Yang makes nice with a second foe

Mayoral wannabe Andrew Yang’s lovefest with rival candidates continued Monday with a joint news conference with Kathryn Garcia.

The stated purpose of their appearance together was to embrace Garcia’s plan to make the city’s business license application process less confusing

But coming days after Yang appeared alongside another candidate, Maya Wiley, he seemed to be making a case that he’d be New York’s Mr. Nice Guy if elected to office.

“I like and admire Kathryn,” Yang told reporters in Harlem. “I think that any city that has her in a position of leadership is going to be stronger, is going to function better.” He said he’d make Garcia (top inset) his second or third choice after himself in this year’s Democratic primary, which for the first time feature “ranked-choice” voting in which voters will list candidates in order of preference instead of picking just one.

Garcia didn’t quite return the favor, saying, “I have not made a decision on my second choice yet.”

“I am thrilled that Andrew is here with me and that we are talking about an innovative piece of technology and really cutting bureaucratic nonsense,” said Garcia, former sanitation commissioner under Mayor de Blasio.

Both promised to make one city agency responsible for the range of licenses required to run a business, instead of the status quo, which requires entrepreneurs to apply to multiple agencies. They also talked about creating an app to help achieve this.

Garcia touted her experience navigating bureaucracy — she noted she oversaw the city’s effort to provide millions of free meals during the pandemic — while Yang (bottom inset) said the idea appealed to him since he’s a former entrepreneur.

Recent polls show Yang, who rose to national prominence during his unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination, at the head of the pack of crowded candidates. He had support from 32% of likely Democratic voters in a poll released last week. He was trailed by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who came in with 19%, and Wiley, a former top legal adviser to de Blasio, who had 9%. Garcia came in with support from 5% of likely voters.

Last week, the Freelancers Union issued a joint endorsement of Yang and Wiley.