HANNAH WEAVER, HOST: The 2025 New York City mayoral race is underway. The field is crowded, with eight candidates vying to unseat incumbent Eric Adams. Polls show former governor Andrew Cuomo [Kwow-mow] with a clear lead in the democratic primary, though he hasn’t officially put his hat in the ring. Our day reporter, Zijie Yang was at City Hall to hear who New Yorkers are backing and why.
ZIJIE YANG, BYLINE:
It’s foggy and rainy in City Hall Park. The weather is similar to the thick mist of corruption charges surrounding Mayor Adams.
Eddie Kim is sitting on a tarnished bench near the park’s entrance. He’s an architect and has lived here for nearly 20 years. He says Adams’ case poses what he calls the ‘erosion of local politics.’
EDDIE KIM:
I think with this situation with Adams we are seeing how much power the current president and the current government is exerting on our state, which I see very problematic.”
YANG:
Kim says he’d like to see a more diverse candidate pool, He says he’s bothered by the limited pool of options. So far, he does not prefer any of the candidates. But he does know what his biggest issue is.
KIM:
“Housing, the housing market. I think the housing market touches a lot of economic and social classes.”
YANG:
Over at the other end of the park, Danielle, a social worker is smoking with some friends. She agrees - affordable housing is her biggest concern, too.
DANIELLE:
“Literally on the way here before we ran into you, we’re just talking about the unhoused population in New York City.
YANG:
Danielle says New York City has a lot of vacant real estate - despite a housing crisis.
DANIELLE:
"Like this is well-known, this is a fact. We know people are struggling with money, people are struggling with food, we know that our LGBTQIA friends are under attack."
YANG:
Danielle believes that Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is the ideal candidate to fix the city’s problems.
DANIELLE:
“For me, I am looking at you, AOC, let’s go. You represent the Bronx, in general I know there’s a lot of issues in politics and I feel like she does also know that, and she’s trying to address it in the way she can. There’s a lot of red tape, it’s set up that way for a reason. I’m looking at you girl. Let’s go, please. We need you.”
YANG:
Rohan Srinivasan, a paralegal, is standing in the middle of the park. He’s dressed in a brown blazer and a loosely knotted tie. He’s also not planning to support Adams.
ROHAN SRINIVASAN:
“I mean Eric Adams definitely seems like he will be willing to play ball with what Trump does, especially for his own sake. So, yeah, definitely not a fan. It’s upsetting.”
YANG:
Srinivasan is thinking of supporting the Democratic Socialists of America’s candidate, Zohran Mamdani. He believes the group could bring changes to the problems in the city that he’s concerned about.
SRINIVASAN:
“I think homelessness is an obvious issue. It’s only gotten worse.”
YANG:
Making New York City better is what any candidate will have to convince voters they can do. They have nine months to do whatever they can before the November election. Zijie Yang, Columbia Radio News.
Comments