Yang, Andrew (1975- )

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      As New York City Reopens, Its Recovery Will Hinge on the Next Mayor

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      The Democratic candidates are making radically different bets about the mood and priorities of New Yorkers as the city moves toward reopening after the pandemic.The signs of New York City’s recovery are everywhere: Vaccinations are on the rise; restaurant and bar curfews are ending; occupancy restrictions are easing in offices, ballparks and gyms. By July 1, Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city should be “fully reopened.”After more than a year of death and economic devastation, New York is lurching into a new and uncertain phase of recovery — and the candidates vying to be the city’s next mayor are making radically different bets about the mood and priorities of New Yorkers, and how best to coax the city back to life.As the mayoral candidates barrel toward the June 22 Democratic primary, sharp distinctions are emerging around how to address this immense task.Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate and current front-runner, has positioned himself as the city’s ultimate cheerleader in the race, and he has made accelerating the reopening of the city a central plank of his messaging. Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, describes a series of crises facing New York and promises to be a progressive mayor who will “manage the hell out of the city.”Maya Wiley, a civil rights lawyer who is particularly focused on matters of racial justice, often urges a “reimagining” of a more equitable city following the pandemic. And Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, suggests that public safety is a prerequisite for progress and speaks often of his experience as a Black former police captain who pushed for change within the system.“I don’t want to hear people say, ‘We want to have New York City be just happy again,’” Mr. Adams said at a recent campaign appearance in Queens, even as he promised brighter days ahead. “To too many New Yorkers, the city was never happy.”The matter of how the city recovers plainly resonates with New Yorkers: A recent Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos poll found that 34 percent of likely Democratic primary voters surveyed viewed reopening businesses and the economy as the top priority for the next mayor, second only to stopping the spread of Covid-19 and closely followed by crime and public safety.Eric Adams has emerged as the candidate most focused on public safety.Shannon Stapleton/ReutersThe challenge for all the candidates is to offer the right mix of experience and empathy, energy and vision, to engage a diverse electorate that experienced the coronavirus crisis and its fallout in very different ways.More than any other candidate, Mr. Yang expects that New Yorkers, after a desperately challenging year, want a hopeful mayor with a simple message about reopening the city quickly.Part of Mr. Yang’s lead in the sparse public polling available can be attributed to name recognition from his presidential campaign, but a number of veteran Democratic strategists say he has also settled on a tone that resonates with many voters eager to move on from the pandemic.“It’s the spring of 2021, not the spring of 2020, and New Yorkers are increasingly optimistic and hopeful about the future,” said Howard Wolfson, a longtime adviser to former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who is neutral in the race. “So far, Andrew Yang is the person who has best captured that sentiment.”He and his competitors agree that New York must be reopened as a more vibrant and equitable place than it was when it closed, and they are putting forth a wide range of policy prescriptions and arguments around leadership skills to illustrate how they would do just that.Mr. Yang, who says he wants to be the anti-poverty mayor, has unveiled a range of policy proposals around vital city issues, many of which begin with a simple prescription: accelerate the opening of the city and cheer on New York’s promise. On Tuesday, for instance, he urged the state to loosen restrictions on bars and restaurants, saying that reopening those establishments was “mission critical.” He has also proposed a basic income program for the poorest New Yorkers, a less expansive version of the universal basic income he promoted as a presidential candidate.But a big part of his strategy also involves attending reopening events — like Opening Day at Yankee Stadium — and declaring that New York must be open for business. He has promised to host “the biggest post-Covid celebration in the world.”The test for Mr. Yang will be whether voters believe he has sufficient managerial experience and knowledge of the city to execute the complicated rebuilding efforts that he likes to applaud. And his efforts to cheer on city businesses do not always land: He recently had a disastrous appearance before a prominent L.G.B.T.Q. Democratic organization, where participants felt that he was more focused on discussing gay bars than matters of policy.“We need somebody who’s going to steer the ship, but not overpromise — don’t tell me we’re going to be Disneyland next week,” said Donovan Richards, the Queens borough president. He was speaking broadly about the field, but when asked which candidates were striking the right balance in tone, he pointed to Mr. Adams and Ms. Wiley. He intends to make an endorsement in the coming days.Maya Wiley, right, is particularly focused on issues of social justice.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesSeveral of Mr. Yang’s rivals have argued that he is ill-equipped to lead the city at a moment of staggering challenges. Many are working to draw sharper contrasts with him, an effort that may culminate in the first debate, on May 13.A number of candidates believe that the electorate — while convinced of New York’s strengths and hopeful about its future — also wants an experienced government veteran who exudes knowledge of the political system in discussing how to navigate recovery.Shaun Donovan, the former Obama administration housing secretary, is seeking to brand himself “the man with the plan,” issuing a 200-page proposal with ideas ranging from launching a skills-based training program to facilitate employment opportunities, to creating “15-minute neighborhoods” in an effort to make good schools, transit and parks more accessible. He often notes his time working with President Barack Obama and President Biden to illustrate his ability to manage high-stakes moments for the country..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, is especially focused on promoting small businesses and combating climate change. She has pushed for a single city permit for small businesses in an effort to ease bureaucratic hurdles. Ms. Garcia is a veteran of city government who exudes affection for her hometown but is blunt in her assessment of the depths of New York’s challenges.She and other longtime officials, like Mr. Stringer and Mr. Adams, argue that deep familiarity with navigating city government is vital to managing the city’s reopening.Mr. Stringer often says that the city is facing interlocking crises around the economy, social justice and health disparities. His long list of ambitions, with accompanying lengthy plans, includes a promise for “universal affordable housing.” Mr. Stringer’s ability to make his case has been complicated in recent days by an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies.Other contenders with less campaign experience argue that they bring a fresh perspective to combating the city’s biggest challenges.Ms. Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, describes herself as an unconventional candidate with a background in advocacy around racial and economic justice. She has been highlighting “50 Ideas for NYC,” which includes a proposal to invest in caregiving, in part by paying more informal care workers, and she has proposed a $10 billion capital spending program aimed at creating jobs and improving infrastructure in communities across the city.Dianne Morales, a left-wing former nonprofit executive, is calling for a total overhaul of the city’s “system,” noting the inequality that the pandemic deepened. She supports ideas like “basic income relief for every household,” and sees matters of racial justice and public safety as core to how the city reopens and recovers. She urges far-reaching proposals like $3 billion in cuts to the New York Police Department’s budget, to be reinvested in community responses.Dianne Morales wants to cut the police budget by $3 billion.Jeenah Moon/ReutersAssessing how to discuss reopening is difficult, said Gale Brewer, the Manhattan borough president, because people have vastly different priorities depending on their circumstances.“How do you get New York City back working again and including everybody? That’s the problem,” she said. “The city’s pretty divided.”In January, Mr. Adams — who has cast himself as a candidate with a blue-collar background who is focused on combating inequality — rolled out more than 100 ideas for the city’s future. But in recent weeks he has also emerged as the candidate most clearly focused on combating gun violence. “Public safety,” he often says, is the “prerequisite to prosperity.”Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citigroup executive with a hardscrabble childhood, sometimes declares, “no jobs, no city,” as he pitches himself as the best steward of the city’s economic recovery, with a plan that he claims will bring back 500,000 jobs. And in one sign of his sense of the electorate’s mood, Mr. McGuire has released an ad that concludes, “Ray McGuire: the serious choice for mayor.”Even by 2022, the city’s future will be uncertain: Tourists may not fully return until 2025, a dynamic with significant implications for New York’s standing as a global cultural capital; many companies will adopt hybrid work strategies, blending work from home with traditional office time and threatening to permanently reshape Manhattan; and many small businesses that closed during the pandemic may never reopen.In a city shaped by deep racial and socioeconomic inequality, candidates seeking to build a broad coalition need a message and tone that connects with both white-collar workers who are overjoyed about leaving their apartments and with New Yorkers worried about evictions and unemployment.“For a large amount of people suffering in this pandemic,” said Mr. Richards, the Queens borough president, “their question is going to be, ‘Reopen the city for whom?’” More

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      Where Is the New York Mayor’s Race Headed?

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      Andrew Yang is leading. Scott Stringer is under a cloud. Their rivals are jostling for a boost of momentum.With less than two months to go until the all-important Democratic primary, the New York City mayor’s race is one of the costliest and most closely watched political campaigns in the country this year. It’s also one of the most uncertain.The businessman Andrew Yang is widely seen as the front-runner, mostly thanks to the celebrity profile that he accrued on the presidential campaign trail last year, when he mounted a quixotic run.But with a ranked-choice voting system in place for the first time, and most voters still relatively unengaged and unaware of the candidates involved, no one has emerged with a clear path to victory.“Yang is the front-runner, but a vulnerable front-runner,” Doug Schoen, a political strategist and longtime adviser to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said in an interview. “It isn’t clear to me now who will be his rival — but a rival can and may well emerge.”On Wednesday, a major wrench flew into the campaign when Scott Stringer, the city’s comptroller and the leading progressive in the race, was accused of sexual assault. Jean Kim, now a political lobbyist, said that when she was an intern for his campaign for public advocate in 2001, he kissed and groped her and pressured her to have sex with him. (Mr. Stringer denied the allegations, saying that he and Ms. Kim had had a brief, consensual relationship.)The blowback has been immediate and severe. The three female Democratic mayoral candidates — including Mr. Stringer’s top progressive rival, Maya Wiley, a former aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio — called on Mr. Stringer to exit the race. He canceled a birthday fund-raiser that had been planned for yesterday.Recent surveys have found that Mr. Stringer, Mr. Yang and Eric Adams, the relatively moderate Brooklyn borough president, are the only three candidates with name recognition from a majority of likely voters. But those polls also found that half of voters hadn’t yet picked a candidate, reflecting how wide open the race remains.Under the ranked-choice system, voters will select up to five candidates in order of preference. This could elevate a candidate who isn’t everyone’s first choice — but it could also hurt a candidate who is plenty of people’s first choice, but not as many people’s second or third choice.“It adds chaos,” Ken Sherrill, a political scientist and chair of the Higher Education PAC, said of the new system.“If we don’t watch out, we’re going to get a mayor almost chosen by random chance,” he continued, adding the caveat that over the next two months, awareness of the race may increase significantly.“The information flow about the campaign has been a trickle, because other issues have crowded things out,” he said. “As information flow increases, interest will go up and information will go up.”Ms. Wiley, who arguably stands to benefit the most from Mr. Stringer’s embattlement, faces an uphill climb. Just 36 percent of likely voters said they were familiar with who she was, according to a Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos NYC poll conducted this month.For Dianne Morales, an anti-poverty organizer and nonprofit executive who is also angling for the left lane in the primary, the barriers to name recognition are even higher: She was known by only 25 percent of likely voters, according to the NY1 poll.Asked in that poll what their major political concerns were for the next mayor to address, voters were most likely to say stopping the spread of Covid-19, reopening businesses and confronting crime. Upward of one in three likely voters named each of those. Addressing affordable housing, racial injustice and homelessness were cited less often..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}If Mr. Stringer’s star fades, it could provide an opening not only for other progressive candidates but also for some of Mr. Yang’s well-funded moderate rivals, like Mr. Adams and Shaun Donovan, a former New York housing commissioner and member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet.But as our Metro reporter Michael Wilson wrote in an article this week, the prevailing feeling for many voters right now is a lack of interest — maybe induced by exhaustion. There has been plenty of negative news coming from Albany since Gov. Andrew Cuomo was repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct in recent months. And there will be little love lost for Mr. de Blasio, the departing New York mayor, who has rarely enjoyed a positive approval rating throughout his eight-year term.After a high-stakes presidential election last year — which put the cap on four years of nonstop screaming headlines from Washington — and a year-plus of pandemic-related stresses, a lot of New Yorkers just aren’t that tuned into their citywide election. “A seemingly large portion of New Yorkers,” Michael wrote, “remain utterly disengaged.”New York Times PodcastsThe Ezra Klein Show: How Chuck Schumer plans to win over Trump votersOn Friday’s episode, Ezra spoke with Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, about how America has changed over the last 10 to 15 years, how Schumer views the extreme wings of the Republican Party, the need for big government now, and why he thinks Democrats can win over moderate Republicans.You can listen here, and read the transcript here.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 Biggest Mayor’s Race in Years? New Yorkers’ Minds Are Elsewhere.

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      Two months before the Democratic primary for mayor, arguably the most consequential New York City election in decades, many voters are focused on other things.In Brooklyn’s Church of St. Mark on a recent Sunday, Arlene Punnett, 82, listened patiently as a special guest spoke of his hardworking mother and his years as a police officer. His name was Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and he had come to seek the church’s support in his run for mayor.But for Ms. Punnett, he might as well have been visiting from a distant country. Asked later how much thought she’s given the race to elect the city’s next mayor, she held her thumb and finger in the shape of a perfectly round zero.“What can I tell you?” she shrugged. “Right now that’s not the primary concern.”Days later at a park in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, a father shooting hoops with his family noticed a woman at a pop-up lectern nearby marked “Garcia for NYC Mayor.” He struggled to name other candidates: “I’m guessing de Blasio,” the father, Bob Mendez, 38, said.Nope. The current mayor is not on the ballot. He tried again: “Yang, or something?”The next mayor of New York faces a staggering slate of extraordinary challenges: resuscitating tourism and refilling the empty skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan, bringing jobs back and the commuters to perform them, lowering crime while raising confidence in the city’s police and law enforcement. Those demands and many, many more have elevated the upcoming election — the Democratic primary that will likely decide the next mayor — to one of outsized consequence for millions of people.And yet, a seemingly large portion of New Yorkers, with only eight weeks left before the primary, remain utterly disengaged and oblivious to the race and the platforms of the leading candidates. For many, the ongoing toils of living with the coronavirus — vaccination appointments, unemployment, remote schooling — and lingering weariness from the 2020 presidential campaign have crowded out time or energy for local politics.Once again, New York seems to be telling a tale of two cities, with a mayoral race taking place in one of them while most everyone else is busy making do in the other.“They barely know that there’s an election going on,” said Ken Sherrill, a professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College and former Democratic district leader. “Who the candidates are, when the primary is going to be — that there’s going to be a primary, and how to vote in it. Towering over everything is the pandemic.”The coronavirus, besides reordering daily life for millions of New Yorkers, has eliminated some traditional sources of information about candidates and chances to interact with them. With no one working in offices, there are no water cooler moments to compare candidates with colleagues. For many, there are simply too many names — 13 on the ballot in just the Democratic primary. And there are far fewer opportunities to happen upon a candidate, say, greeting commuters at a subway station.A recent poll conducted by NY1 and Ipsos seemed to confirm the suggestions of disinterest seen on the streets. Just 33 percent of registered voters or those planning to register soon said they were certain they would vote in the June 22 primary. Among unregistered voters, only one in four intends to register in time. (The deadline is May 28.)Sandra Wharton, a counselor who attended the service where Mr. Adams spoke, gave voice to those poll numbers. “I have not been thinking about the candidates because there are so many more serious things happening,” she said, even as she acknowledged this might not be the most civic-minded view. “It’s important, who we vote for, who we elect.”In limited early polling of the race, Andrew Yang has seemingly emerged as the front-runner, with his 2020 presidential campaign giving him more name recognition than his rivals. Still, in one poll, half of likely Democratic voters were still undecided.The candidates, after weeks or longer of straining against the constraints of Zoom events, have begun hitting the streets and returning to traditional retail campaigning as temperatures have warmed and vaccinations become more available. But on busy corners, outside borough halls and inside churches and other photogenic backdrops, they are regularly met with blank faces and wait-I-know-you-from-somewhere moments.Vernon Dasher, 50, a train operator for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, leaned across his parked motorcycle outside Queens Borough Hall last week and watched a man whom he had first heard of only the day before attempt to make his case for mayor. The man, Raymond J. McGuire, a former executive at Citigroup, continued his pitch even as a nearby car alarm drowned him out.“I didn’t even know it was an election year for the mayor,” Mr. Dasher said. He has been preoccupied, to put it mildly, “hoping that the city opens up.”“Another way you could put that is: Covid,” he said.Mr. Dasher said he’d love to sit out this election — “I keep saying, ‘I’m not voting no more,’ because I don’t want to do jury duty!” — but knows he must not. “I guess there is always that thought, ‘Maybe my vote will count.’” (Also, New Yorkers are summoned to jury service whether they vote or not.)Andrew Yang speaking at an event in the Bronx last week. “The only thing I’m thinking about is Covid,” said one woman who recently saw Mr. Yang in the borough. Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesEven Mr. Yang has yet to break through the noise that is 2021 for many. Ms. Wharton, at the church service in Brooklyn, knew that one of the candidates for mayor had run for president, but couldn’t recall his name.When Mr. Yang appeared at an event in the Bronx last week, his arrival was more annoying than enlightening for Ena Farquharson, 72, a retired nurse rushing to visit nearby friends and finding the sidewalk blocked.She said she is too busy and drained to take on candidate research right now. “The only thing I’m thinking about is Covid,” Ms. Farquharson said..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The candidate Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, held a block party in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn, with performers who included Christine Shepard, 24, who first learned Ms. Morales’s name when she was invited. “We’re so oversaturated in news,” Ms. Shepard said.Nearby, Kevin Nimmons, 35, a paralegal who had been playing basketball and walked over for a closer look, said national events — the presidential election, the Black Lives Matter movement, the trial over George Floyd’s death — crowded out local news.“There are a lot of more pressing issues, it doesn’t really leave too much space,” Mr. Nimmons said. “Racism, classism, nationalism, sexism.”Another factor unique to this race is the introduction of ranked-choice ballots, where voters will choose up to five candidates in order of preference for their next mayor. “I think most people are going to be unable to rank, period,” said Mr. Sherrill, the political scientist. “They’re going to give up. And it’s not their fault. This is the wrong race to be breaking in a new system.”These overwhelmed New Yorkers, of course, bump up against highly engaged neighbors at these events, and many are following the races closely. At Mr. Yang’s appearance on Tuesday, a construction worker, Benjamin Gibs, 36, from Mott Haven, paused his labor across the street to hurry over for a closer look. He said he liked Mr. Yang’s support for universal basic income and warnings about the rise of automation.“I vote on policy, not on party,” Mr. Gibs said. “He’s clearly all economics.”Kathryn Garcia holding a campaign event at Owl’s Head Park in Brooklyn last week. “Everyone’s undecided — they’re coming out of the hibernation of winter,” she said.Hilary Swift for The New York TimesAt the event in Bay Ridge for Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner running for mayor, a lone man on a bicycle stopped outside a fence to listen. He was not just another curious voter, but a politician himself — Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate and a former councilman. He happened upon Ms. Garcia’s event on his morning ride.He said that in his experience, many voters believe it is too early to invest much time in the candidates. “It feels like they’re just starting to pay attention,” he said before riding off.Ms. Garcia also said voters typically wait until later in the race to more fully engage, and that this election was no different.“Everyone’s undecided — they’re coming out of the hibernation of winter,” said Ms. Garcia, who has actually been making personal calls to voters seeking their support — an indication of how low the turnout might be. “They get to it right as they’re getting to vote. That’s my experience. As a voter, too.”Still, for some, this election feels different. Audrey Rosenblith, 26, who was walking her dog near the Morales event, said she is normally highly engaged in local races, even volunteering for candidates. But this race just feels like too much.“It’s overwhelming right now because there are so many candidates,” she said. “Every time I try to do research, I abandon it because I get exhausted.”Juliana Kim More

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      Women’s Groups Back Wiley, and McGuire Shows His Wealth

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      The New York City mayor’s race has eight weeks to go before the June 22 primary, and endorsements and donations are beginning to help it take shape.Raymond J. McGuire, a trailblazing Black businessman who is trying to parlay his decades of success on Wall Street into a successful run for mayor of New York City, has tried to discourage comparisons to Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire ex-mayor who won office in 2001 as a Republican.His efforts to do so will not be helped by the latest financial disclosure statements, which cement the notion that he will be the wealthiest mayor, if elected, since Mr. Bloomberg.He will also have one more competitor in the June 22 Democratic primary than originally thought. Here’s what you need to know about the race:Women for WileyOf the four women trying to become New York City’s first female mayor, Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, may have the best shot: She is consistently in third or fourth place in early polling and was endorsed by the city’s largest union.Now several women’s groups are beginning to coalesce behind her.Amplify Her, a group that works to elect women in New York City, will announce its endorsement of Ms. Wiley this week. Marti Speranza Wong, the group’s executive director, said members liked some of Ms. Wiley’s proposals, including cutting $1 billion per year from the police budget and addressing the Black maternal mortality rate.“It’s not just about electing any woman — it’s about sending a woman to City Hall who won’t shy away from tackling the deep inequities in our city,” she said.Ms. Wiley was also recently endorsed by Emily’s List, which aims to elect Democratic women who are in favor of abortion rights, and by the Higher Heights for America PAC, which supports progressive Black women.Emily’s List said Ms. Wiley would prioritize the city’s most vulnerable residents during the recovery from the pandemic and noted that New York City is behind other major cities like Atlanta, Boston and Chicago that have female mayors.Interestingly, the chairwoman of the Higher Heights PAC, L. Joy Williams, is working for Mr. McGuire’s campaign. And Kimberly Peeler-Allen, one of the co-founders of Higher Heights, is the treasurer of New York for Ray, a super PAC supporting Mr. McGuire’s campaign.Ray McGuire will work for $1 a yearMr. McGuire, who left his position as a vice chairman at Citigroup to run for mayor, will still receive payouts from his former employer over the next four years, and has numerous investments in securities and various businesses, according to a financial disclosure report from the Conflicts of Interest Board.According to the report, Mr. McGuire will receive a total of $5.8 million from Citi, distributed over four equal payments starting next year.The disclosure report also revealed that Mr. McGuire received $500,000 in deferred compensation from Citi and that he also earned a minimum of $1 million in dividends, interest and capital gains from the company in 2020.Mr. McGuire has business investments valued at anywhere from $3 million to $5.4 million; stocks and bonds in more than 130 companies valued at a minimum of $9 million and a maximum of $22 million; and owns three properties in Ohio with a minimum value of $850,000 to at least $1.3 million or more.Mr. Bloomberg took $1 per year in salary, and Mr. McGuire said he planned to do the same.Other candidates also reported their earnings.Andrew Yang, the ex-2020 presidential candidate, reported earning between $677,000 and $2.5 million from book royalties, his former job as a commentator on CNN and speaking fees. Mr. Yang also expects to earn a minimum of $600,000 in future book royalties.Chris Coffey, Mr. Yang’s co-campaign manager, said that Mr. Yang will take a salary if elected.The former federal housing secretary Shaun Donovan reported no income; a spokesman said that he and his family “made a decision to dip into savings so that he could dedicate himself full time to running for mayor.” Donovan gets his public fundsOn Thursday, the New York City Campaign Finance Board gave Mr. Donovan’s campaign $1.5 million in matching public funds. But it had to overcome some initial hesitation before doing so.The week before, the board withheld the funds, because it wanted to ensure that there had been no improper coordination between the former federal housing secretary’s campaign and the super PAC supporting him — which is almost entirely funded by Mr. Donovan’s father.As of Sunday, the super PAC had reported raising $3.1 million, $3 million of it from Michael Donovan, Mr. Donovan’s father and an ad-tech executive. Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate with campaigns, and both Mr. Donovan’s super PAC and his campaign asserted there had been no coordination whatsoever. Mr. Donovan’s father, Michael, said he and his son kept their conversations to personal matters.“We are following the law,” said the younger Mr. Donovan in an interview last week.Coordination is notoriously difficult to prove. Even so, the campaign finance board wanted to do its due diligence and noted some displeasure even as it gave Mr. Donovan the matching funds.“In this election cycle, several single-candidate super PACs have been established, particularly in connection with the race for mayor, and a significant level of contributions and expenditures is occurring to and by these PACs,” said board chair Frederick Schaffer in a statement. “This development poses a particular challenge to the goals of the city’s system of public campaign financing.”Mr. Schaffer said that the board might look into amending the law and its regulations once the election is complete.Earth Day endorsements and a composting kerfuffleHe might not be leading in the polls, but Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, seems to have cornered the market on support from climate activists.Earth Day brought Mr. Stringer an endorsement from Mark Ruffalo, the actor and anti-fracking activist. Sunrise Movement NYC, a group of young activists fighting climate change, announced that it was endorsing both Mr. Stringer and Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive.Sunrise cited Mr. Stringer’s work to divest city pensions from fossil fuel, while Mr. Ruffalo credited Mr. Stringer’s opposition to hydrofracking and his governmental experience.New York City is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, and several other candidates used Earth Day to tout their own big green ideas.Mr. Yang revealed his favorite park on Twitter and traveled to a former landfill in the Rockaways, which he said should be used for solar power generation.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, said he would create a school focused on preparing students for green careers and would make New York “the wind power hub of the Eastern Seaboard.”Earth Day, like any other day on Earth, was also the setting for a political scuffle.After Mayor de Blasio announced that he would partially resurrect the city’s curbside composting program — whose demise was a byproduct of the pandemic — his former sanitation commissioner, Kathryn Garcia, issued a withering statement saying his plan would render composting a “luxury” product available only to those with the wherewithal to wade through the paperwork.“If New York City is going to lead on climate and sustainability, we need to go bigger and bolder,” she said. “We need to make the curbside organics program mandatory, permanent, and ensure equity in its design by leaving no neighborhood behind. There is no halfway on an issue as important as the fight against climate change.”A 13th Democrat makes the ballotThe field of 12 Democrats to appear on the ballot in the primary for mayor on June 22 had appeared to be set, but it will now be a baker’s dozen, after Joycelyn Taylor, the chief executive of a general contracting firm, earned a late spot.Ms. Taylor, who challenged a decision by the New York City Board of Elections that she did not receive enough signatures, will appear last on the ballot after Mr. Yang. Ms. Taylor’s campaign celebrated on Twitter, saying that she was “lucky 13!”She is running as a working-class New Yorker who grew up in public housing and is calling for ownership rights for longtime residents of public housing and for the City University of New York to be free, among other proposals.At the same time, several candidates might not appear on the Working Families Party ballot line after there was a snafu over new filing rules during the pandemic.The Board of Elections had rejected some notarized forms with electronic signatures that could affect Tiffany Cabán, a City Council candidate, and Brad Lander, who is running for city comptroller, among others, and it us unclear whether they might be reinstated.A spokeswoman for Mr. Lander, Naomi Dann, said that he was “proud to be supported by the Working Families Party,” and was focused on winning the primary. More

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      How New York’s Mayoral Hopefuls Would Change the N.Y.P.D.

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      Some candidates in the Democratic primary want to cut $1 billion or more from the police budget, while others have more moderate proposals, frustrating activists.When the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty this week of murdering George Floyd, the Democrats running for mayor of New York City, unsurprisingly, offered a unanimous chorus of support.The two leading moderates in the race — Andrew Yang and Eric Adams — said that justice had been delivered, but that the verdict was only the first step toward real police accountability. Maya Wiley and Scott Stringer, two left-leaning candidates, seized the moment more overtly, appearing with other mayoral hopefuls at a rally at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the site of many of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests.“For once, we got a little bit of what we deserve — to be seen as people who deserve to breathe,” Ms. Wiley said to a crowd, within hours of the verdict.But the candidates’ unanimity disappears when it comes to their approaches to running the New York Police Department, the nation’s largest. From the size of the police budget to disciplining rogue officers, the candidates offer starkly different visions.In the wake of the Floyd case and other recent police killings, several candidates on the left, including Ms. Wiley and Mr. Stringer, have adopted the goals of the “defund the police” movement and want to significantly cut the police budget and divert resources into social services.Another candidate, Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive who also attended the rally at Barclays, has embraced that movement more fully, calling for slashing the $6 billion budget in half and for eventually abolishing the police altogether. She and others argue that having fewer officers would reduce violent encounters with the police.But Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams, more centrist candidates, strongly oppose reducing the police force and instead are calling for more expeditious decisions on police discipline and for improving accountability.The debate is happening at a precarious moment for New York City, which is facing a troubling rise in gun violence: Last year was the city’s bloodiest in nearly a decade, and the number of shooting victims doubled to more than 1,500.Shootings typically spike as the weather gets warmer, and the coming months will reveal whether the increase in violence over the last year was an aberration linked to the pandemic or the beginning of a worrisome trend.If gun violence increases in May and June, in the weeks leading up to the June 22 primary that is likely to decide the city’s next mayor, it could have an outsize impact on the race. And it may help moderate candidates like Mr. Yang, a former presidential hopeful, and Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, who tied for first when voters were asked in a recent poll which candidate would best handle crime and public safety.Mr. Adams, a Black former police captain, has positioned himself as a law-and-order candidate, saying that he is far better equipped than his rivals to make the city safer — a key step in its recovery from the pandemic.“Public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity in this city,” Mr. Adams often repeats on the campaign trail.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, is a former New York City police captain who strongly opposes reducing the size of the force.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesMr. Adams is allied with moderate Black lawmakers who have criticized the defund movement and have argued that their communities do not want officers to disappear. Similarly, Mr. Yang supports some police reform measures but has not embraced the defund movement.Chivona Renee Newsome, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Greater New York, said she feared that Mr. Yang or Mr. Adams would not bring meaningful changes to the Police Department.“I want a mayor who will listen,” she said, someone who was “not at the mercy of the N.Y.P.D.”Calls for sweeping changes and a push to defund the police last summer led to laws banning chokeholds, limiting legal protections for officers facing lawsuits and opening police disciplinary records to the public. But elected officials did not make substantial cuts to the police budget or limit the types of situations officers respond to.“We’re long past the time where people are going to be satisfied with cosmetic reforms or some attempts that really don’t get at the root question around reducing police violence and surveillance, increasing police accountability and transparency, and basically divesting from the N.Y.P.D.’s bloated budget and reinvesting that into our communities,” said Joo-Hyun Kang, the director of Communities United for Police Reform.Left-wing activists are already applying a fresh round of pressure on the City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio to reduce police spending in next year’s budget.The death of Eric Garner in Staten Island in 2014 put a particular focus on holding officers accountable. Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who put Mr. Garner in a chokehold, was not criminally charged, and it took the city five years to fire him from the Police Department.Mr. Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, endorsed Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive who has more moderate views on policing. Ms. Carr said the next mayor would only be able to tackle police reform if the city’s finances were stabilized. Mr. McGuire supports measures like increasing funding for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates accusations of police brutality and misconduct and makes disciplinary recommendations.The next mayor and his or her police commissioner will have to resolve a host of thorny issues: how to discipline officers; whether the police should respond to calls involving the homeless and mental health issues; and how to address protests over police brutality. To put it more simply, in the post-Floyd era, what is the correct form and function of the police force and its 35,000 officers?When it comes to firing an officer, Mr. Yang believes the police commissioner should continue to have final say; Mr. Adams argues it should be the mayor; and Mr. Stringer wants it to be the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Ms. Wiley has not given a clear answer.The left-leaning candidates want to prevent police officers from responding to mental health emergencies and remove them from schools; Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams are reluctant to do so.While Mr. Stringer, the city comptroller, and Ms. Wiley, a former counsel to Mr. de Blasio and former chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, have distanced themselves from the word “defund,” they both want to cut the police budget. Ms. Wiley has suggested cutting $1 billion per year. Mr. Stringer says he would trim at least $1 billion over four years and released a detailed plan to transfer 911 calls for issues involving homelessness and mental health to civilian crisis response teams.Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, has proposed removing police officers from public schools in New York City.Benjamin Norman for The New York TimesMs. Morales has called for the most sweeping changes to the criminal justice system: She wants to decriminalize all drug use, eliminate bail and build no new jails. Two other candidates — Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, and Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary — have more moderate positions that are nuanced enough that activists have created spreadsheets to keep track of where the candidates stand.Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams have their own proposals, but activists are skeptical. Earlier this month, when Mr. Yang attended a bike vigil for Daunte Wright, a young man killed by the police in Minnesota, an organizer recognized him and grabbed a bullhorn.“You’re pro-cop — get out of here,” she said. “Boo! Shame on you, Andrew Yang.”Mr. Yang said in an interview that he decided to leave after that, and that he had spent more than an hour with the group biking from Barclays Center to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan.“I wanted to join this event in order to really have a chance to reflect and mourn for Daunte Wright’s unnecessary death at the hands of law enforcement,” he said.Mr. Yang said he supported measures like requiring officers to live in the city and appointing a civilian police commissioner who is not steeped in the department’s culture. He said officers like Mr. Pantaleo should be fired quickly. But he rejected the idea that he was pro-police or anti-police.“I think most New Yorkers know that we have to do two things at once — work with them to bring down the levels of shootings and violent crimes that are on the rise, and we also need to reform the culture,” Mr. Yang said.Andrew Yang has said that he would choose a civilian police commissioner if elected mayor.Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesProtesters were upset that Mr. Yang called for an increase in funding for a police task force in response to anti-Asian attacks. They also have doubts about Mr. Yang because Tusk Strategies, a firm that advises him, has worked with the Police Benevolent Association, the police union, which embraced President Donald J. Trump.Mr. Adams attended the same vigil for Mr. Wright, and he was peppered with questions over his support of the stop-and-frisk policing strategy. Such stops soared under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and they disproportionately targeted Black and Latino men. Mr. Adams said he believed stop-and-frisk could be a useful tool, but that it was abused under Mr. Bloomberg.Mr. Adams has offered his own ideas: diversifying the Police Department, where Black officers are underrepresented; disclosing the department’s own internal list of officers with records of complaints and giving communities veto power over precinct commanders.He also argues that he is the only candidate with the credibility to transform the force. Mr. Adams has said that he was beaten by the police as a young man and that inspired him to push for changes when he later joined the Police Department.In an interview, Mr. Adams said that it took the city too long to fire Mr. Pantaleo and he would move more quickly on disciplinary matters if elected.“I’m going to have a fair but speedy trial within a two-month period to determine if that officer should remain a police officer,” he said. “And if not, we’re going to expeditiously remove him from the agency. The goal here is to rebuild trust.”Mr. Adams wants to appoint the city’s first female police commissioner, and he has spoken highly of a top official, Chief Juanita Holmes, whom the current police commissioner, Dermot F. Shea, lured out of retirement. Mr. Yang is also considering Ms. Holmes or Val Demings, a congresswoman from Florida and a former police chief, according to a person familiar with his thinking.Mr. de Blasio has praised a new disciplinary matrix that standardizes the range of penalties for offenses like using chokeholds and lying on official paperwork. But while current leaders settled on these rules, the agreement signed by the police commissioner and the chairman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board is not legally binding, allowing the next administration to set its own policies.Many of the mayoral candidates have called for changing how the city handles mental health emergencies. Since 2014, N.Y.P.D. officers have killed more than 15 people with histories of mental illness. The city is currently conducting a small experiment that sends social workers instead of police out on calls with emergency medical technicians in parts of Harlem.As the Police Department says it is trying to build trust with the community, one recent decision appeared slightly tone deaf: bringing a robot dog to an arrest at a public housing building. The candidates criticized the use of the device, which costs at least $74,000.Mr. Adams said the money would be better spent “stopping gun violence in communities of color.”“You can’t build the trust we need between those communities and police with a robot,” he said. More

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      Andrew Yang, Looking for Endorsement, Offends Gay Democratic Club

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

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      Andrew Yang Wins Endorsement from Left-Wing Rival Carlos Menchaca

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