New York City Hall Race | The end of a strange campaign

Richard Hatu
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His two main rivals, Catherine Garcia and Andrew Yang, campaigned for home expansion, forming an unexpected alliance with unforeseen consequences.

Ray McGuire, the candidate with the biggest names in rap and film, is the most annoying of the 13 Democratic candidates for mayor of New York City.

On Tuesday, they will all face each other in the Democratic primary, which decides that the successor to Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio will be disqualified for a third time, ending one of the strangest election campaigns in the world. History of New York.

For months, New Yorkers largely ignored it, focusing on an epidemic that had killed more than 33,000 people and devastated the local economy. When they showed interest, they found a group of lesser known or less enthusiastic candidates, with the exception of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who topped the election for several weeks. This was before he could prove that he was not ready to prevent mistakes and lead a city facing significant challenges.

Result: According to estimates from an early poll, the number of Democratic voters could be as high as 800,000 or 21% of registered voters. Given the fact that in a Democratic stronghold like New York, the Republican will oppose the primary two candidates, the next mayor of the American metropolis can only be elected by 14% of new voters. Yorker.

The increase in crime

According to recent polls, Eric Adams, president of the Brooklyn Borough and former captain of the New York City Police (NYPD), may be the mayor. The 60-year-old African-American athlete has made the fight against crime his main focus. Thirty-two years after David Dinkins, he may become New York’s second black mayor, thanks to an unprecedented electoral coalition, especially blacks of a certain age and whites who have homes in boroughs other than Manhattan.

The increase in crime is real. New York is still far from the 2,000 homicides of the 1980s and 1990s. According to the latest data, there have been 181 homicides since the beginning of the year, up from 162 per year. Finally, an increase of 11.7%.

The election of Eric Adams will be a monumental slap in the face of progressives in New York, who like Maya Ville, a civil rights lawyer and former legal adviser to Mayor de Blasio. The New York Left has criticized former Republican Party member Eric Adams for being too close to real estate developers and for bringing back the police methods of the Giuliani era to New York.

The media published articles questioning their part and transparency. In particular, Politico journalists confirmed that the candidate often slept in the municipal building where his office is located and that he participated in the discussions. Zoom in From New Jersey, where he had a condo with his partner.

The day after the Politico article was published, Eric Adams invited reporters to visit his Triplex basement apartment in Brooklyn. He explained to them that it was his house. Journalists reported all this with some skepticism.

Preferential voting

Another unusual sight was the last weekend of the campaign. Two of the main candidates, Andrew Yang and Catherine Garcia, held joint events on Saturday, with former promotional supporters and the former head of municipal agencies registering as a second choice on their ballot.

It should be understood that the preferential vote will begin in New York on Tuesday. Democrats can choose up to five candidates in order of preference. If more than 50% of the candidates do not get the first choice votes, the counting of votes will continue in round form as long as only two candidates remain.

Eric Adams condemned the Yang-Garcia alliance, wanting to prevent his opponents from becoming “colored man” mayors. Andrew Yang, the son of a Taiwanese immigrant, replied, “I will tell Eric Adams that I have been a colorful man all my life. ”

Eric Adams later corrected his accusation by saying that his opponents wanted to prevent a black or Latino from becoming mayor.

Meanwhile, Maya Wiley is backed by another prominent progressive, State Senator Alessandra Biagi, who follows in the footsteps of two icons of the American left, Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren. The African-American candidate has risen to second place in several recent elections.

The race result is uncertain because of the remaining questions about the composition of the electorate and the impact of the preferential vote. Only one thing’s certain: Citigroup’s former number two Ray McGuire will not be New York’s next mayor, with no offense to J-Z, Diddy, Nass and Spike Lee for their support.

The exciting organic former African-American financier campaign has never been higher.