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De Blasio Will Run for Congress in Newly Drawn District


Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York City, announced Friday that he will run for Congress in a newly created borough stretching from Lower Manhattan to his home in Brooklyn, testing a comeback politics in an already crowded Democratic primary.

Mr. de Blasio, who left office with low approval rating in December after two terms, spent months openly thinking about his future. He has considered running for governor and another congressional seat, and recently hired a public relations firm to help him offer his services as an online political commentator. next.

But when a state court give a list of proposed congressional districts This week, unexpectedly creating a new secure Democratic seat in the heart of New York City, he saw the loophole and grabbed it.

“This is a unicorn: a brand new congressional seat that nobody has seen before without an incumbent,” Mr. de Blasio said in a Friday interview. interview on Friday, adding that he thought its voters might want “someone with history and stature” at a time of national uproar.

Last month, New York’s highest court struck down such as unconstitutional Democrat-friendly maps drawn by the State Legislature and ordered a neutral expert to quickly draft alternatives.

The expert, Jonathan R. Cervas, did it again District 10currently held by Representative Jerrold Nadler, which includes large crowds of Brownstone Brooklyn, the Orthodox Jewish community in Borough Park, as well as the East and West Villages in Manhattan.

After eight years as mayor and a disastrous presidential run in 2020Mr. de Blasio will enter the race known more than any potential rival, with both a progressive track record and a trail of political disappointment.

He also has a deep relationship with important parts of District 10, including his home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a neighborhood known for its swagger. Mr. de Blasio, 61, an NYU graduate student, is married in Prospect Park, and as mayor, walks from Gracie Mansion to his old neighborhood to exercise in the morning. late morning and stopped at a beloved patisserie.

“It’s a very special thing,” he said, “and happens to be all the places that have become core to my life.”

Representative Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, who is facing a progressive uprising in her own area, saying Mr. de Blasio is “the most qualified progressive candidate who I believe can win this diversity chair.”

But it’s far from clear that New Yorkers, many of them eager to welcome Mr. de Blasio’s departure from City Hall, are willing to support a return, especially as so many other Democrats carrying less baggage showed interest in running for the seat at a primary on August 23.

Earlier Saturday, after the final version of the county map was released, Representative Mondaire Jones, who currently holds a seat in suburban Westchester County, entered the District 10 race.

Mr. Jones also looked at two other counties that might be pitted against him a looming main battle with one of two neighboring congressmen, Jamaal Bowman or Sean Patrick Maloney.

Others who have expressed interest include State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan progressive; State Senator Simcha Felder, a conservative Democrat whose county includes Borough Park; and Council members Robert Carroll, Jo Anne Simon and Yuh-Line Niou, who were scheduled to make a “big announcement” on Saturday.

Daniel S. Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who helped lead the first House impeachment inquiry on former President Donald J. Trump, is also considering a run. Carlina Rivera, a city councilwoman from the East Village, submit paperwork on Friday with the Federal Election Commission to create a congressional campaign.

“This is a moment of crisis in our nation in terms of reproductive health, voting rights, LGBTQ children, and LGBTQ children,” said Hoylman, who will give up his Manhattan-based Senate seat. their families, and climate change. “I truly believe this moment requires risk-taking.”

There is still the outside possibility that an incumbent member of Congress could run for the seat to avoid a harsh primary vote. Mr. Nadler and Representative Carolyn Maloney have both announced their intention to run for District 12 now, but some of their old counties also include the new District 10.

Mr. de Blasio made it a bit of a secret that he wanted to continue serving in the election office last year, but he passed the contested Democratic primary for governor and a national seat. association that would have joined Staten Island and Park Slope (the court nullified the district).

He has tried to soften his image since leaving office, even admitting it, in an essay in the Atlantic Oceanhis unpopularity with New Yorkers, suggesting it stemmed from his failure to use “one of the biggest megaphones in the country.”

Mr. de Blasio won the first mayoral election with the support of liberal black and white voters. But he has lost many white voters over the years, despite his successful rollout of universal preschool, and Black voters make up just over 6 percent of the voting-age population in the new county. .

“I cannot determine who will vote for him,” said Chris Coffey, chief executive of Tusk Strategies, who lives in the new district.

One potential voter, Barat Ellman, a progressive rabbi who has lived on Park Slope since 1990, said she had become frustrated with Mr. de Blasio’s approach to controlling policy and public affairs. criminal justice.

“There would have to be some pretty miserable alternatives for me to go with him,” she said.

The strength of Mr. de Blasio’s lingering ties to the city’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where played an important role in his developmentCould also be a question.

Some Orthodox leaders “could have benefited greatly. But Moishe is normally very upset,” said Mr. Felder, a longtime critic of the former mayor who has not reached a final decision on his campaign. “There is an ongoing problem of safety and security for the city. And without safety and security, nothing else.”

In an interview, Mr. de Blasio acknowledged his political debts, including tens of thousands of dollars in outstanding debt related to previous campaigns.

“Sure, but you also love the phenomenon of running in a race where a lot of people have voted for you before,” he said. “And it’s a new seat and a new role and I really believe that voters will consider each situation.”

On Monday, when the new district lines were announced, he was eating spinach ricotta crepes with a friend at one of his old college haunts – Caffè Reggio on Macdougal Street, in the neighborhood the limits of the new county. Within hours, his plans for a few years of quietly writing opinion pieces and appearing on television had changed.

“There is a certain surrealism to this,” he said.



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