New York’s mayoral candidates are battling for our attention

We can’t vote in New York’s mayoral elections, of course, so we’re simply hostages to whatever happens next, but I am definitely part of the Yang Gang, writes Holly Baxter

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang on the campaign trail (AFP via Getty)

New Yorkers go to the polls this week to vote for their mayor in an election which has become surprisingly heated. Four candidates – Andrew Yang, Maya Wiley, Eric Adams and Kathryn Garcia – are jostling it out at the top, and because of the city’s ranked-choice voting system, nobody will know for sure exactly who’s set to lead the world’s most famous city until mid-July. Who will be set to follow in the footsteps of such controversial figures as Bill de Blasio and Rudy Giuliani? Whose career will lead them to a media empire (a la Michael Bloomberg) and whose will lead them to an ill-fated press conference sandwiched in between a crematorium and an adult bookstore at Four Seasons Total Landscaping?

As with all mayoral campaigns, there have been photo moments and local controversies along the way as the diverse array of candidates battle it out for attention. During this past weekend, as campaigning came to a close, Kathryn Garcia did yoga in Times Square among Manhattanites and Maya Wiley hula-hooped outside Nagle’s Bagels, my local bagel store in Bed-Stuy. (I’m sorry to report that Nagle’s doesn’t actually have a very good rep in the area, and most people in the know go to BK Bagels or the Bagel Nest instead.)

Bed-Stuy – short for Bedford-Stuyvesant – is an up-and-coming Brooklyn neighbourhood which doesn’t usually host multiple mayoral appearances, but which became central to a few conversations during this particular race. At one point a couple of weeks ago, Eric Adams was accused by rivals of not living in New York City at all, and instead being a resident of neighbouring New Jersey. In response, he invited reporters on a tour of a modest basement apartment in Bed-Stuy which he said he lives in when he’s not sleeping at his office, though other outlets have reported that there is usually a tenant in that building. He also appears to own other buildings throughout Brooklyn that are populated with tenants. A former police officer, Adams claims that he keeps his exact whereabouts under wraps after an incident where his car was shot at with his son inside many years ago. The story became so intriguing, with so many twists and turns, that New York Magazine ran an entire feature titled “Where does Eric Adams actually live?” and local mag Gothamist referred to the Bed-Stuy tour as “surreal”.