than substance.Here are five takeaways. And for more, read our full recap of the debate.Adams was attacked like a front-runner.In the second hour of the debate, the moderator gave each of the eight candidates the opportunity to ask one question of a competitor. Four of the contenders targeted Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a front-runner in the race.“Mr. Adams has said he’s carried a gun to church, he has asked off-duty officers to carry guns to church,” said Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio. “He’s said he will carry a gun as mayor and maybe even ditch his detail. Eric, isn’t this the wrong message to send our kids we’re telling not to pick up the guns?”Later on, the former presidential candidate Andrew Yang — who also took heat for his centrist platform — delivered the night’s sharpest critique of Mr. Adams, pointing to the various times in his career when he has been subject to investigation. “You don’t pay attention to the rules of the road,” Mr. Yang said. “You’re unprincipled.” Mr. Adams generally responded to the attacks with ease, a smile, and in the case of Ms. Wiley, a note of condescension.“I really want you to understand this issue,” Mr. Adams told Ms. Wiley, before launching into an explanation of how off-duty officers sometimes intervene in crimes to good effect.Responding to Mr. Yang, Mr. Adams defended his integrity and criticized Mr. Yang’s lack of political experience in the city. Once again, crime dominated the discussion.The issue of public safety in New York City, much like in the first debate last month, dominated the second mayoral debate from the outset.The first question challenged candidates to explain whether it was possible to tackle crime — shooting incidents in the city are up 77 percent this year, compared with last year — while simultaneously diverting resources away from the Police Department, which many of the more left-leaning candidates have proposed.Mr. Adams, a former police officer who does not support cutting policing, spoke grimly about gang wars and more personally about losing a childhood friend to gang violence. Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner under Mr. de Blasio, emphasized the importance of taking guns off the street.Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, used the opportunity to attack Ms. Wiley, who is also vying for support from the party’s left flank. Mr. Stringer said Ms. Wiley served as a “rubber stamp” as chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which processes civilian complaints about the police.The debate was messy and missing substance.Most of the candidates pushed to hold the debate in person. But the format change did not appear to bring the more substantive policy discussion that the candidates and many voters had hoped for.Instead, the debate was a chaotic, tumultuous two hours in which the candidates repeated talking points they’d delivered before and attacks they’ve already honed.Mr. Adams seemed frustrated by the clashes. At one point, he complained to a moderator, “I really hope that we have the discipline to allow all of us to have the time frame that has been allocated.”Sounding similarly irritated, the moderator replied: “You have your chance now, Mr. Adams.”Garcia largely flew under the radar.With all the barbs flying between the candidates, one contender seemed to conspicuously stay out of the mix: Ms. Garcia..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;}Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams were the subject of several attacks, consistent with being seen as top candidates in the race. But Ms. Garcia, who seemed to be gaining momentum in the race following an endorsement from The New York Times editorial board and was the subject of attacks leading up to the debate, largely escaped the attention of the other candidates on Wednesday evening.When the candidates were prompted to ask another candidate a question, nobody directed one to Ms. Garcia.Only toward the end of the debate did Mr. Stringer criticize Ms. Garcia for being part of the de Blasio administration.Wiley came out swinging.Ms. Wiley, an attorney and former commentator on MSNBC, came out strong during the second debate, going after two of the front-runners and ignoring calls from the moderators to stay within the time limit.In addition to taking on Mr. Adams over guns, Ms. Wiley, wearing a bright red blazer that helped her stand out on the stage, also criticized another front-runner in the race, Andrew Yang, saying that his nonprofit was ineffective in accomplishing its goal of creating jobs. Mr. Yang promised 100,000 jobs, Ms. Wiley said, but “created 150.”In the first hour, there were moments when Ms. Wiley controlled the frenetic pace of the debate even as she frustrated the moderators by refusing to stop when asked.During a question on stopping crime, one moderator, WABC’s Bill Ritter, repeatedly tried to get Ms. Wiley to stop talking. “Ms. Wiley,” said Mr. Ritter. “Appreciate that.” More

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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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      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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      How NYC Mayoral Candidates Campaigned Throughout The Rainy Holiday Weekend

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      Because of the downpour, candidates for New York City mayor pressed their cases to voters at churches and bars, instead of in parks and on street corners.The cold rain dashed countless Memorial Day weekend plans in New York City, including those of the eight leading Democratic candidates for mayor, who were understandably eager to bump as many elbows as possible with just over three weeks before the June 22 primary.Instead of campaigning at subway spots and in parks, candidates spent the weekend in search of captive audiences. They tracked them down in churches, in bars and wherever dry spots could be found.Their messages varied in nuance, but the cold rain did not drown out one unifying theme: Post-pandemic New York City is in crisis, with a rise in shootings, increasing poverty and an exacerbated need for affordable housing.Several of the candidates made haste to pulpits in the voter-rich neighborhoods of central Brooklyn and southeast Queens to tout their wares.In East Flatbush, Andrew Yang pitched himself to parishioners at the Clarendon Road Church as an heir to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight against poverty.Dr. King argued for a version of guaranteed income, Mr. Yang pointed out — a concept that Mr. Yang cast a klieg light on during his 2020 presidential campaign. (The candidate made a point of noting that he knows Martin Luther King III, who is backing his campaign.)“This is when you probably met me, is when I appeared on your TV screens,” Mr. Yang told the congregation. “Now, you might remember this, the magical Asian man, who was saying we should start giving everyone money.”At separate Pentecostal churches in Queens, parishioners encountered beeping thermometers, consent forms and two well-funded but badly lagging first-time candidates for mayor: Raymond J. McGuire and Shaun Donovan.At Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, a majority Black church in a working-class section of Jamaica, a 15-piece live band and choir played rousing gospel to nearly empty pews, while two jumbo screens flanking the stage showed a live webcast interview with Mr. McGuire, the former Citigroup executive.It was the first of four scheduled church stops on Sunday in Queens, during which Mr. McGuire referenced his “old Pentecostal” religious upbringing and warned that New York City was facing “a crisis of Covid, a crisis of the economy, a crisis of safety and a crisis of education.” He said he was best equipped to lead the city to a place of shared prosperity.“I do not owe any political favors,” Mr. McGuire said.At Aliento de Vida, a bilingual church in Corona in an old playhouse, parishioners were greeted to a speech from Mr. Donovan, the former housing and budget secretary who is running on his experience in the Obama administration.His framing was similar to Mr. McGuire’s.New York is in a “Nehemiah moment,” Mr. Donovan said, referring to the biblical figure who rebuilt Jerusalem from ruins.Esther Beatrice Wiggins, pastor of First Faith Baptist Church in Cambria Heights, Queens, leads Raymond J. McGuire in prayer. Mr. McGuire had four church stops on Sunday in Queens.Andrew Seng for The New York TimesScott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller who is trying to revive his campaign following an allegation of sexual harassment, had planned to host his Sunday media event outdoors, in Foley Square. But with the rain pouring down, he relocated to the vaulted, Guastavino-tiled overhang at 1 Centre Street in Manhattan.There, Mr. Stringer said he would tamp down on the rise in hate crimes by educating students about the dangers of bigotry and focusing resources on hate-crime hot spots..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;}Mr. Stringer, who is running as a progressive, implicitly renounced the more pro-policing campaigns of his competitors.“We can do it without resorting to the old Giuliani-style playbook of over-policing,” Mr. Stringer said.Citing the rain, Maya Wiley had to scrap two outdoor events on Saturday at the Bronx Night Market and the Urbanspace Market in Bryant Park.She began her Sunday morning at two Black Baptist churches in Brooklyn, touting her commitment to New York City public housing, but then had to scratch another outdoor event planned for Socrates Sculpture Park in the progressive precincts of western Queens.Instead, she ended up at Katch bar in Astoria, with State Senator Michael Gianaris, who earned his progressive merit badge by helping to torpedo Amazon’s plans to build a second headquarters in Long Island City.At the bar, Ms. Wiley sampled a signature house cocktail with tequila renamed the “Mayarita” for the occasion. Over the din of more than two dozen flat-screen TVs showing a New York Knicks playoff game, Ms. Wiley and Mr. Gianaris greeted customers and well-wishers from behind the bar and served them the red concoction in stemmed cocktail glasses.It was a tougher setting than church for contemplating the city’s woes, but Ms. Wiley tried.“We had a crisis before Covid — of affordability, of systemic racism,” she said, “and what Covid did was fast-track and deepen some of the crises we already were facing.”She said the city is in recovery from the disease, but even when it is curbed, “We will still have people facing eviction. We will still have people who are hungry. We will still have a homeless crisis. We will still have a crisis of safety — safety from crime and safety from police violence.”Roseann McSorley, who owns and runs Katch with her husband, said the restaurant has hosted other women seeking office, including Cynthia Nixon and State Senator Jessica Ramos. Ms. McSorley didn’t outright endorse Ms. Wiley but said she supported the effort to put a woman in Gracie Manson, adding: “It’s time.” More