In all likelihood, Bill De Blasio is about to become Mayor of New York City; the last time that the Mayor of America’s largest city wasn’t named Giuliani or Bloomberg was 1993. This is a fairly large moment/situation, because Boston — NYC’s rival to the northeast — is having its first (essentially) open election in two decades as well. I-95 corridor times, they are a-changing. Ironically, De Blasio is a Red Sox fan.
Interestingly, De Blasio ran in 2009 for Mayor of NYC. Phrased nicely, he didn’t win. In fact, C. Montgomery Burns got more votes than he did.
Here’s what might happen to education under De Blasio, and here’s an attempt to figure out what voters actually know about De Blasio. Here’s a look at what this all means for working families, and here’s a bit on what he might do for small business. In case you wondering, if you assume the populace of NYC is about 8 million, there are only 12 Governors that reign over a bigger area than De Blasio is about to.
De Blasio knows what’s up on the social media front: he did an AMA recently. People also love to discuss his potentially generation-setting win, and what it means for ‘The Rise of the New Left.’
He also seems to be an excellent father:
Maybe this is a sign of New York City’s ‘liberal comeback,’ some argue. I turn 33 on Thursday, and I’ve spent probably 25 of those years in New York City in some form or fashion. One of my best friends, who is from upstate and lived in NYC for about three years total, told me this election is a referendum on Bloomberg; it might be, especially when you consider the Mr. Burns votes. I’m not entirely sure this is about a ‘liberal comeback,’ though. Even when run by a rich white guy, NYC was fairly liberal. I think De Blasio will be a great Mayor (** crosses self **) and a change from big-name, possible Presidential candidates running America’s largest city. That’s good, because while people approved of Bloomberg, they wanted a new direction for the city.
If you’re a person that wants to know where De Blasio stands on key issues, click click click. If, on the other hand, you’d like to see his family dancing at the West Indian Day Parade (because legitimately, we all have different needs), hit this:
De Blasio is planning to party it up tonight at the Park Slope Armory, which is oddly amazing. He is, after all, stylistic. He also, ahem, lives in Park Slope. He’s also doing the right Democratic thing and taking the Koch brothers to task.
I wouldn’t call this a ‘sea change’ for NYC — that place kinda runs itself in some ways (although I did intern for Gifford Miller for a hot second, though he would be a good Mayor, and clearly was wrong there) — but I would say it’s going to be an interesting shift having a less-than-brand-name Mayor running a city that considers itself top of every single heap (and I don’t even mean that in a bad way, although, I don’t know, maybe I do — since I currently live in Minneapolis). If Joe Lhota wins, be stunned. If De Blasio wins, grimace at the whole Sox fandom thing (but I mean, at least he’s attached to a winner), then celebrate life. It’s a new chapter.
