Will AOC Tip the NYC Mayoral Race?
One last wild card in the final weeks.
Summer weather refuses to arrive, and I would pledge my vote to any mayoral candidate who would bring the season our way, even if that involved dropping a large outer-borough rodent on its head. —Matt Stieb
THE CITY POLITIC
What We Still Don’t Know About the Democratic Primary in New York
Can anything shake up the race?
We’re four weeks out from Election Day, and the primary rankings for Democratic mayoral candidates haven’t seemed to budge in months. But in his latest story, David Freedlander points to one factor that could provide some late movement in the static race — the endorsement of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. David and I chatted about the looming AOC co-sign and other last-minute developments that could mint our next mayor.
In 2021, the AOC endorsement was a huge boost to Maya Wiley’s campaign, though it almost came too late for Wiley to make use of it. Do political advisers you spoke with expect it to have the same impact this time around?
You can't overstate how important a figure AOC is in New York politics for her base of progressives. That said, I mean, I think that a lot of those folks are kind of with Zohran Mamdani right now. There’s obviously room to grow, but if she were to go with him, I think you wouldn't see the numbers shift in a huge way. If she went with Brad Lander or someone else, I think they might.
Is there a chance she pulls a Gray Lady and chooses not to endorse?
I think it's really likely that she does endorse, but I think that if she does it two or three weeks from now, then it kind of has the effect of not endorsing. The later you do it, the harder it is to have an impact — the harder it is to get TV ads on or get mail out the door.
What other Hail Marys could shift the race at this point? What about the reports of a federal criminal investigation into Andrew Cuomo?
When that came down the transom, it was almost as if it was something that Trump was doing to help Cuomo.
There was a line of thinking among some of his opponents that this is just going to remind voters of COVID and it's going to hurt him. But Andrew Cuomo is happy to talk about COVID. I mean, he talks about it in his campaign speech. Everybody I talk to thinks this is probably going to help him. There's a certain segment of voters that Andrew Cuomo wants to win over but has been a little skeptical of him — people who may feel that he’s too similar to Trump or something like that. This positions him as a target of Trump and battling Trump and probably endears him to a certain number of voters.
JUST PLANE FUN
Jeff Wise Teaches Nathan Fielder About the World
Who’s asking the questions in this Q&A?
Nathan Fielder’s latest trick — flying a commercial jet in the finale of The Rehearsal — proves yet again that the comedian can do just about anything with enough time and money. In an interview discussing the second season with New York contributor and private pilot Jeff Wise, we discover his real secret to success. Throughout their two-hour conversation, Fielder is endlessly curious, asking about words or topics he doesn’t know:
Rumbled? What’s that mean?
Orthogonal? What is orthogonal?
Okay, I haven’t heard that. I like that. Swiss cheese. I’m going to use that to describe things in the future in my life.
Learn more with Fielder below:
Click Your Way Out
Slacker’s tip: Max, or whatever they’re calling it these days, is streaming the French Open this week and next. Even if you can’t enjoy a daytime honey deuce, you can still get ready for summer tennis.