Crowded Democratic primary field vies for NYC mayor’s job

NEW YORK — New York City’s next mayor will face challenges as big as any in city history, including leading the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and tackling centuries of racial inequity in policing, education and health care. “I think folks aren’t really going to start tuning in until it winnows down a little bit.” In addition to Yang, serious contenders in the June 22 Democratic primary include City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, civil rights lawyer and former MSNBC legal analyst Maya Wiley, banker Ray McGuire, former U.S. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan and former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia. Bruce Gyory, a Democratic political strategist and an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Albany, said political experts “thought that the voters would be focusing on the mayoral race here in New York by Thanksgiving, and instead they’re not likely to be focused on it until the end of February or early March.” Yang, 46, who rode his universal basic income proposal to a decent showing in the presidential race, has already drawn negative media coverage for never voting in a New York City mayoral election — although he has lived in the city since 1996 — and for spending much of the pandemic in his vacation home north of the city. Other candidates include Carlos Menchaca, a City Council member representing a Brooklyn district, Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, “Real Housewives of New York” cast member Barbara Kavovit and a rapper named Paperboy Prince. Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business group, said the lack of face-to-face campaigning could hurt candidates who aren’t already known to voters.