Garcia Rises, and Yang Changes His Tune: 5 Takeaways From Mayor’s Race

A new survey put Kathryn Garcia in the lead, shaking up the mayoral race with just weeks to go before Primary Day.

As the mayoral campaign of Dianne Morales, a progressive champion, continues to disintegrate around her, a moderate has ascended in the polls. Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, continued to gain momentum, and even some negative attention from a rival who once lavished praise on her. The polling in the mayor’s race remains spare and potentially unreliable, but if it is to be believed, three of the front-runners in the race — Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate; Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president; and now Ms. Garcia — are moderate Democrats, not progressives. That may have something to do with the post-pandemic state of New York City. But it may also have something to do with the progressives’ inability to unify behind a particular candidate.