N.Y. Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou’s recollection of 2021 mayoral vote does not appear to align with ballot
Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who is running in the Democratic race for New York’s 10th Congressional District, ranked Scott Stringer first on her New York City mayoral ballot last year, according to a ballot screenshot, despite indicating over the weekend that Maya Wiley was her top choice.
Niou described her vote for Wiley as she campaigned Sunday, part of a Daily News survey of top House hopefuls that began with Dan Goldman claiming he did not recall his top Democratic mayoral pick. Goldman later said Kathryn Garcia was his top pick.
New York State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan) (Mary Altaffer/)
Asked about her vote at a campaign stop in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Niou said she “absolutely” remembered.
“I voted for Maya, and I also voted for Art Chang,” said Niou, an outspoken progressive. “I voted for a whole slate of five that did not include Eric Adams.”
Live Results: New York Primary Election, August 2022
But Niou sent an image of her ballot to Stringer that appeared to show she bubbled him first and Wiley second, according to a screenshot of their texts he provided Tuesday morning. The ballot showed Art Chang as Niou’s third choice, Garcia as her fourth and Dianne Morales as her fifth.
The text was dated June 22, 2021, the Primary Day in last year’s mayoral race. Niou’s campaign claimed Tuesday morning she had texted Stringer an image of someone else’s ballot.
“Yuh-Line never said the ballot was hers, and if Scott interpreted it that way, that’s on him,” the campaign said in a statement. “She sent this to someone she trusted, and he violated that trust. It’s a pathetic last-ditch effort to stop a woman he once mentored from reaching higher office.”
Yuh-Line Niou shared an image of her 2021 mayoral ballot with then-New York City mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, according to texts Stringer provided.
Niou, of the Financial District, did not mention Stringer on Sunday when queried about her New York City mayoral vote.
New York’s newly drawn 10th Congressional District spans from Manhattan’s West Village to Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, and it has attracted a large and competitive field of Democratic contenders.
Goldman, an ultrawealthy former federal prosecutor from Tribeca who helped impeach former President Donald Trump, led in the most recent public poll of the race and has scored the endorsement of The New York Times editorial board.
But his more progressive rivals, including Niou, have banded against him, and the race appears unsettled.
Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, of Manhattan’s Kips Bay, another top contender in the race, said Saturday she ranked Garcia first and Wiley second in last year’s mayoral race.
“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.”
New York State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou casts her ballot in the Democratic primary election, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022, in New York. Niou is running in the crowded Democratic congressional primary for New York's 10th District. (Mary Altaffer/)
Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, of Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill, said she ranked Wiley first and Garcia second. And former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, seeking a return to the House after serving there in the 1970s, said she ranked Garcia first.
In the ranked-choice primary, now-Mayor Adams finished in first, Garcia in second and Wiley in third. Andrew Yang finished in fourth and Stringer in fifth.
Scott Stringer (Mary Altaffer/)
Goldman donated to Yang late in the 2021 mayoral race but not Garcia, according to campaign finance records. He told WNYW-TV that he ranked Garcia first and Adams second, and donated to Yang because he was “invited to a fund-raiser.”
Tuesday is Primary Day.
