Dan Goldman’s rivals have no trouble recalling their votes for NYC mayor
After Dan Goldman claimed he could not remember his top choice in last year’s Democratic race for New York City mayor, his House primary rivals had little trouble recalling their votes.
Kathryn Garcia, the ex-sanitation commissioner who fell narrowly to Eric Adams, emerged as a popular pick in a brief survey of leading candidates in the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District, which includes lower Manhattan and sections of brownstone Brooklyn.
Goldman, an ultrawealthy former federal prosecutor who helped impeach former President Donald Trump, said in a head-scratching moment at a Friday news conference that he did not know if he ranked Garcia or Adams first on his mayoral ballot.
New York Voter Guide: What to know for the Aug. 23 primary
Dan Goldman (Shawn Inglima/)
Goldman said he ranked Garcia and Adams in his top two, despite campaign finance records indicating that he donated $2,000 to then-Democrat Andrew Yang late in the race, but not to Garcia. He later told WNYW-TV that he voted for Garcia first and Adams second, and donated to Yang because he was “invited to a fund-raiser.”
“I wasn’t expecting that question,” he told the station when asked about his earlier forgetfulness.
At 81, former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman displayed no difficulty jogging her memory on Sunday.
Elizabeth Holtzman (Hans Pennink/)
“Is that a serious question? Of course I remember who I voted for!” Holtzman, seeking a return to the House after serving there from 1973 to 1981, said by phone. “I did vote for Kathryn Garcia.”
Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan) said she ranked Garcia first, too, remembering the 14-month-old vote as she campaigned Saturday in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “I put Kathryn,” Rivera said of her No. 1 choice. “I just have a lot of respect for her.”
New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan) (Shawn Inglima/)
“She’s always given me good advice since I knew her as a commissioner,” Rivera said of Garcia. “I think she’s influenced my life as a public servant.”
Rivera, who has formidable labor backing in the congressional primary, added that she ranked Maya Wiley second in the ranked-choice mayoral primary.
New York State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan) (Theodore Parisienne/)
State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan) said she put Wiley first last year, and left the current mayor off her ballot.
“I voted for Maya, and I also voted for Art Chang,” Niou, an outspoken progressive with significant activist support, said at a campaign stop in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, on Sunday. “I voted for a whole slate of five that did not include Eric Adams.”
And Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) said she ranked Wiley first and Garcia second in the heated mayoral race.
“It’s important to be transparent as an elected leader,” Simon said in a statement on Monday. “Being authentic matters more than being politically neutral.”
