Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Mayor 2021

Mayor 2021

  • How 2021 Mayoral Candidates Have Responded to the Coronavirus Fallout and Cries for Police Reform

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    New York City Hall (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    New York City has slowly turned the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic and has just begun the first phase of reopening its economy. But despite the last few weeks of success in curtailing the public health crisis, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s leadership has left many frustrated and looking elsewhere. He has been criticized for providing too little clarity and few plans to the public about various health, social, and economic pieces of the city’s larger recovery puzzle, often proving reactive

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  • Stringer Takes Veiled Shot at Johnson: Being Mayor 'Not About Dancing Around'

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    Scott Stringer, center, with Corey Johnson, left (photo: @NYCComptroller)
    (photo below: John McCarten/City Council)


    With just over a year until the 2021 Democratic primary that will likely decide who becomes New York City’s next mayor, one of the leading contenders, Comptroller Scott Stringer, in a recent interview took an unmistakable jab at another, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, while previewing his argument that he is best suited for the job.

    Stringer has had his eye on the mayoralty for years and is finally making his run,

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Brooklyn BP Eric Adams on the City's Coronavirus Response

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    Brooklyn BP Eric Adams handing out information (photo: @BPEricAdams)


    May 06, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Brooklyn BP Eric Adams on the City's Coronavirus Response

    Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams returned to the show to discuss the city's response to the coronavirus crisis, what he's seeing and doing on the ground in Brooklyn, what lessons have already be learned, and what should be done in the months ahead.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter ...

  • How 2021 Mayoral Candidates Have Initially Responded to Coronavirus Crisis One Will Inherit

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    Three of the leading 2021 mayoral candidates (photo: Gotham Gazette)


    It took merely three weeks from the first case of the coronavirus being confirmed in the city to thousands of New Yorkers testing positive for the virus. The scale of the outbreak has presented an emergency of a scope that the city has perhaps never before faced. The aftermath of the crisis will be felt well into the future and in 2022, the effects it will have on the city’s people, its economy, and its politics will be inherited by whoever takes the helm at City Hall.

    Next year, Mayor Bill de Blasio will in

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  • Corey Johnson: Master Planner?

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    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    New York City doesn’t have a comprehensive plan for the future. There is no single guiding document that determines how housing will be built over the next decade, for example, overlaid with a strategy for meeting infrastructure needs like transit options and school seats, with unifying visions for social services and economic development. But such planning should exist, according to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who is making several moves toward the type of planning that has mostly

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  • Contrasting Herself with Former Boss Bill de Blasio, Loree Sutton Runs to be ‘Quality of Life’ Mayor

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    Former veterans commissioner Loree Sutton (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Loree Sutton knows Mayor Bill de Blasio well, having been hired by him as commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services, and she’s now running to succeed him on a platform of bringing a very different leadership style atop city government.

    “I saw things to continue to deteriorate in our city, the quality of life and all that we see around us in the city, I kept looking for who is the common-sense candidate, the passionate pragmatist, the person that

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  • 'Go Big or Go Home': Dianne Morales Goes for the Top Job in New York City

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    Dianne Morales, mayoral candidate, at the Women's March (photo: @Dianne4NYC)


    Dianne Morales, a Brooklyn native and, until recently, nonprofit executive, has never run for elected office before but is seeking to become the next mayor of New York City.

    “I grew up in this city and spent my last 30 years helping communities to overcome poverty through a variety of different ways,” Morales said during a recent appearance on the Max & Murphy

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Mayoral Candidate Dianne Morales

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    Mayoral candidate Dianne Morales at a recent event (photo: Dianne.nyc)


    February 5, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Mayoral Candidate Dianne Morales

    Dianne Morales joined the show to discuss her candidacy for Mayor of New York City. Running in the 2021 Democratic primary, Morales recently stepped down from her long-time job as CEO of Phipps Neighborhoods in the Bronx to campaign full-time. On the show, she discussed the reasons she decided to run and what her campaign will focus on, among other things.

    Listen to the

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Mayoral Candidate Loree Sutton

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    (photo: Mayor's office)


    February 5, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Mayoral Candidate Loree Sutton

    Loree Sutton, a retired brigadier general and recently-departed commissioner of the city's Department of Veterans' Services, joined the show to discuss her campaign for mayor. Sutton, running in the 2021 Democratic primary, discussed the reasons she's running, her critiques of Mayor de Blasio, and much more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter ...

  • January 2020 City Campaign Cash Roundup: Races for Mayor, Comptroller, Borough Presidents

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    (photo: Mayor's Office)


    Candidates running for local office filed their latest campaign finance disclosures with the New York City Campaign Finance Board this week, showing their fundraising and expenditures from the last six months, and cumulative numbers for the 2021 election cycle.

    Next year’s election is shaping up to be highly competitive and consequential, with two of three citywide elected officials, four of five borough presidents, and 35 of 51 City Council members facing term limits. The city will elect a new mayor and comptroller for the first

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Comptroller Scott Stringer

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    Comptroller Stringer (photo: @NYCComptroller)


    November 20, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Comptroller Scott Stringer

    City Comptroller Scott Stringer returned to the show to discuss various aspects of the work his office has been doing and various issues facing the city, touching on affordable housing, child care, NYCHA, and much more. The comptroller repeatedly criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio's management of city government and previewed his pitch for his 2021 mayoral campaign.

    Listen to the conversation and

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Staten Island Borough President James Oddo

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    Staten Island BP James Oddo (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photo Office)


    October 28, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Staten Island Borough President James Oddo

    Outspoken Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, a Republican, joined the podcast to discuss a wide range of topics, from the status of his constituents seven years after Superstorm Sandy to how well his borough is prepared for the next big storm, from housing and development on the island to what he thinks is needed to make New York City government run

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  • As City Council Vote Nears, Leading Mayoral Contenders Clarify Positions on Jails Plan They May Have to Implement

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    De Blasio, Johnson, Ayala & others at Rikers announcement (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    The plan to close the Rikers Island jails and replace them with four borough-based facilities has sped through the city’s land use process and is awaiting approval from the New York City Council, prompting both support and rebukes from criminal justice reform activists and those who prefer to keep most city detainees on the island. If it passes at the scheduled October 17 vote, full implementation of the plan will fall in the hands of a future mayor, perhaps two,

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  • Eric Adams Plans to Put Public Health on the Menu in the Next Race for Mayor

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    Eric Adams with healthy food people (photo: @BPEricAdams)


    Eric Adams, Brooklyn’s borough president since 2014, can always count on one place for good reviews: vegan magazines and websites.

    Forks Over Knives, an organization dedicated to plant-based diets, collaborated with Adams for a 2018 mini-documentary about his lifestyle. ...

  • National Group Trains Staff for Local Progressive Campaigns, Drawing Mayoral Contenders

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    (photo: @arenasummit)


    In last year’s state elections, several progressive first-time candidates emerged as Democratic primary challengers to members of the State Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference, an erstwhile bloc of more moderate Democrats who had long been seen as a roadblock to reform on many fronts. Most of the IDC challengers were successful and some of their campaigns were aided in part by Arena, a group that launched after the 2016 presidential election and now aims to train the next generation of Democratic campaign staff.

    For three

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  • ‘This Town Needs a Woman Mayor’: Alicia Glen Isn’t Ruling Out a 2021 Run

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    former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    While she insists she has no intention to run at this time, former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen is not ruling out a campaign to become New York City’s next mayor, and says the city needs a woman in charge after her former boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, is term-limited out of office at the end of 2021.

    “Right now I have no plans to run for mayor because I think that the constant speculation about who’s running for mayor sort of distracts from what the real issue is,” she

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  • Corey Johnson's Big Small-Dollar Bet

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    Council Speaker Corey Johnson (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s expected mayoral campaign is based in part on a big small-dollar gamble.

    When Johnson announced in January that he was exploring a bid for mayor – he hasn’t made it official yet – he set a $250 limit on all campaign contributions, far below the maximum possible limit of $5,100. And though the latest campaign finance disclosures show him outpacing his three likely Democratic primary opponents in the number of donations he

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  • Scott Stringer Has a Plan for That

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    Comptroller Scott Stringer (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer has made no secret of his plans to run for mayor in 2021, when both he and Mayor Bill de Blasio will be term-limited out of their current positions. And the outline of his mayoral policy platform is already hiding in plain sight.

    After briefly entering the 2013 mayoral campaign before shifting to a first successful run for comptroller, Stringer has spent a long

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  • Eric Adams on Criminal Justice Reform, NYCHA Development & 2021 Controversy

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    Eric Adams (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    During a recent interview, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams discussed a number of pressing topics, including the end of the legislative session in Albany, criminal justice reform and plans for a larger jail in downtown Brooklyn, controversy around campaign finance reform that is heating up the 2021 mayoral race, which Adams is a part of, and more.

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  • Council Passes Campaign Finance Bill Roiling Early Mayoral Race

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    Council Members Kallos, left, & Rodriguez, right, with Speaker Johnson (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    The City Council passed a much-anticipated, controversial campaign finance bill Thursday, raising the cap on how much public funding a campaign can receive and altering other dynamics of the city’s matching system. The bill -- the source of significant consternation over the past several days, particularly among likely 2021 mayoral candidates - passed by a vote of 41-6, with one abstention, and three absences.

    The legislation, which Mayor

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams

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    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    June 12, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams

    Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams joined the show to discuss a wide range of topics, from his city budget priorities to addressing NYCHA's financial needs, criminal justice reform, a campaign finance controversy swirling around the City Council and the 2021 race for mayor, and more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter ...

  • With 500 Candidates Expected for 2021 Election Cycle, Campaign Finance Board Starts Early Outreach

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    (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    The city’s Campaign Finance Board is gearing up for what is likely to be the biggest and most competitive municipal election in its 30-year history. In 2021, 35 of the City Council’s 51 incumbents, as well as the mayor, comptroller, and all five borough presidents, will be ineligible for reelection due to term-limits, providing an inviting playing field for dozens upon dozens of candidates to seek elected office, whether for the first time or in pursuit of a promotion.

    Some candidates have already filed with the Board to

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: City Council Speaker Corey Johnson

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    Speaker Johnson with Max & Murphy at City Hall (photos: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    April 10, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: City Council Speaker Corey Johnson

    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson joined Max & Murphy for an extended, wide-ranging onversation about his leadership of the City Council, his relationship with Mayor Bill de Blasio, city budget negotiations, housing and transit policy, and much more. The converstion also included a discussion of the speaker's exploration of a run for mayor in the 2021

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  • Where Top Officials Stand on the SHSAT and Specialized High School Admissions

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    Mayor de Blasio announces specialized high schools plan (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    In June of 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio rolled out a plan to eliminate the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) for New York City’s specialized public high schools, in an effort to increase diversity, especially for black and Latino

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  • What's The [Data] Point? 5, with former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 69 -- 5, with former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen[You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    Alicia Glen was Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development under Mayor Bill de Blasio for more than five years, until she recently left the administration after being the chief architect of its signature affordable housing plan, a broad variety of economic development initiatives, and more. Glen joined the podcast (for the second

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