Andrew Yang announced late Tuesday he was officially dropping out of the New York City mayoral race, citing early election results that show him in fourth place.
He added, “Though we’re not sure ultimately who the next mayor is going to be. But whoever that person is, I will be very happy to work with them.”
Yang was among 13 Democrats seeking the party’s nomination to become New York City’s next mayor.
Eric Adams, the Borough President of Brooklyn, appeared to be the early frontrunner with about 31.7 percent of the votes after polls closed for the first round of voting at 9 p.m. He was followed by civil rights attorney Maya Wiley in second place at about 22.3 percent, former NYC sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia in third place at 19.5 percent, and Yang in fourth place at 11.7 percent.
In remarks to supporters late Tuesday, he said, “We know that there’s going to be twos and threes and fours. But there’s something else we know. We know that New York City said, ‘Our first choice is Eric Adams.’”
The winner may not be announced for some time because it is unclear whether Adams would remain in the lead. More than 200,000 absentee ballots still need to be counted, as well as voters’ complete rankings of the candidates.
There are only two Republican candidates in the NYC mayoral race. As such, the ranked-choice voting system is unnecessary. Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the crime prevention non-profit Guardian Angels, won the Republican nomination for mayor, defeating rival Fernando Mateo.
