NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio will reach the end of his term in 2021 and due to term-limit laws, he’ll unable to run again; however, that’s not stopping City Council Speaker Corey Johnson from announcing his intentions to throw his hat into the ring two years ahead of the election.
“I don’t want to be public advocate. I don’t want to be comptroller. And this potentially about a run for mayor,” Johnson told The New York Times. “You have to be prepared and that’s why I’m preparing.”
New York’s City Charter now caps individual donations to $2000, down from $5100, but will match contributions of $250 or less at an 8-to-1 rate from a public fund. Johnson has gone a step farther, promising to refuse any donations higher than $250, and will also not take money from any corporate PACs, lobbyists or real estate developers.
“I think this is the future of the Democratic Party,” Johnson said. “I think a lot of anxiety in New York City is about gentrification and over development, and people don’t like any appearance of influence based off of contributions.”
However, between 2008 and 2010, Corey Johnson worked as the director of government and community affairs for GFI Development Company, exactly the sort of position he has now disowned.
“I live in a 319-square-foot apartment!” he told New York Magazine about his former career. “If I am a real-estate developer I am the least successful, poorest real-estate developer in New York.”
Johnson has discussed running for mayor of New York City since April of last year, though he told The New York Times in January of 2018, “I never want to be Mayor. No.”
Johnson has discussed his campaign messaging before, and has stated that he does not agree with Bill de Blasio’s comments that the most money in New York is in the wrong hands, but would rather focus on “a middle-class message that is about fairness.”
“I think the message is: Give People a Goddamn Break,” he told New York Magazine in April. “Provide basic things–safety, sanitation, reliable subway service, and work on the affordability crisis that has gripped our city.”
Johnson has already launched his campaign site, which includes links to join his email list and to donate to his campaign, but no stances on policy issues as of yet.
