Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Maya Wiley

Maya Wiley

  • What's the Gap Between Progressive Politics and Communities of Color in New York City?

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    Eric Adams in Brooklyn (photo: office of Eric Adams)


    When Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams won the Democratic mayoral primary, to some it signalled a rebuke of the growing progressive movement in the city and called into question whether more left-wing candidates can win in communities of color. After recent years of electing an increasing number of progressives in local, state, and federal elections, New York City had chosen a moderate NYPD veteran and one-time Republican as its likely next mayor.

    Older Black and Latino voters flocked to

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  • How Kathryn Garcia Defied the Odds But Came Up Just Short

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    Kathryn Garcia (photo: @KGforNYC)


    When the New York City Board of Elections certified the results of the 2021 Democratic primary for mayor on Tuesday, it showed Kathryn Garcia losing to Eric Adams by just 7,197 votes. In the first citywide election using ranked-choice voting, the primary likely to determine the next mayor was decided by a difference of only 0.8%, with just over 942,000 Democratic votes cast.

    Garcia conceded the race two weeks prior, on July 7, congratulating Eric Adams for his win after she had defied virtually all

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  • Top Democratic Mayoral Campaigns Spent $69 Million on the Primary, Outside Groups Another $31 Million

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Spending on this year’s mayoral election has already surpassed the $100 million mark, according to the latest campaign finance reports that were filed on Friday. Those filings show fundraising and expenditures by the Democratic and Republican candidates for mayor, including the top eight Democratic mayoral candidates who made the televised debates, as well as independent expenditure groups, also known as political action committees (PACs), which spent for or against candidates.

    The top eight

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  • In Mayoral Primary, Spending in Support of Adams More Than Combined Total for Garcia and Wiley

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    (l-r) Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia, Maya Wiley


    Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams claimed victory in the Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, with 50.5% of ranked-choice votes after almost all absentee votes were counted, beating former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia by one percentage point. He credited “an historic, diverse, five-borough coalition led by working-class New Yorkers” for propelling him to victory.

    But both because of and in order to assemble that coalition, Adams was the beneficiary of the the second-most

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  • Max Politics Podcast: Breaking Down Mayoral Primary Results, with Bob Hardt

    Breaking Down the Mayoral Primary Results, with Bob Hardt

    City Hall (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    July 7, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: Breaking Down the Mayoral Primary Results, with Bob Hardt

    Bob Hardt, New York political director for Spectrum News, including NY1, joined the show to dissect the Eric Adams' win in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, the larger race, and what comes next.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter ...

  • Eric Adams Wins Democratic Nomination for Mayor of New York City

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    Eric Adams (photo: office of Eric Adams)


    With nearly every vote counted and the latest unofficial tallies for the June election released on Tuesday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams took a seemingly insurmountable lead in the Democratic mayoral primary and claimed victory.

    Given the city’s overwhelming Democratic enrollment advantage, Adams will be heavily favored in the general election against Republican Curtis Sliwa and is likely to become the second Black mayor of New York City. 

    The city Board of Elections on

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  • Board of Elections Releases Corrected Initial Unofficial Ranked-Choice Runoff, with 120,000+ Absentee Votes Uncounted

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    Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, and Eric Adams


    The New York City Board of Elections on Wednesday released a corrected tabulation of preliminary, unofficial ranked-choice votes from the June mayoral and comptroller primary elections, a day after an initial release that included erroneous numbers. 

    On Tuesday, the BOE published an unofficial tally that included roughly 135,000 more ballots than were cast by primary night. The extra ballots were said to be left over from a test run prior to what was supposed to be the initial RCV runoff count

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  • Board of Elections Sows Chaos in Mayoral Race with Errors in First Unofficial Ranked-Choice Count

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    Voters voting (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The New York City Board of Elections began tabulating preliminary, unofficial ranked-choice votes cast in this year’s primary elections on Tuesday, offering what was thought to be a glimpse of the possible result of races across the city even though more than 120,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted at all. But not long after the BOE published its first preliminary ranked-choice runoff in the Democratic primaries for mayor and comptroller, it became evident that errors had been made and the

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  • What We Know After Primary Night in the Citywide and Borough-wide Races

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    Mayor votes (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Though voting in the Tuesday primary has concluded, the election is far from over. Absentee ballots have yet to be counted and ranked-choice votes have yet to be tabulated. While New Yorkers won’t know the final results from election night for possibly a few weeks, there are early unofficial results available and other notable numbers to watch.

    What we know so far is the first-rank votes of those who cast ballots in person, either through early voting or on primary day. In the race for mayor, about 750,000

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  • A Mom for Mayor?

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    Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, Dianne Morales


    “A mom can just see it -- the potential, the promise, and the challenges to overcome -- so should a mayor,” said Maya Wiley, a Democratic candidate for mayor, in a campaign ad entitled Mom. It’s part of a slew of promotional material from Wiley promising to “save a generation of kids from the trauma of crime and injustice” and place her status as a mother central to the case she’s been making to voters.

    A number of Wiley’s campaign ads show a subheading beneath her name that reads: Civil Rights

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  • 'This Is The System We Chose': New York City's First Ranked-Choice Mayoral Vote Unfolds

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    Voters voting (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    As the final vote in the consequential Democratic mayoral primary nears, controversy has erupted around the new ranked-choice voting (RCV) format and the tactics some campaigns are using to wrangle votes.

    Supporters of RCV have said the system forces candidates to seek a broader base of support. But after candidates Kathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang teamed up this past weekend in the hopes of being the second-round pick of each other's supporters, Eric Adams' campaign and its

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  • What Have The Top Democratic Mayoral Candidates Actually Accomplished?

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    l-r: Kathryn Garcia, Eric Adams, Scott Stringer, Andrew Yang, Maya Wiley


    The Democratic mayoral race is the most diverse it has ever been in the city’s history, both in terms of the candidates and the records they bring to the table. In the top tier of eight candidates, there are two sitting elected officials, two former top de Blasio administration officials, a former presidential candidate, a former Wall Street executive, a former Obama cabinet secretary, and a former nonprofit leader.

    In the last two weeks, though the race remains

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  • What Is Maya Wiley's Mayoral Campaign Policy Platform?

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    Maya Wiley, left (photo: Wiley campaign)


    After months honing her public image and developing her campaign platform, Maya Wiley now embodies two distinct archetypes of mayoral candidate: she is a standard-bearer of the progressive left and the type of political hopeful that expresses her zeal for executive leadership with lengthy policy papers.

    A civil rights attorney, former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, and MSNBC commentator, Wiley has stepped into the spotlight in recent weeks as the foremost -- and most viable -- progressive in a packed

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  • Maya Wiley's School Choice

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    Maya Wiley (photo: @mayawiley)


    Maya Wiley is seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor as one of the leading progressives in the race, leaning heavily on her accolades as a civil rights attorney. Her education platform includes a number of the most aggressive and embattled proposals to integrate the city’s deeply segregated schools and she has said her position is forged by her own experience going to a segregated elementary school. But as she has sought the progressive mantle and pledged decisive action toward racial equality, Wiley has not emphasized school

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  • Can the Next Mayor Save NYCHA? Democratic Candidates Offer Varied Plans for City's Crumbling Public Housing

    Few Mayoral Candidates Offer Plans for Rescuing City's Crumbling Public Housing

    NYCHA (photo: governor's office)


    The New York City Housing Authority, home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers, is falling apart. Long plagued by mold, lead paint, structural cracks, and failing elevators, boilers, and locks, the authority of over 177,000 units in 335 developments across the five boroughs is in need of a staggering $40 billion in physical repairs over the next ten years and faces an immediate operating budget deficit of about $300 million.

    Long the victim of official

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  • With Progressive Rivals in Trouble, Can Maya Wiley Consolidate The Left in Mayor's Race?

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    Maya Wiley with supporters (photo: Wiley campaign)


    [Update: Since publication of this article, Maya Wiley has picked up several more endorsements, including from the New York Progressive Action Network and Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, which had both endorsed Dianne Morales, State Senator Julia Salazar, the Working Families Party, and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, among others, some of whom had previously endorsed Scott Stringer]

    Moderate candidates Eric Adams and Andrew Yang have been leading in the Democratic

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  • Four Democratic Candidates Get Major Matching Funds Boost for Stretch Run

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    (l-r) Dianne Morales, Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, Andrew Yang


    With under four weeks to go till the June 22 primary, the top Democratic mayoral candidates are receiving another round of public matching funds from the Campaign Finance Board, giving several of them the boost they need in the crucial period ahead. Particularly, the payout will help four candidates better compete with several of their competitors who had already banked larger sums, some of whom have been running for mayor for much longer.

    Campaigns have little time left to

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  • Where They Stand: Compare NYC Mayoral Candidates On The Issues

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     (l-r) Top: Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Andrew Yang, Ray McGuire; Bottom: Eric Adams, Dianne Morales, Maya Wiley, Scott Stringer


    The Democratic primary in the race to become the next Mayor of New York City is fast-approaching, with early voting June 12-20 and primary day June 22. With ranked-choice voting at play for the first time and voters able to rank their top five choices in order of preference, there's even more reason to carefully compare where the candidates stand on the issues and what they are promising to do if elected.

    Use the

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  • Consultants, Advisors and Staff: Who's Running the Democratic Mayoral Campaigns

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    There is no one formula for victory in the Democratic mayoral primary and the top eight candidates are running vastly different campaigns. The popularity of each candidate’s message and chances of victory depend not only on the strength of their personal appeal to voters but also their campaign infrastructure – including the tacticians, advisors, consultants, and campaign staff members who mostly go unseen but whose work informs the candidates’ policies, positions, fundraising, advertising, and

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  • Poll Shows Adams Ahead, Garcia Jump, and 'Undecided' Leading the Field in Mayoral Primary

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    Eric Adams, Andrew Yang, Kathryn Garcia


    A new poll released late on Tuesday shows Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams in the lead in the Democratic mayoral primary, with entrepreneur Andrew Yang and former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia tied in second place, though half of all likely primary voters continue to remain undecided. 

    The poll was the final of three “Pulse of the Primary” polls released ahead of the June primary election by Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics, which had previously surveyed likely primary voters in January and

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Discuss Taking on Family Homelessness

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    Shelter in the Bronx (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Tens of thousands of parents and children are living in city shelters. Some of the worst effects of the pandemic may not be felt until the next mayor is in office in 2021, when New York City and State may have to reckon with the fallout from an expiring eviction moratorium, mass income losses, and diminishing federal stimulus.

    Three of the front-runners for the Democratic nomination for mayor -- civil rights attorney Maya Wiley, city government veteran Kathryn Garcia, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang --

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Plans for Jobs and Economic Growth

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    A city resource fair (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    According to the Mayor’s Office, the city experienced a growth of 100,000 jobs from December 2020 to March 2021, and expects to gain 400,000 more to reach a total of 4.5 million jobs by the end of 2021. Even as economic indicators have been headed in the right direction in recent months -- including significant job growth -- amid public vaccination, some easing of

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  • 5 Key Takeaways from the First Official 2021 Mayoral Debate

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    The first Democratic mayoral debate


    Eight Democratic mayoral candidates took the virtual stage on Thursday for the first of three official televised debates leading up to the June primary. Over the course of two hours, the candidates offered thoughts and plans on public safety, reviving the city’s economy, school desegregation, housing, homelessness, and more. The debate was mostly civil, likely in part because of the virtual format, but candidates did occasionally lob pointed critiques at each other, previewing the direction the race may take over the

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  • 'I Am You': Eric Adams Looks to Labor for Big Boost

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    Eric Adams endorsed by 32BJ (photo: @ericadamsfornyc)


    Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has amassed a wealth of support from labor unions as he runs for mayor, competing almost solely with Comptroller Scott Stringer for the label of “labor candidate” in the crowded primary field of Democrats. It is one key part of the coalition Adams is trying to build to prevail in the June primary, and he’s hoping that his support from organized labor will come through with crucial help in the final weeks of a hotly-contested race where Adams and entrepreneur

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Talk Issues of Importance to Immigrant Communities

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    (l-r) Shaun Donovan, Maya Wiley, Andrew Yang, Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer


    At a virtual forum on Thursday night, four of the leading Democratic candidates for mayor in the June primary weighed in on issues affecting New York City’s large immigrant population, including housing, education, employment, and participation in the political process.

    Hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), one of the largest immigrant advocacy groups in the state, the forum was the first one focused solely on immigrants and was simultaneously

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