Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, a former presidential contender, officially declared his run for New York City mayor on Wednesday.
“I moved to New York City 25 years ago,” he said in a campaign video released Wednesday. “I came of age, fell in love, and became a father here. Seeing our City in so much pain breaks my heart.”
In the video, released on Twitter, he put forth an agenda that included a guaranteed minimum income, bringing universal high-speed Internet, starting a “people’s bank,” and reopening New York City “intelligently” from the pandemic.
Yang joins more than two dozen people running for the seat, including Ray McGuire, the former vice chairman of Citigroup Inc.; Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams, city Comptroller Scott Stringer and former US Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan. Incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio is prevented by term limits from running again. Some initial polling shows Yang will start as one of the early frontrunners in the race.
Born in Schenectady, New York, to immigrants from Taiwan, Yang worked for several startups before becoming chief executive officer of a Manhattan test-preparation company that was sold to Kaplan Inc. in 2009. In 2017, he declared his run for president.
Yang built his presidential campaign on a promise of $1,000 a month in universal basic income to every adult, with a tax on tech companies. He ended his bid in February 2020, but a longer-than-expected run throughout the Democratic primaries brought him a national platform that he used to campaign for President-Elect Joe Biden and Democrats who took control of the Senate.
{{/usCountry}}Yang built his presidential campaign on a promise of $1,000 a month in universal basic income to every adult, with a tax on tech companies. He ended his bid in February 2020, but a longer-than-expected run throughout the Democratic primaries brought him a national platform that he used to campaign for President-Elect Joe Biden and Democrats who took control of the Senate.
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