He’s been criticized as not being a true New Yorker and on Wednesday night’s debate stage Andrew Yang once again showed how out of step he can be.
Yang was the only mayoral hopeful who said he wants endorsements from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the race’s first in-person debate.
When asked by an ABC moderator in the lightning round if they’d want the stamp of approval from the scandal-scarred governor and the equally unpopular New York City mayor, Yang was the sole candidate out the eight major contenders to raise his hand.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a mayoral ally, former de Blasio commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Dianne Morales, Shaun Donovan, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Ray McGuire and former de Blasio official Maya Wiley all kept their hands down — to getting the endorsement for either the mayor or the governor, who is facing state and federal probes of his activity in office.
Asked to give a letter grade to the mayor, all but Adams gave the term-limited de Blasio low or failing marks.
Adams, a former cop, gave de Blasio a B on pre-K and B on decreasing the use of stop-and-frisk.
Former banker McGuire gave de Blasio a B- on pre-K and a passing grade on leadership.
Morales gave the mayor a C.
Donovan ranked de Blasio a D.
Stringer gave him an F.
Wiley gave de Blasio an F on police accountability.
Yang gave him an incomplete. “There’s still time, Bill, not to squander all fo the federal money before one of us gets in there,” said Yang.
But multiple candidates, notably, praised de Blasio’s universal pre-K — his signature, popular accomplishment.
“My family was one of the families that benefited from universal pre-K. I think we can agree that that was Mayor de Blasio’s biggest achievement,” said Yang.
“I think we can all agree that pre-K for all was a phenomenal program,” said Garcia, de Blasio’s former Sanitation commissioner.
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