Thread by @politico

Hi! I’m David @Giambusso, POLITICO's NYC editor. Our bureau chief, the incomparable @SallyGold, is co-moderating tonight’s debate with our colleagues at WNBC and Telemundo 47 so I’m serving as hype man for the festivities.

Here’s why the debate is so important. 🧵

Tonight is basically the last, best chance for the leading NYC mayoral candidates to make their case and for those in the back of the pack to make a splash.

@erinmdurkin, @muoiod and @madinatoure lay out what to expect: politico.com/states/new-yor…

While this is a local race involving local issues, a few factors have made it the object of national attention. For one, of course, New York is the biggest (and best) city in the U.S. and always tends to get a lot of media attention.

This is also one of the few big electoral contests in the country right now. The mayor of NYC is often called the second hardest job in America, and political junkies don’t have much else to focus on after a year of national electoral lunacy.

Another big factor drawing national attention is @AndrewYang — the affable former presidential candidate whose national following (AKA the #YangGang) has brought a lot of outside energy to the race.

But NYC is itself a symbol for the country. It was the national epicenter of the pandemic when Covid-19 first started to tear through the U.S. and the city’s recovery will hopefully herald a national recovery — that recovery has been a central point in the mayor’s race.

The city is roughly 7 to 1 Democrat vs. Republican, so whichever candidate wins the primary Tuesday will likely become mayor. Some of the frontrunners — Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang — are among the most conservative of the bunch, specifically around policing.

After decades of dwindling crime stats, shootings and hate crimes have seen a dramatic spike coming out of the pandemic and crime has dominated the mayor’s race. Many voters are coalescing behind Adams (a former cop), Yang and Garcia, who all promised to bolster police presence.

Adams and Garcia are leading the pack, according to the recent Marist poll we co-sponsored. Next is Maya Wiley, the most left-leaning of the candidates who saw a surge of late momentum as other progressive campaigns faltered. politi.co/3xpTSW3

Tonight, Sally, along w/@MelissaRusso4NY @DavidUshery4NY @allanvT47, will grill the candidates on their plans to combat crime, bring the economy back, and address persistent issues like housing and homelessness. We can’t share our questions but we've put together a great debate.

I’ve got to get back to the news, but tune in to politico.com 7-9pm to watch tonight's debate alongside our reporters’ live analysis.

You can also watch the first hour broadcast in the NY area on NBC and in Spanish at Telemundo 47.
–@Giambusso politi.co/3voR3mJ