Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced Tuesday he is no longer a candidate for New York’s tenth congressional district. He withdrew after two months campaigning, lamenting it’s clear “people are looking for another option.”
The Democrat was running in a crowded primary for a deep-blue congressional district that includes his Brooklyn home and parts of southern Manhattan, as Breitbart News reported.
If successful, the determined leftist would have replaced Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in the district, which was recently redrawn under the supervision of a New York judge.
“I’ve listened really carefully to people and it’s clear to me that when it comes to this congressional district, people are looking for another option. And I respect that,” de Blasio said in a video posted online Tuesday.
His campaign was launched months after his tenure as mayor ended and was the latest attempt by de Blasio to further his national political ambitions, as AP reports.
De Blasio admitted in a recent Atlantic op-ed that he was an “unpopular” politician and made his “fair share of mistakes.”
“And when it comes to being unpopular, I’m unfortunately somewhat of an expert. I made my fair share of mistakes,” the former mayor wrote.
He considered running for governor of New York but opted not to challenge incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul.
He also had a short-lived run for president in 2019, which lasted two months longer than this year’s congressional campaign.
During his tenure as mayor, de Blasio vowed to cut funding for the New York City Police Department amid the unrest of the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, despite violent crime rates soaring at the time.
De Blasio also faced criticism for his implementation of vaccine mandates during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.