Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund executive, entered the New York City mayor’s race last year, hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as a business leader who is not part of the political establishment.
He has portrayed himself as a moderate alternative to the left-leaning candidates and has qualified for more than $2 million in public matching funds. But in a crowded field, he has struggled to rise above 1 percent in the polls.
Ahead of the June 24 primary, the leading Democrats in the race visited The New York Times for interviews. We are publishing excerpts from those interviews, and this is the third in the series; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
We asked Mr. Tilson, 58, questions about 10 themes, with the occasional follow-up, touching on his love for cycling and his escalating criticism of Zohran Mamdani, a progressive state lawmaker.
We’ve written previously about where Mr. Tilson and the other candidates stand on key issues and which candidates are raising the most money in your neighborhood.
1. What’s the most important issue in the race: affordability, public safety, President Trump or something else?
I’m trying to elevate the issue of fixing our schools. It’s the single biggest part of our budget, and I think it’s the root of so many of the other problems we see in our city, from the school-to-prison pipeline to affordability.
What are two concrete actions you would take in your first year to improve schools?
No. 1, I would champion charter schools. The mayor and the schools chancellor have a great deal of control over co-location. [He is referring to the practice of charter schools sharing a building with another school.]
Secondly, I would eliminate social promotion after third grade to force the system to teach kids to read properly.
2. Who was the best New York City mayor in your lifetime?
Bloomberg, you won’t be surprised to hear me say. He was an outsider and business person and was independent of all of the special interest groups in New York, and I felt like he was really fighting for New Yorkers.
3. Eric Adams recently delayed the start of some fines for composting. Should composting be mandatory?
I would delay it. I consider myself an environmentalist, but it’s just sort of one more cost to the city that I worry that we can’t afford right now.
A cost for New Yorkers or the cost of enforcement?
Both. Right now, I worry that we’ve made New York City unlivable for too many people with all sorts of well-intentioned mandates and so I would delay this.
4. The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is crumbling. How would you fix it?
I’m not sure I have sat in that traffic recently. So I don’t have any specific thoughts on that particular expressway.
5. What’s one issue in politics that you’ve changed your mind on?
President Biden not running for a second term was something that I was initially quiet about, and I didn’t fully appreciate how much he had deteriorated, physically and mentally. I was sort of fooled by the coverup, I suppose. It wasn’t until after the debate that I realized how bad things were and that he was going to lose in a landslide, and so I very quickly pivoted and got very loud and was one of the most vocal Democratic donors in the country, in terms of going on national television calling for him to step aside. I got my wish there.
The second thing I called for was an open primary and a real horse race into the Democratic convention. I knew that time was short, but I worried that in nominating someone who was the vice president of a deeply unpopular president, that we were simply going to switch from one losing horse to another. I lost that battle, and my worst fears were realized.
6. There have been questions about where Mayor Eric Adams lives. Where do you live?
98th and Fifth. Upper East Side.
How much is your rent or mortgage?
I was lucky enough — we purchased it in 2002 so I’ve lived there 23 years, and so we pay $5,000 a month in maintenance, everything all in.
Do you own a car?
Yes, one car.
What model?
A Volvo XC60 2018.
How often do you take the subway or bus?
Every day almost. My primary method of transportation is my bike, and I bike rain, snow or shine, anywhere that I can bike to.
7. How would you describe your personal financial situation? Are you in the 1 percent?
I would say 1 percent. I’m comfortable. I’m fortunate. But I could not have self-funded this campaign to any degree, or written even a few million dollars in checks, much less $73 million, which I believe is what Mike Bloomberg spent. I probably would not have entered this race were there not the public matching program.
8. Why have you criticized Zohran Mamdani so strongly?
I think Zohran Mamdani is very dangerous, and he has been using the word genocide, for example, to refer to Israel’s actions. I think that kind of inflammatory rhetoric is very dangerous. I have been very vocal in my criticism, particularly of him, not for expressing sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, which I share, but for using rhetoric and being out there even in the days after Oct. 7, before Israel had even responded, he was out there leading protests.
9. What is your bagel order or favorite breakfast sandwich?
I sort of have a sweet tooth, so a cinnamon raisin bagel with plain cream cheese, or maybe honey walnut cream cheese sometimes.
What shop?
A little new bagel shop that opened up: Grabstein’s.
10. What’s the last TV show you binged?
I am a die-hard “Survivor” fan. I have never missed an episode in 25 years, and it’s always been my dream to be on “Survivor.”
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
Jeffery C. Mays is a Times reporter covering politics with a focus on New York City Hall.
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