Of the seven candidates who will be onstage for the New York City mayoral debate on Thursday night, just one of them, Adrienne Adams, is a woman.
Ms. Adams, the City Council speaker, is running to be the first female mayor of New York, the only major American city that has never elected a woman to its highest office.
She was one of two women who took part in the first debate last week, along with Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens. But Ms. Ramos did not raise enough money to qualify for the second debate, and she endorsed Mr. Cuomo, effectively taking herself out of contention.
Ms. Adams is running on a message of “no drama, no scandal — just competence and integrity.” Her campaign videos emphasize her fights to restore funding for libraries and prekindergarten and show her spending time with her grandchildren. She has highlighted how she helped approve a major housing proposal, known as City of Yes, as Council speaker, and her campaign has proposed the nation’s largest guaranteed income program.
“I’m running for mayor — not for power or praise, but for my children and yours,” she says in one campaign video.
She was endorsed by Letitia James, the state attorney general, and District Council 37, a major municipal union. And she has presented herself as a calm and principled alternative to Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent, and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who leads in Democratic primary polls. Both men have been investigated for misconduct. (Ms. Adams is not related to the mayor.)
Ms. Adams, who entered the race later than the other candidates, is often in third or fourth place in polls. Mr. Cuomo has received much of the attention in recent days, along with Zohran Mamdani, a state lawmaker from Queens who is polling in second place and rising.
Several women have run for mayor of New York City, including Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley, who finished in second and third place in the 2021 Democratic primary. Christine Quinn, a former City Council speaker, finished third in the 2013 primary.
Female candidates have frequently said that it is harder for them to secure donations and endorsements, and they often face skepticism from voters, in addition to outright sexism, when seeking an executive job like president or mayor.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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