He dropped the 140 character on Twitter, a tool that forced him to resign two years ago, for a much faster and well prepared 140 second video message. As if it were a secret, Anthony Weiner finally put all rumors to rest and jumped right into the mayoral race, just in time for petitioning season.
“Look, I made some big mistakes. And I know I let a lot of people down. But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor ‘cuz I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you,” Mr. Weiner says in the video. Second chances? It’s up to the voters this time.
An April 19, 2013 Quinnipiac University survey gives Weiner 15 percent of Democratic primary voters in the New York City mayor’s race, but he has a negative favorability of 41-33, and back then only half the voters thought it was a good idea for him to run at all.
Now that he’s running, those numbers could improve, at least initially.
In the same poll, Christine Quinn led the Democratic primary field with 28 percent, well short of the 40 percent needed to avoid a primary runoff. Her support included 31 percent of women and 24 percent of men. Results for other candidates were:
15 percent for Weiner, including 20 percent of men and 12 percent of women;
11 percent for Bill de Blasio, including 10 percent of men and 12 percent of women;
10 percent for William Thompson, including 14 percent of men and 7 percent of women;
9 percent for John Liu, including 9 percent of men and 8 percent of women.
Yori Yanover contributed to this report.