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'Offering a New Vision,' de Blasio Will Barnstorm State

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As he eyed the exits at City Hall effective 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, Mayor de Blasio continued to tout himself as the best hope New York State has without actually announcing he'll soon be a candidate for Governor.

Making the cable-news rounds with increasing frequency as his eight years in office draw to a close, during a Dec. 22 appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," he cited his success in getting New Yorkers vaccinated while talking about his order that would take effect five days later involving "the toughest private-sector vaccine mandate in the country, because we knew Omicron was going to be a challenge and it's even bigger than we expected."

Beyond Discussion?

Alluding to the protests that mandate has provoked, the Mayor added, "Everyone needs to get vaccinated. It shouldn't be a discussion anymore. Unless you love a shutdown. You know, if you love shutdowns, then let's do the status quo. If you want to keep fighting through and get on to recovery, we need vaccine mandates and need to see more Mayors, more Governors, more CEOs turn to mandates."


A few of our stories and columns are now in front of the paywall. We at The Chief-Leader remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. You can have a hand in ensuring that our reporting remains relevant in the decades to come. Consider supporting The Chief, which you can do for as little as $2.25 a month.

He continued, "United Airlines did it, to their great credit. We found it worked here. Our public-sector workforce, 94 percent vaccinated. Adults in New York City, now almost 91 percent have had at least one dose. That's because of mandates...Let's just do it."

After co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski joked about whether Mr. de Blasio's next job should be national vaccine czar, Mr. Scarborough asked, "You running for Governor?"

The Mayor declined to answer directly, but added, "And I'll have a lot more to say in the next few weeks, let's put it that way. I'll be going all over New York State to talk about the fight against income inequality, how to help our kids get a better education. I've got a lot to say," 

'Status Quo Not Working'

When Mr. Scarborough asked whether this would be "a listening tour," Mr. de Blasio concurred, then remarked, "And also, offering a new vision of where this state needs to go, because the status quo is not working in New York State. That's abundantly clear. There's a huge inequality problem in the state that has to be addressed."

Talking of his work on that front in the city, he continued, "We've actually changed the lives of working people in real ways, put money back in their pockets. We've got to put working people first in the State of New York as well."

Should Mr. de Blasio make a gubernatorial run, it figures to be an uphill climb, for reasons that go beyond Governor Hochul having already gained the endorsements of some key unions and many elected officials.

He will be competing for votes in two of his areas of strength—among black voters and progressivesagainst Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. While he lacks the Mayor's executive experience and accomplishments in areas like universal pre-kindergarten and the vaccine mandate (which is more controversial among more-conservative Democrats outside the city), Mr. Williams, who narrowly lost in his bid to unseat Ms. Hochul as Lieutenant Governor three years ago, is more popular than Mr. de Blasio and led him by several points in two recent polls.

Personality Problems?

A New York Magazine article that appeared earlier in the week described the Mayor as less- well-received than some of his achievements when it came to popularity among voters. It noted that six months earlier, a NY1 poll found that only 37 percent of city residents who responded approved of his job performance.

Interviews with some officials who have worked with himall of whom spoke conditioned on their names not being usedsuggested he had been as difficult a boss of Andrew Cuomo, minus the sexual-harassment allegations that led the former Governor to resign four months ago.

The article quoted an unnamed agency head who said of the Mayor, "He was just so brutally mean to people."

Another anonymous adviser described him as "an arrogant ass."

Didn't Play Outside City

It is not clear that Mr. de Blasio would fare better with voters outside the five boroughs. In 2014, a year after he was elected Mayor with nearly three-quarters of the vote, he suffered a political thumping when his efforts to gain a Democratic majority in the State Senate floundered. Incumbent Republicans who were considered vulnerable in both suburban and upstate districts fought off their challengers by focusing their campaigns not on those opponents but the fact that the Mayor was backing them.

He has shrugged off questions about the odds against him winning by contending that he had trailed in the polls for Public Advocate in 2009 and for Mayor four years later before winning both those offices.   

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