>>28330He's Christian like I'm Zoroastrian. He's a dumb, crooked cop who got lucky, running amid the first real crime wave in 3 decades that made an ex-cop not just electable but desirable. This was also the first election here with ranked choice, where a moderate has a built in advantage.
Primary-wise he lucked out as well, as a known (if untested) quantity running against two negative-charisma technocrats, Garcia and Stringer, after 8 years of the same. The only other semi-credible candidate was Maya Wiley, a hard-left academic with no government experience, best known for her MSNBC appearances where she nods her head to whatever Chris Hayes is saying.
Yes, Yang had name recognition and charm but is also a gigantic putz who is less connected to the city than most tourists on their third visit. He called a Westchester convenience store a bodega and spend most of covid in Dutchess County because his 1,800sf 2br apartment (gigantic for NYC) wasn't big enough for his 4 person family to comfortably pod within.
Primaries happened and Garcia and Wiley split the prog vote, Yang grabbed the Asians and libertarian left, and Stringer did middling single digits. The only big demo left were black folks, whom Garcia and Wiley badly misjudged as BLM True Believers who'd never vote for a cop. Turns out you can't judge a 2 million-person demographic by the 3% of bourgie hoteps among them. Mr. and Mrs. Black Regular Person don't like getting shot, mugged, or burgled any more than Joey MAGAdonuts in Staten Island. Defund the police? Fuck no — send a cop to my corner to get rid of the drug dealing thugs who hassle my kid on the way home from school every day.
Then comes the general and Adams is up against the worst Republican nominee in NYC history — nutjob cat hoarder and fake tough guy Curtis Sliwa. A Republican running NYC? Yes this is the deep blue apple but we've had 24 years of Republican mayors within my not-that-long lifetime. It can be done. Thing is with Sliwa, even as founder and head of the infamous Guardian Angels was no match for a guy who actually carried a gun and badge, rather than strut around the subways in satin jackets and berets observing and reporting.