May 16, 2019

Most New Yorkers Don’t Want de Blasio to Run. He’s Doing It Anyway.

The New York mayor claims he’s beaten Trump before—and he’s the right man to do it again.

Michael Brochstein/ZUMA

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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio officially announced on Thursday that he’s running for president, becoming the 23rd person to enter the crowded field of Democratic candidates hoping to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.

He did so even though three-quarters of his own constituents, former staff members included, advise against such a bid. According to one NY1 reporter stationed outside Gracie Mansion, the same pleas trailed de Blasio all the way up to his launch Thursday morning.

In a video kicking off his campaign, the two-term Democratic mayor positioned himself as a progressive leader with a track record of fighting for working-class families in the country’s largest city, along with the personal experience required to take on Trump. He says in the three-minute clip: “I’m a New Yorker. I’ve known Trump’s a bully for a long time.”

“Donald Trump must be stopped,” de Blasio continues. “I’ve beaten him before, and I will do it again.”

The president dismissed de Blasio’s announcement, declaring on Twitter that “NYC HATES HIM!” While the sentiment might not be quite as strong as Trump claimed, de Blasio’s decision attracted predictable groans on social media:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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