Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang may have plans to run for New York City mayor.
The New York Times reported on December 11th that Yang plans to announce his intention next week. It was also reported that Yang is planning to meet city guides. City council spokesmen Corey Johnson and Yang have already met, and Yang plans to meet Al Sharpton next week.
Yang, a former lawyer and entrepreneur, was born in New York state and was one of the more progressive candidates in the presidential primaries. Yang urged a universal basic income, Medicare for All, and that every police officer in the country should be equipped with a body camera.
When Yang officially declares, he will have to navigate with no prior government experience and stand out in a deep and crowded field of radical left progressives who are doing their best to distance themselves from former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Yang recently announced that he moved to Georgia to play for Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock against David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler on January 5.
Great news #yanggang – Evelyn and I are moving to Georgia to help @ossoff and @ReverendWarnock win! This is our only chance to get Mitch out of the way and help Joe and Kamala get things done for the next 4 years. More details will follow, but let’s go !!! 😀🇺🇸🚀 https://t.co/egcdwqC1qZ
– Andrew Yang🧢🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) November 8, 2020
Outgoing Congressman Max Rose, who is losing his seat to Nicole Malliotakis, is also considering running for mayor. Nineteen other candidates have announced their intentions to run, including Brooklyn City President Eric Adams, Citigroup executive Raymond McGuire, attorney Issac Wright Jr., New York Comptroller Scott Stringer, and Maya Wiley’s former attorney for de Blasio.
Before de Blasio was elected in 2016, former mayors Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg were elected Republicans. However, that election may boil down to who is the most progressive candidate in a city that the party has largely denounced. Although the Democratic Senate and House had problems in the election, they flourished in New York.
Both Richie Torres and Mondaire Jones became the first openly gay black men to be elected to Congress after winning their house races last month.