The Women Running for NYC Mayor
Photo from amplifyher.nyc
This year, there are over 40 candidates campaigning to be mayor of New York City. The election primary is fast approaching this June, and this time having a woman be mayor of the city does not sound so far-fetched.
In the past, there have been women that have won the nomination. In 1997 Ruth Messinger won the democratic nomination but lost to incumbent Rudy Guliani. And just last year, Nicole Malliotakis won the Republican nomination but lost to Bill de Blasio.
Out of the 109 mayors the city has had, every single one of them has been a man. But this year, twelve women are determined to make history.
At the forefront of the race, four candidates stand out: Kathryn Garcia, Dianne Morales, Loree Sutton, and Maya Wiley. They each have different experiences and campaigns, but they are all just as determined to make this mayor’s race a memorable one.
According to her campaign website, Garcia is a New York native that just loves the city and its people. In her policies regarding police reform, Garcia has promised to “ hold police officers accountable for depraved acts, just like she held Sanitation Workers accountable for showing up on time to work,” referring to her experience as the city’s Sanitation commissioner.
Morales is the first Afro-Latina running for the nomination, and most of her experience runs from directly working with non-profit organizations. The former CEO of Phipps Neighbors, an organization helping low-income communities in the Bronx, has promised to use her experience to handle the housing crisis in New York.
Sutton was appointed in 2014 as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services by Mayor de Blasio. Among the many things in her agenda, Sutton has bowed to “Foster sustainable economic development & recovery, leading with actions to strengthen workers, families and small businesses.” Sutton would be the first openly gay mayor of the city.
Wiley is a civil rights activist and a former Counsel to the Mayor. On her website, it is stated that she is “a veteran of both the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the ACLU, was a former Legal Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC” and was also “Senior Advisor on Race and Poverty at the Open Society Foundations, the largest funder of human rights work the world over.” Some of her priorities include criminal justice and police reform, as well a transformed school system that “tackle[s] the structural inequality in schools.” If elected, Wiley would be the second Black mayor the city has had.
Diversity and addressing, as well as accurately representing, marginalized groups is at the forefront of this election’s agenda. Back in December Morales said in a forum with the three other women, “I believe it’s important to not just elect a woman but to elect a woman of color as the next mayor. We need to be committed to centering and elevating the voices and experiences of women of color.”
They have all faced issues with gaining traction and campaign donations in comparison to “big name” political candidates such as Andre Yang. But there is still time for the race to turn back around, and it is way too soon to rule out a women nominee.