Former Mayor de Blasio announces run for Congress

NEW YORK — Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is running for Congress in a newly created district stretching from lower Manhattan to his home in Brooklyn, testing a political return in an already crowded Democratic primary.

De Blasio, who left office with low approval ratings in December after two terms, has spent months openly mulling his future. He considered runs for governor and another congressional seat, and recently hired a public relations firm to help him offer his services as an on-call political commentator.

But when a state court released a slate of proposed congressional districts this week, unexpectedly creating a new safely Democratic seat in the heart of New York City, he saw an opening and seized it.

“This is a unicorn: a brandnew congressional seat that no one has ever seen before that has no incumbent,” de Blasio said Friday, adding that he thought its voters might want “someone with some history and stature” at a moment of national tumult.

De Blasio, after eight years as mayor and a disastrous run for president in 2020, will enter the race better known than almost any potential opponent, with both a record of progressive accomplishments and a trail of political disappointments.

But it is far from clear that New Yorkers, many of whom eagerly welcomed de Blasio’s exit from City Hall, are ready to support a comeback, particularly when so many other Democrats carrying less baggage have already shown interest in running for the seat in an Aug. 23 primary.

De Blasio won his first mayoral election with support from Black and liberal white voters. But he lost many of those white voters over the years, despite his success implementing universal prekindergarten, and Black voters make up just over 6% of the voting-age population in the new district.

“I just can’t identify who’s going to vote for him,” said Chris Coffey, CEO of Tusk Strategies, who lives in the new district.

One potential voter, Barat Ellman, a progressive rabbi who has lived in Park Slope since 1990, said she grew disillusioned with de Blasio’s approach to policing and criminal justice.

“There would have to be some pretty miserable alternatives for me to go with him,” she said.