Inside the mad dash for New York mayoral endorsements

Andrew Yang was mulling a run for New York City mayor last fall when he reached out to a labor union with proven political clout to introduce himself.

During the chat the president of the Hotel Trades Council, Rich Maroko, let slip that his daughters supported Yang’s unconventional presidential bid, so the mayoral hopeful decided to surprise them in December with a brief video extolling their father and wishing them a happy holiday, according to someone familiar with the recording.

The friendly gesture began Yang’s courtship of the union, which recently interviewed candidates in the crowded Democratic field as it seeks a municipal leader at a time of unparalleled crisis for its roughly 40,000 members. Even as it struggles financially, due to the bottoming out of the city’s tourism industry, the hotel workers union remains among the most coveted labor endorsements for Democrats seeking to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio.

As they participate in nightly candidate forums and compete for attention on policy rollouts ahead of the June 22 primary, a less visible race is underway for the 10 or so viable candidates: The fight for high-profile endorsements that can serve to validate first-timers, inoculate establishment politicians from common criticisms and offer undecided voters some direction in the race.

“I gotta change my phone number, ’cause somehow my phone number got out,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew joked in a recent interview, describing the frequency of outreach from the candidates.

Rev. Al Sharpton, the well-known civil rights activist, said five leading candidates reach out two or three times each week. “They call and ask me how I’m doing, call and ask about whatever issue I’m working on,” Sharpton said on Wednesday. “We’ve been in this long enough to know why they’re really calling.”

In a multicandidate primary that will debut a system allowing voters to rank up to five candidates rather than select just one, endorsements have taken on increased importance this year.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer announced his candidacy with a multi-racial coterie of young, progressive upstarts who could build excitement around a conventional politician before announcing the backing of one of his closest political allies, Rep. Jerry Nadler.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams kicked off his virtual campaign with remarks from Daneek Miller and Laurie Cumbo — City Council members who represent voter-rich districts in Queens and Brooklyn.

And attorney and MSNBC commentator Maya Wiley was joined at her launch by Michael Gianaris, a state Senate leader whose support was intended to signal the first-time candidate’s ability to forge alliances in the impenetrable state capitol.

But many of the most desired endorsements are still unclaimed, leaving the candidates in a mad dash to secure them — all while their aides often downplay the connection between insiders and voters.

Among the most sought-after backers are the Working Families Party, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and 1199SEIU, which represents 400,000 health care workers and retirees. A spokesperson for that union declined to comment, but the organization is believed to be considering Wiley, who is being advised by its former political director, Patrick Gaspard.

The union was one of the only major endorsements de Blasio received during his primary bid in 2013, and its backing helped lift the cloud of despair that had been hanging over his candidacy at the time.

Candidate screenings for other prominent unions are getting underway.

People involved in the process said 32BJ SEIU, which represents building service workers; District Council 37, the city’s largest municipal union; the United Federation of Teachers; and the Hotel Trades Council are partial to the familiarity of Stringer and Adams. But they say the unions have not discounted Wiley, despite a noncommittal answer during a recent screening over whether she would join workers in a picket line and her alliance with the city’s former labor commissioner, Bob Linn, who has rankled some of their leaders.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose star power eclipses the rest of the city’s congressional delegation, has signaled she is unlikely to endorse in the race anytime soon, according to several people involved in the election. Her spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

And the Democratic Socialists of America, which is aligned with Ocasio-Cortez and has worked to propel political newcomers to legislative victories in recent years, is also planning to sit out the race to instead focus on a City Council slate, several people involved in the organization have said.

“I guess it’s kind of cool folks are putting me on that list. I don’t really think about it like that,” Williams said in a recent interview. “Getting a lot of candidates who are reaching out. Happy to talk to folks — anyone that calls actually.”

Williams, who won a citywide race with support from older Black Democrats in Central Brooklyn and younger progressives across the city, said he has yet to decide whether to back any mayoral contender.

He said he is hoping to “frame the narrative” on police reform and an increase in shootings and wants a candidate who balances management credentials, progressive values and political courage.

“I don’t know that anyone has encapsulated that quite yet,” he said.

Williams’ political positions mirror those embraced by Stringer, Wiley and Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive. But he counts Adams, an ex-cop and political centrist, as a friend and is pleased with the attention the borough president has paid to increased gun violence, according to several people familiar with the matter.

An endorsement from Williams, who raised his profile with an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 2018, would cut against criticism Adams is already beginning to face from the left wing of the Democratic Party over his history with the NYPD.

It would also undercut a narrative that Adams has fractured relationships with some of the city’s prominent Black politicians, most notably Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. The two have long-standing tension and Jeffries is unlikely to endorse Adams in the race, according to several people familiar with their relationship.

Adams is also not a shoo-in, those people said, to receive the support of Rep. Yvette Clarke and her mother, Una Clarke — an influential duo in Central Brooklyn whose support for de Blasio helped his political career. (Wall Street executive Ray McGuire likely did not endear himself to the Clarkes by donating $2,800 to Adem Bunkeddeko’s 2020 challenge to Yvette Clarke.)

Both Wiley and Stringer have been angling for endorsements in Central Brooklyn to expand their own presumed bases of support in Manhattan and Brownstone Brooklyn and undercut Adams.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the Bronx and Queens Democratic parties — State Sen. Jamaal Bailey and Rep. Greg Meeks — are wary of Adams’ close ties to the Brooklyn Democratic Party, with whom they have historically been at odds, according to several people involved in county politics.

In a recent interview, Bailey said he has “solid relationships with all of the other Democratic county leaders in the city” but has not decided whether to team up for an endorsement.

The county organizations do not have a successful electoral track record of late, and none backed de Blasio in his winning mayoral bid in 2013. But, in a crowded field with ranked-choice voting and changes to county leadership that better reflect the racial makeup of the Democratic party, they are being courted nonetheless.

There has been talk of a partnership among some of the county leaders.

Sharpton confirmed he is considering an alliance with Meeks, Jeffries and Carl Heastie, the Assembly speaker who is involved in the Bronx Democratic Party.

“I don’t think I would jump out ahead of them. I think the four of us may go together or not go at all,” he said.

The party leaders are not enamored of Stringer, particularly given his support of county-backed challengers like failed District Attorney candidate Tiffany Cabán in 2019, according to several people involved in county politics and the mayor’s race. McGuire has been courting Meeks, whose re-election he donated to, and politicians in the voter-rich section of Queens the congressman represents.

One of his early meetings when he decided to embark on his first run for elected office, for instance, was at Sangria’s in Jamaica, Queens, with state Sen. Leroy Comrie.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has been hosting all the candidates for lunch and plans to dine with Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, in Rockaway next week.

“I’m enjoying all this caloric intake at this moment,” he joked. He said he hasn’t homed in on a favorite candidate yet, and plans to join forces with Meeks.

Candidates are also angling for a trio of endorsements viewed as influential among the active voters on the West Side of Manhattan: Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and the New York Times editorial board.

Johnson said he is meeting with everyone who reaches out and declined to comment on any candidate, though his tension with Stringer is well established in political circles.

Reached by phone this week, Brewer said she is too busy between her current job and her own run for City Council to give the mayor’s race much thought.

“I don’t know yet. I can barely breathe,” she said, ticking off a list of land use decisions she is tasked with weighing in on. “I got Governors Island, South Street Seaport, Noho, Soho, vaccinations, the City Council thing. I can’t do any more. Right now I’m editing ULURPs.”

Erin Durkin contributed to this report.