Michael Blake, a former state assemblyman and a veteran of the Obama administration, joins a crowded field of candidates running against Mayor Eric Adams.
New Yorkers clearly do not feel that their lives are getting better under his administration. Whether it be loss of funds in their pocket or loss of hope and trust, it is hard to see how the city moves forward given the current mayor.
Rev. Michael Blake
Michael Blake, a former New York State assemblyman from the Bronx and a veteran of the Obama administration, is entering the crowded race to unseat Mayor Eric Adams.
He is the seventh prominent candidate to challenge Mr. Adams, a Democrat who was indicted in September on federal corruption charges. Mr. Blake created an exploratory committee on Friday and put up a campaign website on Sunday.
In his first interview as a mayoral candidate, Mr. Blake said that his campaign would focus on addressing the high cost of living in New York City and quality of life issues.
“New Yorkers clearly do not feel that their lives are getting better under his administration,” he said. “Whether it be loss of funds in their pocket or loss of hope and trust, it is hard to see how the city moves forward given the current mayor.”
Mr. Blake, 41, a former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, served in the State Assembly for six years and in the Obama White House for two years.
Many of the candidates who are running in the Democratic primary in June are to the left of Mr. Adams, most more so than Mr. Blake. He said that he had implemented both progressive and moderate policies and viewed himself as a “responsible leader who is finding solutions in the middle.” As mayor, he said that he would support policies such as universal child care and paying nonprofits faster.
Other candidates, including former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, could enter the mayoral race in the coming months.
Mr. Blake said that he was also considering running for a leadership role at the Democratic National Committee as the party searches for a path forward following the victory of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Blake ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2020, losing to Representative Ritchie Torres in the Democratic primary. A year earlier, he finished fourth among 17 candidates in a special election for New York City public advocate, a race won by Jumaane Williams. Mr. Blake will have to move quickly to raise money for the race and to reintroduce himself to voters across the city.
Mr. Blake, whose parents are from Jamaica, plans to highlight his working-class biography and his roots in the Bronx. His father was a maintenance worker at a hospital, he said, and his mother worked at a manufacturing plant.
He said that he was proud of his work as a state lawmaker on issues such as the “Raise the Age” law that stopped 16- and 17-year-olds from being tried as adults in criminal court. He received scrutiny for accepting and then declining a job at a political consulting firm while serving in the Legislature.
Since leaving office, he has worked as a political consultant, runs a nonprofit and serves as an associate pastor at a church in the Bronx.
Mr. Blake, who worked on the Obama campaign in 2012, said that he had not talked to the former president about running for mayor. He said he was still friendly with Mr. Obama and spoke with him in October for a “Win With Black Men” event for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
Brian Cunningham, a state assemblyman from Brooklyn, said that Mr. Blake would be a great candidate for mayor and had made “meaningful investments in underserved communities.”
“He understands how to lift everyone around him,” he said.
Article written by Emma G. Fitzsimmons, City Hall bureau chief for The New York Times. Read the article here.
