The political career of Bill de Blasio is about to come to an end, and none too soon. Following in his place might be one of his former presidential primary competitors, Andrew Yang.

As New York City mayor, de Blasio has been nothing to be proud about. He might escape larger scrutiny in the long run, despite the city’s many growing issues, simply because Andrew Cuomo decided to show him up one more time and be even worse. Regardless, de Blasio is not running for mayor again. That means with an open seat, all the possible candidate options come running. According to Ballotpedia, sixteen people have declared themselves for the Democrat primary.

And much to the shock – SHOCK! – of the progressive left, the candidates that are polling best aren’t the ones they wanted.

The sustained polling leads of Andrew Yang followed often by Eric Adams have made some left-wing activists and leaders increasingly alarmed about the trajectory of the race, leaving them divided over how to use their considerable influence to shape its outcome before the June 22 primary.”

“From my perspective on the left in New York, there’s definitely a little sense of disappointment around how the race is shaping up right now,” said Matthew Miles Goodrich, who is involved with the Sunrise Movement, an organization of young climate activists. “There seems to be a mismatch between who is leading in the New York City mayoral race and the tenor of the times that we’re supposed to be living in.”

The mayoral field still reflects the leftward shift of many Democrats in the city, with many voters just beginning to tune into the race. Scott M. Stringer and Maya Wiley, two of the most progressive candidates in the race, are generally discussed as part of the field’s top tier, with the expected resources to be competitive through the end, and perhaps to break out in a meaningful way. Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, has undeniably captured real grass-roots energy.”

So, the activists are having a sad that their preferred candidates aren’t polling well? Remember, that the Sunrise Movement is the same group that tried pushing a group of kids on Senator Dianne Feinstein in order to scold her for not supporting the Green New Deal. If Dianne Feinstein is too “moderate” for activist groups like this, then you can only imagine what their preferred candidates are like. Obviously, they won’t be candidates who have any sort of balance to them. Now, Andrew Yang is not a moderate Democrat in any real sense, but he is “friendly” to businesses, which obviously makes him unacceptable to the socialists of New York.

That emerged as a significant concern at a private meeting on Wednesday of representatives from several prominent left-wing organizations, including Our City, Democratic Socialists of America, Sunrise and other groups, according to two people familiar with the meeting. A consensus emerged that the left needed to mobilize urgently around the city elections, according to one of those people.”

Mr. Adams and Mr. Yang embrace progressive positions on a wide range of issues, and their allies say that they are well within the mainstream of the Democratic Party — far more so, they argue, than some left-wing activists are. And on Friday afternoon, as he campaigned in Coney Island, Mr. Yang heaped praise on the new state budget as well as marijuana legalization.”

But it is also true that they are relatively friendly toward the business and real estate communities. And on the spectrum of mayoral candidates, they are also more moderate on policing matters, even as they promote criminal justice reform. (Indeed, Mr. Adams, a Black former police officer who says he has experienced police brutality himself, spent much of his career urging changes in the system, but he is also a onetime Republican who speaks often about the constructive role he believes policing can play in promoting public safety.)”

Additional polling from this weekend is proving that the progressive left isn’t likely to get what they want.

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is the top choice among a crucial group of voters—registered Democrats age 50 and older, according to a poll released Sunday.”

The poll, by Siena College Research Institute and senior-citizens’ group AARP, showed that 24% of Democrats in the age group say the former presidential candidate and tech entrepreneur is their first choice in the June 22 Democratic primary. This year’s mayoral primary is the first with ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank as many as five candidates.”

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who are also running for mayor in the Democratic primary, were each the first choice for 13% of Democrats age 50 and up, according to the poll.”

Now, this “ranked-choice voting” could definitely work in favor of Andrew Yang and Eric Adams, or it could seriously make things extremely messy. Here is FairVote.org‘s explanation of ranked-choice voting.

When presented like this, it sounds like some kind of great ideal, right? Until you realize that this is exactly the way the Oscars select both the nominees and the winners of things like Best Picture – which explains all the absymal choices of this year, and past years, with movies that are not popular with the public getting nominated, and then getting votes redistributed to them if there isn’t a clear first-place choice. Redistributed votes is pretty much a socialist’s dream, so of course the activist crowd completely loves this idea.

Unless, of course, you have two candidates like Andrew Yang and Eric Adams leading the polling away from any of the other choices. Then it’s a problem. It’s clear that the activist left wants one of “their” options to capture a spot in the primary to go against whomever the Republican candidate will be. The problem is the same as it has been with every single crowded primary – too many choices, very little consensus. At least, until people start dropping out, which is how you end up with Joe Biden against Bernie Sanders.

Now, Andrew Yang is at least a likeable human being, which already makes him a huge improvement over Bill de Blasio. However, Yang is no moderate except when you compare him to the progressive deep-end lefties. We covered Yang’s wilder ideas during the 2020 Democrat primary season, and he’s already floated a stellar stinker regarding proof of vaccination in this mayoral race. And yet, he’s ahead, mostly thanks to name recognition. The national exposure has definitely put him in contention for the New York mayor’s race – pretty much the same way the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, can end up as Secretary of Transportation.

The primary election in New York that will determine the mayoral candidates will happen on June 22nd. Barring a dynamic and rational Republican who can reach out to the pandemic-weary citizens of New York, the Democrat is likely to cruise to victory in the general election. We are talking about a city that has elected de Blasio twice, after all. It would be deeply ironic if, after pushing for ranked-choice voting under the guise of “fairness,” the progressives of New York end up having to put up with Andrew Yang – who doesn’t hate businesses and business owners with a burning passion – for the next four years.

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