MANHATTAN (CN) – One poll showed him as the only Democrat with a net negative approval rating. Another placed him last among New York politicians whom respondents wanted to run for president, and his hometown newspaper ran an editorial describing his likely presidential bid as an ethical quagmire.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was not deterred, announcing his candidacy this morning in a video released by his campaign.
"There's plenty of money in this world. There's plenty of money in this country. It's just in the wrong hands," de Blasio says at the video's start.
He concludes: "I'm running for president because it's time we put working people first."
Showing that his political ambitions extended far beyond re-election, the two-term mayor made himself 23rd presidential contender on Thursday, in a race that only made room for 20 candidates in the political debates.
De Blasio’s entrance, while a head scratcher for many, was not a surprise. The mayor has been collecting donations from presidential political action committee, the federal Fairness PAC, since last year, and The New York Times showed that a Boston-based construction executive hosted a fundraiser for the mayor last month.
That executive, Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish, may be eyeing an expansion of his business to New York, troubling the paper’s editorial board.
The Times noted that the report was not the first time donations to de Blasio had raised eyebrows. New York federal prosecutors once cited a Supreme Court decision weakening anti-bribery laws in explaining why they did not charge him after a donor to his first mayoral campaign pleaded guilty to corruption. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance commented at the time that de Blasio violated the “intent and spirit,” if not the letter, of campaign-finance laws.
After a recent shake-up in his staff, de Blasio will be plowing ahead without one former communications director experienced in upending expectations in a presidential campaign. Mike Casca, a veteran of the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016, left his job early this month.
Straining his relationship with the Democratic establishment, de Blasio withheld his endorsement in the party’s 2016 primary race.
De Blasio’s entrance sharpens contrasts with the other mayor in the race, Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana. In a local outlet City & State New York, ex-Barack Obama staffer Kate Albright-Hanna noted that while Buttigieg chose to repair or demolish 1,000 vacant houses in 1,000 days, an initiative that inadvertently roped in poor residents of color living in homes marked unoccupied, de Blasio implemented plans for affordable housing, education and child care, through programs such as universal pre-K.
The slogan that first propelled de Blasio into Gracie Mansion hammered themes of wealth inequality: “A Tale of Two Cities.”
De Blasio revisited this messaging in his campaign announcement, saying: “It doesn’t matter if you live in a city or a rural area.”
“It doesn’t matter if you live in a big state or a small state,” he continues, as the footage shifts from the New York City skyline to images of factories and farms. “It doesn’t matter if you live in a big state or a small state. People in every part of this country feel stuck or even like they’re going backwards, but the rich got richer.”
New York City’s Independent Budget Office found in 2017 that this trend endures in the Big Apple, despite the mayor’s rhetoric.
President Trump snidely greeted the news of de Blasio’s entrance on Twitter.
“The Dems are getting another beauty to join their group,” Trump wrote. “Bill de Blasio of NYC, considered the worst mayor in the U.S., will supposedly be making an announcement for president today. He is a JOKE, but if you like high taxes & crime, he’s your man. NYC HATES HIM!”
