The Big Apple’s Democratic mayoral hopefuls unleashed new blistering attacks on each other as they raced across the city to make their closing arguments to voters — shaking hands, snapping photos and talking to reporters — on Monday, in the hours before the primary election.
The barnstorming came as a new poll showed Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams maintaining a solid lead in the race — and that put Andrew Yang back in second place, a marked change from other recent polls that showed him falling into fourth.
The NY1-IPSOS survey showed former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia close behind in third, while Maya Wiley, a former top de Blasio aide, followed in fourth.
The candidates appeared to take those findings to heart with tightly packed schedules that saw them bounce from event to event across all five boroughs — and furious exchanges, particularly between Yang and Adams.
“The last thing New York City needs is a mayor who uses race-baiting any time he is criticized,” Yang said, slamming Adams for not repudiating statements from his top surrogates that claimed Yang’s decision to campaign with Garcia in the final week amounted to “voter suppression.”
Adams doubled down on his own attacks on Yang on Monday, describing him as a “liar” and a “fraud,” and mocking his recent polling troubles.
“What’s Yang still doing in this race?” Adams said to a crowd of union supporters and press.
“Listen, we know Andrew Yang is a fraud, is a liar. We could care less about Andrew Yang,” Adams added.
However, Adams demurred when asked by reporters if he thought the same of Garcia.
Garcia, who vaulted into contention after The New York Times endorsed her and city Comptroller Scott Stringer’s campaign imploded amid decades old allegations of sexual harassment, which he denied, steered clear of the vicious back and forth on Monday as she spoke to voters around the city.
“I’m running a positive race. This what I’ve been this entire time,” she told reporters as she campaigned outside of the Staten Island Ferry terminal during the evening rush hour. “As we come into the home stretch, that’s where I intend to stay.”
Wiley attempted to jump into the fray, issuing a statement that hit Adams over his surrogates remarks as she campaigned around the city — ending her day with a rally outside of the Brooklyn Museum in Crown Heights.
“Rank the vote,” she told reporters, as she walked through Washington Heights, greeting voters during lunch hour. “Anyone who is trying to divide us and distract from how we actually come together and come back is being cynical and insensitive.”
— Additional reporting Nicholas Conca, Sean Conlon, Sam Raskin, Carl Campanile and Abby Weiss