“Oh, Tupac!” Curtis Sliwa says, noticing a man’s shirt on 125th Street in Harlem. “You know Assata Shakur, Joanne Chesimard… she was his kin. I have Guardian Angels in Baltimore. I know a lot of his kinfolk.” “Black people, Latin people — we support you,” says a Dominican man in a Malcolm X shirt. “God bless you my brother, we support you.

Zohran Mamdani passes a giant Times Square billboard showing the odds for the mayoral race, with him at just 23%.
“Gambling is haram,” he jokes. Would he support a casino in Times Square? “My general position is in opposition to casinos at large,” he says. “I also know that it’s not the city which decides which casino gets the permit.”
No, he’s never been to Resorts World in Queens. “They brought Nas to Albany,” he notes.

Candidates get to ask each other questions tonight. But… they’re cheating a bit.

Mamdani asks Lander what’s the worst thing that Cuomo did?
Lander asks Stringer why’s he think Cuomo is going soft on Trump?
Stringer asks Mamdani how Adams & Cuomo messed up Albany-NYC relations. Should Hochul be the Dem nominee in '26?
@ZohranKMamdani “Inshallah”
@BradLander: “There's gotta be a Democratic primary to make that decision."
@ScottMStringer: "Kathy has a good record… but let’s see who the opponent is. Could be Andrew Cuomo.”

Jhoan Boada, the immigrant who put up middle fingers after being arrested for the Times Square cop beating - *was not there at all* Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's office said today. Exonerated and complaint dismissed.
The image tore up Fox News, and was in at least one pro-Trump ad.

Boada's lawyer said wasn't involved, and Bragg didn't ask for bail, because the office wasn't confident that it was him in the fight. *Many,* including Hochul, argued Bragg should've been tougher. Today, they say it would've met jailing an innocent person. nydailynews.com/2024/01/31/nyp…

Pro-Palestine activists are rallying outside the Shomer Shabbos Somos event - hosted by the UJA, Met Council and Chabad of Puerto Rico. They audio is VERY loud - you can hear it across the laguna at the Caribe. The Friday night Jewish event hosted by @NYCGreenfield is always one of the biggest and best attended of the whole Somos conference. cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/…

NYPD did NOT show up to testify at a Council oversight hearing of the SRG, but submitted a written statement, @KamillahMHanks says.
This was postponed twice already: cityandstateny.com/politics/2023/… In short:

Sam Bankman-Fried (openly) funded the Protect Our Future super PAC. In NY, it backed Josh Lafazan #NY03, Laura Gillen #NY04 and Francis Conole #NY22.
SBF groups spent on Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, too, and endorsed Rep. Ritchie Torres (#NY15) and Max Rose.
cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/… Bankman-Fried also donated millions to other groups, e.g. Dem-backing Senate Majority PAC. And there was apparently a lot of dark money we don't even know about. But Protect Our Future seems like one where SBF and/or his brother picked who to support.
opensecrets.org/outside-spendi…

These photos were posted with a purpose 👀

https://twitter.com/carolynbmaloney/status/1527471249693282304

Few to no policy differences. Low-ish stakes since the winner will retire soon anyway. Two iconic New Yorkers. This Nadler/Maloney race could be four months of pure political entertainment.

First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo is speaking at a @CBCNY breakfast. “The mayor has a theory, it’s not how much you spend, it’s how you spend it.” “I’m at the tail end of getting over COVID, so there’s a brain fog here,” Grillo says.
The mayor himself also tested positive for COVID on Sunday and is still isolating at Gracie.
Speaker Adams also had COVID earlier this month.

Who will be Hochul's next LG? Problem is, it'll probably only last seven months. cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/… One option? Seeing if Democratic candidates Diana Reyna or Ana María Archila want it.
Another? Picking somebody already in the administration, like Robert Rodriguez, or Kathryn Garcia. cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/…

The state’s next lieutenant governor? @AnaMariaforNY Archila: “Governor Hochul said that she was bringing in a new day in Albany. That she would be a breath of fresh air... she chose not to protect the public trust in the vetting of her lieutenant governor… Today is a sad day.” The LG and Gov run separately in the primary, but together in the general. “If I win the primary, I will work with the person who wins the primary in the governor’s race,” Archila said.

Curtis Sliwa arrives to vote, carrying one of his cats, Gizmo. How are you feeling? “Physically, not good. I’m in a lot of pain,” @CurtisSliwa says, after he was hit by a cab on Friday. But says that pales in comparison to the pain of city workers (who declined to get vaccinated) and are out of a job.

Just witnessed an incredibly boneheaded, impossibly naïve performance from @NYCMayor Bill de Blasio tonight at the We Love NYC Homecoming concert. Just got home, soaking wet from the show cancelled due to rain and lightning. 1/? Seconds before Don Lemon introduced Barry Manilow, there was a flash of lightning in the sky. Lemon doesn’t mention it and Manilow plays Copacabana while raindrops start to fall. Then Manilow’s sound gets cut + an official voice announces that people gotta leave. Severe weather.

After close to a year on the Upper West Side, men are being moved out of The Lucerne Hotel this morning. For the previous year, elected officials have shown up at almost every one of those press conferences supporting the hotel residents. But post-election, nobody’s here today ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (There is a deputy public advocate representing Jumaane Williams’ office but that’s it)

Two sources with knowledge of the announcement tell me state Sen. John Liu, the first and only Asian-American elected citywide, will be endorsing Andrew Yang for mayor tomorrow morning. Great article in @Curbed on Friday on some of the dynamics behind this big endorsement.
curbed.com/2021/05/chines…

“Major” Yang endorsement tomorrow and I have absolutely no idea. As much as I hope it’s the surviving members of Linkin Park, I guess I’ll guess... Brad Hoylman? Team Hoylman, btw, says it is not Hoylman.

I am at the Andrew Yang versus Paperboy Prince basketball game. Gale Brewer is here too. Yang and Prince talk about spreading love in a time of increasing hate crimes. Yang says this is a good example of the power of ranked-choice voting.

At @ABetterNY, @ScottMStringer not so artfully tries to connect Yang’s criticism of UFT with his spending time in New Paltz during the worst of the pandemic. “He clearly doesn’t understand what so many went through” and implied he doesn’t “show respect” for teachers. Stringer accuses Yang of trying to “score cheap political points” on criticizing UFT and well... both teams are playing a game right now.

A source says @AndrewYang and @TwuSamuelsen just had lunch together, as the endorsement courtship continues between Yang and the transit workers union. TWU President John Samuelsen turned some heads with his nice tweet about Yang last week. Would be quite a notable endorsement, since Yang hasn’t picked up any real labor support* yet.

https://twitter.com/TwuSamuelsen/status/1369443321106624516

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Rev. Sharpton knows show business - so @AndrewYang gets the *first* in-person speaking spot at NAN’s MLK Day celebration. Yang talks about knocking doors in Georgia with MLK III, who just formally endorsed Yang’s mayoral campaign today.