New York City mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia is pictured. | Courtesy of Kathryn Garcia's campaign
POLITICO
By SALLY GOLDENBERG
Former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia is leading the Democratic field of mayoral contenders, with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams hot on her trail, according to a new poll four weeks ahead of Election Day.
The survey, conducted by Emerson College and PIX11 News and obtained by POLITICO ahead of its planned release at 6 p.m., signals a reshaping of the top tier in the eight-person field. Until now, Adams and former presidential contender Andrew Yang have traded first and second place in every poll.
Emerson found Garcia with support from 21 percent of the 570 likely voters surveyed Sunday and Monday. Adams trailed closely with 20 percent, followed by Yang at 16 percent and City Comptroller Scott Stringer at 10 percent, according to a screenshot of the results obtained by POLITICO. When the full poll was released later in the day, it also showed Garcia beating Eric Adams by 10 points for the nomination, after a simulated ten rounds of ranked choice voting.
“This is now a three-person race between Kathryn Garcia, Eric Adams, and Andrew Yang," Garcia campaign manager Monika Hansen said in a statement. "Voters can tell that Kathryn is in this race for the right reasons and that she has the experience and the commitment to actually do the hard work of delivering everyday for working families."
No other candidate cracked double digits and 9 percent of respondents claimed to be undecided about who to support in the June 22 primary to replace outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Garcia, who is embarking on her first run for office after a career in city agencies, was recently endorsed by the New York Times and Daily News editorial boards. The Times is a particularly coveted endorsement and is viewed as being able to sway reliable Democratic voters in Manhattan.
The poll marked a dramatic rise for Garcia since Emerson in mid-May found her at just 8 percent. This is the third poll in the mayoral race conducted by Emerson.
Polling firms that regularly surveyed voters in 2013, the last time the mayor’s seat was open, have taken a pass this cycle, citing the advent of ranked-choice voting as an excuse.
One campaign was unimpressed by the methodology of the new poll.
Jon Paul Lupo, who is advising candidate Maya Wiley, tweeted in response to a PIX reporter who teased the news, showing a screenshot of a text from the pollster sent to his phone but addressed to his wife.
“Yeah. Gonna go ahead and take this one with a massive grain of salt. Since I got this text asking me to participate yesterday,” Lupo tweeted on Tuesday.