“New Yorkers will be sick of me”
After getting slammed for fleeing the city for his country home in New Paltzduring the pandemic, Andrew Yang warned New Yorkers that they would see him in the city around the clock – at least during his first term – if he’s elected mayor. Yang vowed during a debate Thursday night that he wouldn’t rely on a taxpayer-funded security detail to drive him and his family upstate. In fact, he said New Yorkers would be seeing him so much they might get sick of him. “I don’t expect to leave the city a single day for my first term. I’m going to be here grinding it out because that’s what our city requires right now,” he said. “Grinding” is an Eric Adams catchphrase at this point, and the subtext was clear, when Adams had just released E-ZPass records showing government cars had driven him to New Jersey six times in the past year – presumably to a second home he owns there with his partner. But Yang was also drawing a contrast with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who came under fire for abandoning New Yorkers to be on the presidential campaign trail in Iowa when more than70,000 New Yorkers lost power for a few hours. “New Yorkers will be sick of me, they’ll be like ‘Yang go away,’ because I’m going to be here all the time trying to solve problems and get our city working again for us and our families,” Yang said. Of course, Yang’s pledge was more rhetoric than reality. He has already said he’d visit Israel, and his campaign clarified that he would visit Albany and Washington, D.C., on official business.