Days before early voting, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams endorses Maya Wiley for NYC mayor
Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley on Wednesday scored another endorsement that could bolster her standing among New York City progressives.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams voiced his backing of Wiley, a former top legal adviser to Mayor de Blasio — but not without voicing some reservations about the contest.
“I must admit I was a bit hesitant to make an endorsement,” he said during a press conference alongside Wiley at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Downtown Manhattan.
“As the election rapidly approached, I have been disturbed and dismayed by some of what I’m hearing from the leading candidates and the manner they’re driving the conversation,” he added.
Williams went on to attack some candidates for “fear-mongering” in the race, in which public safety has become a defining issue. He seemed to be referencing Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who’s been advocating a tough-on-crime platform, though the public advocate didn’t mention Adams by name.
“The surest way to bring those bad old days back is to revert to the reactionary, knee-jerk responses that so many people are apologizing for decades later,” Williams said. “We cannot, we must not go back to the mindsets of the past.”
Along with other police reforms, Wiley has promised to cut $1 billion from the NYPD budget, answering a demand that arose during last year’s nationwide anti-police-brutality protests. Adams has rejected that call and wants to reconstitute the NYPD’s controversial anti-crime units, proposals echoed by businessman Andrew Yang, another frontrunner in the race.
“We must unite to elect and rank Maya Wiley to be the second Black, and first woman, mayor of the city of New York,” he said.
Superstar progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Wiley on Saturday.
Other progressives lawmakers have backed Wiley, too — some of them after rescinding their endorsements of city Comptroller Scott Stringer over sexual misconduct allegations.
The Working Families Party made Wiley its top choice after taking back support from Stringer and former nonprofit CEO Dianne Morales, whose campaign imploded when staffers stopped working amid complaints about their conditions.
Asked whether Wiley’s previous work as de Blasio counsel gave him any reservations about endorsing Wiley, Williams said: “There are folks who might be looking for a person … who’s perfect; we’re not going to find them.”
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