TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese-American politician Andrew Yang (楊安澤) announced his candidacy for New York City mayor on Wednesday (Jan. 13).
In a tweet released on Wednesday evening, he wrote "I moved to New York City 25 years ago. I came of age, fell in love, and became a father here. Seeing our City in so much pain breaks my heart." The tweet included a two-minute video explaining that he first moved to the city in 1996, that his wife is from Queens, and that his two sons were born at St. Luke's Hospital.
He pledged to create a guaranteed minimum income, to ensure universal high-speed internet, to "take back control of our subway," to improve the student-teacher ratio, to create a "People's Bank," and to reopen "intelligently." He ended the tweet by stating, "Let's fight for a future New York City that we can be proud of."
In addition to Yang, more than 10 other people have announced their candidacy, including Brooklyn Borough President and former New York Police Department Capt. Eric Adams, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan; former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire; New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, and the former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Maya Wiley.
The U.S. will hold local elections for governors, mayors, and state legislators in multiple states on Nov. 2. Registered Democrats will vote for their preferred nominee in the party's primary election on June 22.
Yang, 46, is a second-generation entrepreneur born to Taiwanese immigrants. If elected, he would become the first Asian-American New York City mayor.
In January of last year, Yang, who was running for U.S. president at the time, snubbed Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) by failing to congratulate her on Twitter for a landslide victory in the Taiwan presidential election on Jan. 11. In fact, he did not make any comment on Tsai's historic win on any public platform, while President-elect Joe Biden did, and Tsai returned the favor when he was elected.
One possible factor could be that Yang's foreign policy advisor for China, Ann Lee (李淯), an adjunct professor of economics and finance at New York University, appears to be advocating a more conciliatory approach to the communist regime.
