Latest news with #ZellnorMyrie
Associated Press
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Some candidates focus on blocking Cuomo's path a day before NYC's mayoral primary
NEW YORK (AP) — Their chances of becoming the next mayor of New York City may have dimmed. Their mission now? Stopping former Gov. Andrew Cuomo from getting to City Hall. In the final day of campaigning before the city's Democratic primary, candidates who are seen as long shots to win the nomination were urging voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots in the city's ranked choice election in a last-ditch effort to block the former governor's comeback from a sexual harassment scandal. 'Let's make sure Andrew Cuomo gets nowhere near City Hall,' candidate and city Comptroller Brad Lander said Monday on WNYC radio, which interviewed the major candidates ahead of the election. State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, another candidate, similarly asked voters to not vote for Cuomo, telling the station, 'We need fresh leadership, we need to turn the page and we need bold solutions at this moment.' The pitches came as Cuomo, who has been considered the frontrunner for months, has also been trying to fend off a charge from Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, would be the city's first Muslim and first Indian-American mayor if elected. A democratic socialist who got elected to the Legislature in 2020, Mamdani started the campaign as a relative unknown but has won support with a energetic campaign centered on improving the cost of living. The assault on Cuomo from fellow members of the Democratic field comes as he has continued to rack up establishment endorsements. Former President Bill Clinton endorsed Cuomo on Sunday, saying voters should not 'underestimate the complexity' for the challenges faced by a mayor. The New York Times didn't issue an endorsement this year, but wrote an editorial praising Lander and saying Cuomo would be a better choice than Mamdani, who it said was unworthy of being on people's ballots. Cuomo and Mamdani have ratcheted up attacks on each other in the campaign's final days. 'He's about public relations,' Cuomo said of Mamdani, dismissing his opponent as too focused on looking great on social media, and not skilled enough as an executive to run the city. Mamdani, meanwhile, exuded confidence, telling WNYC he is 'one day from toppling a political dynasty.' 'New Yorkers are done with the cynical politics of the past. They want a future they can afford,' said Mamdani, who was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. In a way, Mamdani and Cuomo represent the Democratic Party's ideological divides, with Cuomo as an older moderate and Mamdani a younger progressive. Their reactions to the American bombing of Iran's nuclear sites on Sunday offered more evidence of the party's internal split. Cuomo, in a statement, criticized 'the way Trump went about this without consulting Congress, without consulting the normal congressional officials' but stressed that 'Iran cannot have nuclear capability.' Mamdani released a statement that slammed Trump but quickly shifted focus back to his key issues, saying 'these actions are the result of a political establishment that would rather spend trillions of dollars on weapons than lift millions out of poverty, launch endless wars while silencing calls for peace, and fearmonger about outsiders while billionaires hollow out our democracy from within.' Cuomo, who won three terms as governor, resigned in 2021 after a report from the state attorney general concluded that he sexually harassed 11 women. He has denied wrongdoing. New York City is using ranked choice voting in its Democratic mayoral primary election Tuesday, a system that allows voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If one candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters, that person wins the race outright. If nobody hits that threshold, the votes are then tabulated in multiple rounds. After each round, the candidate in last place is eliminated. Votes cast for that person are then redistributed to the candidates ranked next on the voter's ballot. That continues until one candidate gets a majority. Cuomo's opponents have urged voters not to rank him at all and therefore deprive him of support in later rounds of counting. 'You do not have to go back to the name of Andrew Cuomo,' said Michael Blake, a former state lawmaker running in the primary. He told voters on WNYC that it was time to move on from the former governor. Eleven candidates are on the ballot in the Democratic mayoral primary. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams isn't one of them. He's a Democrat but is running as an independent. The Republican Party has already picked its nominee, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Brooklyn born and raised: NYC mayoral candidate Sen. Zellnor Myrie
The Brief New York State Sen. Zellnor Myrie is one of several candidates running for New York City mayor. Myrie represents the 20th Senate District, which includes a range of neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn. An Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey revealed that 4.8 percent of voters support Myrie. NEW YORK CITY - New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie is one of the Democrats running for New York City mayor – here's a breakdown on the senator. The backstory Born to two Costa Rican immigrants, Myrie was raised in Prospect Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and has a degree in Urban Studies from Fordham University. MORE: Meet the candidates running for NYC mayor: List After graduating from Fordham, Myrie worked as Legislative Director for City Councilmember Fernando Cabrera. He left the City Council to pursue a law degree at Cornell Law School. Myrie was elected to the State Senate in 2018, serving the 20th Senate District – he is still the senator representing that district. What we know Sen. Myrie announced his run for New York City's mayoral office on Dec. 3, 2024. MORE: 2025 NYC primaries coverage An Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey released on May 28 revealed that 4.8 percent of voters support Myrie. "Rebuild NYC" is Myrie's plan to build "one million homes" in New York City – this would entail building 70,000 homes and creating "New Neighborhoods" from underutilized land. Click to open this PDF in a new window. Myrie also has an education-focused plan that would include universal afterschool guarantee, expanded hours for 3-K and Pre-K and universal summer youth employment – an expansion on the city's current Summer Youth Employment Program. MORE: Notable endorsements for NYC mayoral candidates The senator also has a plan to specifically address Black New Yorkers: "Black Agenda for NYC." This agenda includes "tackling the racial wealth gap," as well as investing in black maternal and reproductive health and supporting small businesses, among other things. The Source This article includes information from Senator Zellnor Myrie's mayoral campaign website, results from the 2018 election and an Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey.
New York Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
10 Questions With Zellnor Myrie
In a crowded field of candidates in the New York City mayor's race, Zellnor Myrie has received some attention for his proposal to create one million homes and for his sincere, thoughtful demeanor. But Mr. Myrie, a progressive state senator from Brooklyn, is stuck at sixth place in most polls, well behind the two apparent front-runners, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and a similarly left-leaning candidate, Zohran Mamdani. Mr. Myrie has focused on his biography as the son of Costa Rican immigrants and on the city's affordability crisis, including calling for free universal after-school programs. Ahead of the June 24 primary, the leading Democrats in the race visited The New York Times for interviews. We are publishing excerpts from those interviews, and this is the eighth and final interview in the series; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. We asked Mr. Myrie, 38, questions about 10 themes, with the occasional follow-up, touching on his 'unsexy' but important work in Albany and his love for the Harry Potter books. We've written previously about his underdog campaign, his housing plan and how he was part of the slate endorsed by the left-leaning Working Families Party. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
PIX11 Special: The 2025 NYC Democratic Mayoral Forum
NEW YORK (PIX11) — PIX11 News held a political presentation for the New York City Democratic Primaries. New York City Mayor Eric Adams will not be on the primary ballot but is pursuing a second term. After federal charges against him were dismissed, he has opted to run as an independent in the general election. More Local News That leaves six other candidates vying for the democratic nomination for November's general election. PIX11's Dan Mannarino spoke with: The 2025 NYC Democratic Mayoral Forum, Zellnor Myrie PIX11 News held a political presentation for the New York City Democratic Primaries. Zellnor Myrie is running for Mayor. Watch the video player for the full interview. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Will a Federal Investigation Help or Hurt Andrew Cuomo's Mayoral Bid?
Not that long ago, an 11th-hour revelation that the Justice Department was criminally investigating a candidate like Andrew M. Cuomo would have been enough to kill or at least seriously maim a mayoral campaign. So it was something of a mile-marker in Democrats' growing distrust of the Trump administration that when news of the inquiry into the New York City front-runner broke late Tuesday, not even Mr. Cuomo's rivals could quite be sure who would benefit politically. On one hand, the inquiry appeared to echo his rivals' criticisms of Mr. Cuomo as dishonest and corrupt. It centers on whether Mr. Cuomo lied to Congress about decisions he made as governor during the coronavirus pandemic. Several candidates seized on the Justice Department's action to argue that New Yorkers should not replace Mayor Eric Adams, whose administration was upended by a federal inquiry, with a second politician who might have reasons to curry favor with Mr. Trump. 'We cannot trade one compromised mayor for another,' said Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn. But Democrats' conviction that President Trump is abusing the Justice Department is now so deep that party leaders and even some of Mr. Cuomo's critics said that being a target could help him in the June 24 mayoral primary in the nation's largest Democratic city. 'I'm not here to support Andrew Cuomo or oppose him, I'm just here to tell you this is another example of retribution and using the Justice Department for political purposes,' said Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the New York Democratic Party. 'You're talking about active, highly motivated Democrats. That's who's going to be voting,' he added. ''The enemy of my enemy is my friend' is pretty much the theory this goes under.' Those voters' views could change in time. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the inquiry into Mr. Cuomo was opened only in recent weeks by the U.S. attorney's office in Washington based on a criminal referral it received from House Republicans. No charges have been brought. Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the Cuomo campaign, denied any wrongdoing and accused the Justice Department of abusing its power to interfere with an election. The issue is especially sensitive in New York City. In February, Trump Justice Department appointees overruled career prosecutors in Manhattan to toss bribery charges against Mayor Adams after he courted the president. Among other reasons, the department argued that the September 2024 indictment had improperly interfered with Mr. Adams's own re-election prospects. (He is now running as an independent.) In March, The Times reported that the same interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia who was in charge when the Cuomo case was opened had pushed to escalate an inquiry into Senator Chuck Schumer of New York over years-old public comments about the Supreme Court. Then, this month, the F.B.I. opened an investigation into Letitia James, the New York State attorney general who has tangled with Mr. Trump in court, over her personal real estate transactions. Mr. Cuomo, 67, has faced criticism as a candidate for not being more aggressive in attacking Mr. Trump. But his closest supporters were quick to spin the investigation as a sign of Mr. Cuomo's perceived strength. 'Trump wants a mayor who will bend the knee (or be up his butt),' Melissa DeRosa, a top adviser to Mr. Cuomo, wrote on X. 'Andrew Cuomo is his nightmare come true … enter law-fare … and a galvanized Democratic base.' Paradoxically, the strategy echoes Mr. Trump's own approach in 2024, when he used the criminal charges he faced to galvanize Republican support. Still, even if many Democrats eye the Cuomo investigation as a politically motivated attack, the federal scrutiny may be a fresh complication to Mr. Cuomo's attempt to re-enter political office less than four years after he resigned as governor in the face of sexual harassment allegations that he denied. It will give his opponents an opportunity to renew focus on one of Mr. Cuomo's biggest perceived vulnerabilities: how he handled the spread of Covid in state nursing homes in the pandemic's early months. At worst, it could result in federal charges and a trial. The families of New Yorkers who died in the nursing homes have long blamed Mr. Cuomo, citing a March 2020 state directive that ordered the facilities to accept Covid patients from hospitals. They have become a fixture outside Mr. Cuomo's campaign events. The federal investigation specifically appears to involve a report Mr. Cuomo's administration produced later in 2020 that further infuriated victims' families by deflecting blame for thousands of the deaths. In closed-door testimony last summer, Mr. Cuomo initially denied having seen or reviewed the report before its release. He later qualified his denials, saying he did not 'recall' viewing it. But The Times subsequently reported, and the committee concluded, that Mr. Cuomo had not only seen the report but had personally written portions of early drafts. Zohran Mamdani, the state assemblyman running second behind Mr. Cuomo in most polls, seemed to embody his rivals' conflicting views about how to respond. 'Andrew Cuomo's career has been defined by corruption and deceit, and his lying to Congress about his Covid response is no exception,' he said. 'But Donald Trump cannot be trusted to pursue justice.'
