Andrew Yang announces his candidacy for mayor of New York

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“I moved to New York 25 years ago. I came of age, I fell in love and I became a father here. Seeing our city in such pain breaks my heart. he tweeted Wednesday night with a two minute video.

“Let’s fight for a future New York City we can be proud of – together. Join us on YangforNY.com,” he added.

Yang, who was the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, will host a media event to launch his candidacy in New York on Thursday morning.
Andrew Yang in brief

Yang suspended his presidential campaign last February and spent time as a CNN contributor after quitting the election campaign. By the time he ended that campaign, Yang had said he had no plans to run for mayor in New York, where he has lived for nearly 25 years.

He joined a field of dozens of mayoral candidates, according to city records. Contenders vie to take over a pandemic-stricken city where unemployment skyrockets, poverty and hunger rise, and a budget tightening on the horizon could force the next mayor to significantly cut jobs and services in the sector public.

Largely unknown outside of tech circles before the 2020 primary, Yang won the affection – if not always the votes – of Democrats who appreciated his character as a happy warrior on the debate and campaign stage. And he was backed by supporters dubbed the “Yang Gang,” who helped him raise $ 40 million during his run – including a surprising $ 16.5 million as the race heats up in the past three. month of 2019.

The former tech executive pushed the idea of ​​a universal basic income into the mainstream of political conversation during his presidential race. After leaving the race, he founded Humanity Forward, a non-profit organization that he used to test some of the ideas that animated his campaign. In March, he began giving hundreds of working families in New York City $ 1,000 a month to determine the effectiveness of such a program. The organization has also approved downward candidates across the country.

This story has been updated with general information.

CNN’s Devan Cole, Gregory Krieg, Dan Merica and Poppy Harlow contributed to this report.



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