In a New York City mayoral race that has seen only scattershot polling, two new surveys show Kathryn Garcia with momentum heading into the final weeks of the Democratic primary on June 22.
A PIX11 News/Emerson College poll released on Tuesday showed Garcia vaulting into the lead with 21 percent, edging out front-runners Eric Adams at 20 percent and Andrew Yang at 16 percent. Garcia had nearly tripled her support from a May 15 version of that poll, which showed her with a mere 8 percent.
Another poll released on Wednesday showed her in a less commanding position, but still far better off than she had been. A Fontas/Core Decision Analytics survey put Garcia in third with 11 percent, behind Adams at 18 percent and Yang at 13 percent. That was a big leap from the 2 percent Garcia’s earned in a March edition of the survey.
Yang has led in most polling to date, with Adams often coming in a close second. But New York City is conducting its first ranked-choice mayoral election this year, which could make top-line numbers less important than usual; a winning candidate will need broad support from voters who do not rank them first. The PIX11 News/Emerson College poll ran through the ranked-choice voting scenario, and found that Garcia would triumph over Adams in the 11th and final round.
Garcia, who until recently served as sanitation commissioner under Mayor Bill de Blasio, has had a whirlwind couple of weeks since she nabbed the coveted New York Times endorsement on May 10, with the Daily News following suit a few days later. Before then, a lack of money, endorsements, and name recognition had prevented her from breaking out of a crowded field. Garcia styles herself as a hypercompetent steward of the city, and is thought to be competing in a similar electoral lane to multiple other candidates, most notably Scott Stringer and Maya Wiley. But Stringer’s campaign has been badly damaged by allegations that he sexually assaulted a staffer in 2001, and Wiley has failed to gain serious polling momentum, despite some notable endorsements.
With less than a month to go, Garcia may have a real opening.
