NEW YORK — The 2021 mayoral race comes at a critical time for New York; the city will be climbing out of the coronavirus pandemic with both a new mayor and a new governor to face issues around inequality, housing and public safety.
Democratic candidate Eric Adams will be facing off against his GOP rival Curtis Sliwa — though eight other lesser-known candidates will have their names on the ballot representing a wide political spectrum.
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ERIC ADAMS - DEMOCRATIC PARTY
TOP 3 ISSUES
1) Public Health
2) Economy
3) Public Safety
Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and former NYPD captain, has made public safety a cornerstone of his campaign, proudly boasting that he is a centrist, blue-collar Democrat’s antidote to farther left progressives in the party.
Adams has struck a delicate balance on policing, rebuking the “defund the police” movement while also calling for reforms to the agency and beefed up subway patrols. He supports an expansion of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature traffic safety policy, Vision Zero, and has vowed to install a record number of protected bike infrastructure during his first term.
Adams has spent much of his campaign refuting accusations that he lives at least part-time in New Jersey following reports on conflicting addresses in public records.
CURTIS SLIWA - REPUBLICAN PARTY
TOP 3 ISSUES
1) Crime, Safety, Quality of Life
2) Property Tax Disparity Outer Boroughs
3) Maintaining Advanced Learning Public Schools
Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels and media personality, has run on a tough-on-crime platform that promises to bolster police to solve a variety of issues, like unlicensed street vendors and wrong-way cyclists.
Sliwa has put forth wide-ranging and sometimes eccentric ideas. He’s pitched transforming Gracie Mansion into a cat and dog sanctuary and banning what he considers “critical race theory” in public schools.
During the campaign, Sliwa has been challenged on faking crime-fighting stories in the early Guardian Angels days and his offensive antics on the NY1 segment “The Political Rundown.”
Other mayoral candidates fall both to the right and left of Sliwa and Adams. Here’s who they are:
RAJA FLORES - HUMANITARY UNITED PARTY
Flores is a Manhattan native and thoracic surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital. He also serves on Manhattan’s Community Board 11 in East Harlem.
Flores has built a platform on housing, public health and income inequality. He’s called for improved funding to public housing and bolstering renter protections, while also reducing homeowner property taxes.
QUANDA FRANCIS - EMPOWERMENT PARTY
TOP 3 ISSUES
1) Housing Issues (Affordability, Availability, Homelessness)
2) Improve K-12 Education (Modernization, Policy)
3) Reduce Crime (Workforce/Community Development)
Francis is the president of the fintech firm Sykes Capital Management and has previously worked for the Small Business Administration and the NYPD, according to her website.
FERNANDO MATEO - SAVE OUR CITY PARTY
TOP 3 ISSUES
1) Public Safety
2) Small Business/Economic Recovery
3)Reforming Government: Efficiency, Transparency, Accountability
Mateo is a restauranteur and has worked as the spokesman of the state Federation of Taxi Drivers and United Bodegas of America. He originally ran as a Republican but lost badly to Sliwa in the June primary. He is no longer campaigning, but will still appear on the ballot via a third party.
WILLIAM PEPITONE - CONSERVATIVE PARTY
TOP 3 ISSUES
1) Public Safety
2)Education
3) Medical Freedom of Choice
Pepitone is a retired NYPD officer who is running on a law-and-order platform inspired by the George Floyd protests of 2020 and pledges reforms to the public school system.
STACEY PRUSSMAN - LIBERTARIAN PARTY
TOP 3 ISSUES
1) School Choice and Democratize Education
2) Revitalizing Small Business
3) Animal Rights and Welfare
Prussman is a comedian, radio host and animal rights activist who has built a campaign on reducing the state’s speed and red light camera programs, decriminalizing sex work and implementing a universal basic income.
CATHERINE ROJAS - SOCIALIST & LIBERATION PARTY
TOP 3 ISSUES
1) Tax the Rich
2) Jobs and Housing for All
3)Defund the Police
Rojas is a Queens native and public high school teacher in East Elmhurst. She has endorsed taxing the city’s highest earners and defunding the police department to reallocate larger parts of the budget to working-class New Yorkers.
SKIBOKY STORA - OUT LAWBREAKER PARTY
Stora is a formerly homeless New Yorker who said he has survived a shooting in a city shelter. He’s running on a promise to end corruption and support the NYPD.
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