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- Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang opened a bank account and filed paperwork for a possible New York City mayoral run, a source with direct knowledge of the decision confirmed to Insider.
- “This is a procedural thing and next step — not taking money and no official decision,” the source said.
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Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and former Democratic presidential candidate, is taking a “next step” toward a possible New York City mayoral run.
Yang filed paperwork with the New York City Board of Elections and opened a campaign bank account, a source with direct knowledge of the decision confirmed to Insider on Wednesday.
“This is a procedural thing and next step – not taking money and no official decision,” the source said, requesting anonymity to discuss the move.
Nineteen candidates have already formally declared for the 2021 race, with Yang’s potential bid looming over the field given his national name recognition.
Since dropping out of the 2020 presidential primary, Yang has been campaigning for other Democrats, including President-elect Joe Biden as well as down ballot candidates such as Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate runoffs.
He also started a nonprofit called Move Humanity Forward, which promotes candidates championing his signature issue of universal basic income.
Yang was recently named in a New York City mayoral poll, both as a Democrat and as a third party candidate.
The 2021 New York City mayoral race will be the first to feature ranked choice voting. The new system allows voters to pick up to five candidates and rank them in order of preference.
Proponents of the system say it will mitigate the problem of "spoiler candidates" in crowded races, and give voters the chance to vote for their true favorite candidate instead of making a calculation about who is more likely to win.