‘We Have a Path to Victory’: Maya Wiley Predicts Winning NYC Mayoral Race After Ranked Votes Are Counted

‘We Have a Path to Victory’: Maya Wiley Predicts Winning NYC Mayoral Race After Ranked Votes Are Counted

Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley arrives for debate at NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center. She greets supporters gathering outside to appreciate their support. – New York, NY – June 16, 2021 (Shutterstock)

By Nicholas Williams and Dave Goldiner, NY Daily News

Maya Wiley insists she’s far from done in the NYC mayoral primary race.

The Democratic candidate, currently in second place behind Eric Adams, urged her supporters Wednesday to “wait patiently” as officials begin the process of tabulating the ranked-choice votes.

“Every New Yorker counts,” Wiley told reporters outside the Parkside Ave. subway stop just outside Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Wiley insisted she can overtake Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, who’s leading the initial count with about 31% of the vote compared to Wiley’s 22%.

The de Blasio administration lawyer suggested that many supporters of other candidates may have ranked her above Adams on their ballots, a dynamic that would allow her to leapfrog him into the top spot.

“We have a path to victory and it looks like the city of New York,” said Wiley. “We have seen support from the four corners of this city.”

The progressive Democrat ticked off her diverse coalition of supporters, including young white progressives and Black and Latino voters, that she predicted could drive her to victory.

“It was multi-racial, multi-generational, all different faiths, all different sexual orientations and identities, all different boroughs,” she said. “That has always been our focus and it remains our focus and that is why it is our path.”

Wiley noted that just under 50% of all voters cast ballots for someone other than her or Adams. That means those voters who picked one of the other mayoral candidates hold the key to victory with their lower-ranked choices, she said.

“We’re excited about being in the No. 2 spot right now by the way doing better than any polls said we would,” Wiley said. “We have very little data. So much about what people gauging this race on has been polls and the only thing that matters is people.”

Adams, who spoke confidently to a crowd of supporters on Primary Night, had not yet appeared in public Wednesday.

Adams leads the unofficial tally with about 253,000 votes, compared to 177, 000 for Wiley and 155,000 for ex-Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. One-time presidential candidate Andrew Yang conceded the race Tuesday.

 

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