An Early Look at the Candidates in the 2021 NYC Mayoral Race

By Milo Mandelli-Valla

New York City, New York

With the 2021 NYC mayoral election approaching, as primaries occur in June, and the election takes place in November, many big names have tossed their hats in the ring to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NY), who is nearing the end of his two-term limit. Here is an early look at each of the candidates and some information on each of them:

The first group to look at is the party which has not held the office of NYC mayor since Rudy Giuliani in 2002: the Republicans. There are three leading Republican candidates in the race currently.

One is Sara Tirschwell, a former Wall Street executive who worked for asset managers like TCW, who joined the #MeToo movement in 2019 after accusing her boss of sexual misconduct. Another candidate is former police officer William Pepitone, who wants to reform the police union and fight anarchy. The final candidate is Fernando Mateo, a 63-year-old who runs a restaurant in the Bronx, and who was linked in a scandal involving de Blasio but was not charged. He is also an advocate for taxi drivers.

On the Democratic side, there are three frontrunners at the moment, though some may fade and others may rise in the rankings. The first of these is 2020 presidential candidate and Silicon Valley millionaire, Andrew Yang. Yang ran on universal basic income (UBI) in 2020, whereby Americans would get $1,000 every month. He has refined this idea for NYC, as he has a plan to give lower income New Yorkers––about 500,000 of them in fact––$2,000 each year. He has faced scrutiny over the environment of his campaign, though, which could raise red flags. Another frontrunner is Eric Adams, a former police officer who supports reforming the police without defunding it. He also believes that public schools should be open all year and has lots of government experience in Brooklyn, as president of the borough. The final frontrunner is Scott Stringer, a 60-year-old with years of government experience. Stringer believes in affordable housing and education quality, mainly focusing on younger ages.

Another candidate from the Democratic Party is worth noting, though he does not currently have as much traction as the frontrunners. This candidate is Raymond McGuire, a former vice chairman at CitiGroup. McGuire has been given support from Wall Street allies, as they want him to lead NYC in its economic recovery. He has committed to creating 500,000 well paying jobs.