City Gears Up for High Stakes Mayoral Primary in June
As Bill DeBlasio’s(right) term comes to an end, a diverse field of Democratic candidates(left) views in this year’s mayoral race to fill his office.
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Lucia Zambetti
Bill de Blasio, the current Democratic mayor of New York City, is term-limited, so there will be an open mayoral race for the first time in eight years. More than a half-dozen Democrats are running for their party’s nomination. Due to the city’s liberal voting history, whoever wins the Democratic primary in June is widely expected to win the general election on November 2, 2021.
Off-year elections tend to be defined by limited media buzz and low voter turnout. Many Americans do not pay attention to local city elections. However, in New York City, a metropolis with a population larger than many U.S. states, the mayoral race is pivotal. As seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, New York City’s mayor plays a vital role in ensuring the health, education, and economic well-being of New Yorkers. As the nation continues to recover from the pandemic, our city will be tasked with electing a new leader that has the courage to handle these crises.
Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur and former 2020 presidential candidate, is the current frontrunner in the New York City mayoral polls. He gained national attention with his proposal for a universal basic income, and if elected mayor, he has vowed to enact a version of this on a city-wide level. Yang has gained endorsements from the AAPI Victory Fund and Representative Ritchie Torres.
Eric Adams, Brooklyn Borough President, has been running as a close second to Yang in the polls. Adams has earned the support of the Transport Workers Union and DC37, which is New York City’s largest public-sector union.
Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley, an MSNBC legal analyst, has not performed as well in public polling as Yang or Adams. However, the former ACLU and NAACP lawyer has received a recent endorsement from EMILY’s List, a political action committee that endorses female candidates who support abortion rights.
Shaun Donovan, who served as the Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary and Office of Management and Budget Director during the Obama Administration, has also been trailing in the polls.
Other candidates include Kathryn Garcia, the former Commissioner for the NYC Sanitation Department; Ray McGuire, a distinguished former Wall Street executive; Dianne Morales, the former CEO of Phipps Neighborhood, an organization that provides education services and economic development resources for those in poverty; and Scott Stringer, New York City Comptroller and former Manhattan Borough President.
It’s critical that voters are familiar with all of these candidates, not just their favorite, since in 2019, 73.5% of New Yorkers approved a ballot initiative instituting ranked-choice voting, which will be implemented for the first time this year. Voters will rank their top five candidates in order of preference. If one candidate does not receive a majority of first-choice votes, the vote counting will occur in rounds. The candidate in each round with the fewest votes will be eliminated, and those who voted for eliminated candidates will have their vote go to the candidate they next prefer. This process will continue until only two candidates are remaining. At that point, whichever candidate has the most votes will win. Due to this new voting system, an upset could occur.
These candidates are vying for the votes of what is expected to be a diverse electorate. According to polling from Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics, those showing up to the polls to vote in the Democratic primary will be 36% White, 33% Black, 20% Latinx, and 6% Asian. Consistent with recent elections, women are expected to outnumber men by making up 61% of primary voters.
Hoping to increase voter turnout, election officials have expanded ballot access. In addition to election day voting, New Yorkers can vote early and find their precinct on the Board of Elections website. Early voting will begin ten days before June 22, the date of the primary, and will end the Sunday before the election.
The last time there was an open primary for mayor, in 2013, primary turnout was a mere 24% of the city’s population. The primary this year is expected to have a similarly low turnout, so candidates are doing things such as making personal phone calls, spending millions on television advertisements, and visiting local churches to galvanize their supporters to get out to the polls. As New York City is the home of the Riverdale campus, be sure to stay engaged as the election progresses throughout the coming months by visiting the NYC Mayoral Race section of the New York Times or by viewing Politico’s article on “The Race for City Hall.”
