This week the Democratic candidates fighting for 2nd place in the runoff, have once again rolled out high ranking, influential endorsements, while Christine Quinn, the front-runner, has lost the backing of three left-wing Manhattan political clubs whose leaders say she’s become too centrist as City Council speaker.
The Village Independent Democrats, located in the heart of Quinn’s Manhattan district, have opted instead to back City Comptroller John Liu — the most liberal in the race.
The Broadway Democrats and CoDA (Coalition for a Democratic Alternative), both progressive clubs in Manhattan, also threw their support behind Mr. Liu. “I think they were shocked,” a source told The Post about the reaction of the speaker’s election team. “Quinn’s ground game in Manhattan is off.”
Meanwhile, Queens power-broker Rev. Floyd Flake endorsed Bill Thompson for mayor on Sunday — four years after turning his back on him in favor of Mayor Bloomberg. Flake heads the Greater Allen Cathedral of New York in Jamaica, the largest church in the city, with more than 23,000 members, making him an influential voice in the borough’s African-American community.
“I respect Mayor Bloomberg tremendously, but his term is up and elections and life are always about looking forward, not backward,” Flake told the Daily News. “I believe Bill has the right vision for the future city.”
The endorsement could help Thompson to further solidify his African-American base and forge a Black-Latino coalition.
Bill de Blasio, who kicked off a splashy “LGBT for BDB” event Sunday evening, with prominent members of the gay community, including actress Cynthia Nixon and actor Alan Cumming, got the endorsement of Hip-hop icon and activist Russell Simmons who slammed Ms. Quinn as beholden to special interests and Mr. Thompson as “too quiet.”
“I love the idea of a gay woman as mayor, but . . . she’s been bought and managed by special interests,” Mr. Simmons said. He also snubbed the Democrats’ only African-American candidate, William Thompson. “I don’t want a candidate who is too quiet,” said Mr. Simmons. “I want a candidate who is not afraid to offend a few people to support what he thinks is right.”
Simmons recorded a web ad for de Blasio, which is set to be released Monday. In it, he supports the Public Advocate’s plan to raise tax rates on wealthy New Yorkers to fund city programs.
During the 2012 presidential election, Mr. Simmons slammed Mitt Romney as being too wealthy. He also blasted the Romney/Ryan ticket as aiming to “destroy poor America.” Both of these endorsements won’t play well for Mr. de Blasio in the Orthodox Jewish community, who favored Bob Turner over Orthodox David Weprin on gay marriage, and voted 80%+ for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.