The race for Mayor has had its ups and downs, “ebs” and flows.  Like a playoff basketball game, we have seen the lead change, and the game evolve.  But it’s now “crunch time” and we are getting to the end.  Early voting has started and by next week, the bulk of the votes will be cast.

There is a lot at stake for our community.  A lot on the line.

For many, our community, the Frum community, has looked at two candidates.  One that is new, but aggressively pursuing the community.  And another that has longstanding ties to the community, whose work for the community has been well known for decades.

But the choice is no longer that simple.  It’s no longer an “either, or” scenario.

Something else has happened.

While Andrew Yang had a solid lead in the polls early on, that lead has evaporated.  That lead now belongs to Eric Adams.  According to the latest Poll from Pix11/Emerson, Eric Adams has a solid lead at 23%, Maya Wiley is at 18%, Kathryn Garcia is at 17% and Andrew Yang is at 14%- 4^th place and fading fast.  According to Emerson’s poll’s press release, Maya Wiley coming in second is the direct result of her being endorsed by AOC- Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

“AOC’s endorsement of Maya Wiley was a game changer, as Wiley had not passed 9% in earlier polls, and now is in second place at 17%. Regarding the endorsement, 29% of voters said they were now more likely to vote for Wiley due to the AOC endorsement, while 29% said they were less likely, and 42% said it made no difference” Emerson said.

Maya Wiley is without a doubt, the AOC candidate.

We are a big city, the Yang coalition has not materialized, and there is nothing mathematically that the Frum community can do to change that.  Even if every Frum voter, voted for Andrew Yang, 4^th place is still a likely result come election day.

So therefore, every Frum #1 vote Yang receives, is one less #1 vote that Eric Adams will receive.  Meanwhile, the ultra-left wing, BDS-supporting Maya Wiley, the candidate of AOC who is bankrolled by George Soros, has seen progressives coalesce around her, as for them, she appears to be the only viable candidate.  Wiley is adding to her number 1 votes every day.  While Maya Wiley is mathematically growing her base of progressive number 1 votes, the moderate Frum community, those who care about public safety, are splitting their number 1 votes among two candidates.  Simple math, if two candidates split the moderate vote as the radicals – who want to defund the police-  vote for only one specific defund candidate, the radical Maya Wiley, this radical vote is amplified, thereby increasing Maya Wiley’s chances of winning.

If Yang was in first place in the polls, this would be a different conversation.  But he is not. And after a fine campaign and an aggressive one in the Frum community , he can’t win, and it’s time for us to be smart. And to do what’s best for our community and New York City.

Eric Adams is the only way we can stop the radical onslaught that will make us less safe, and infiltrate our way of life, and take over our Yeshivas. We need to maximize the amount of number 1 votes now, so when the dust settles he has as strong a lead as possible at the end of the first round of counting.  A big lead after round one is the mathematical key to this election.

That’s right, this election is different because of ranked choice voting.  We get to rank our choices, and some would say putting Eric number 2 with Yang as number 1, is ok, because even if Yang falls off in one of the early rounds of counting,  then his votes will go to Eric Adams and that is a win-win for everyone.

But consider that this is a very big city.  And the progressives are ascendant, there is a very good chance that Maya Wiley is the second choice of Diane Morales voters, and the second choice of Scott Stringer voters.  There are 13 people on the ballot for Mayor. Many will drop off before Andrew Yang will. It will take quite some time before Andrew Yang’s number 2 votes matter.  All the while, Maya Wiley and her radical contingent are gaining strength through the multiple rounds of counting.  She can even take the lead before Andrew Yang’s number 2 votes are counted.

They more number 1 votes Eric Adams gets at the outset, the bigger his lead going into the many rounds of ranking where the progressive candidates are expected to do better.

Maya Wiley has refused to meet with Frum media, supports investigating our Yeshivas and wants to defund the police and make us less safe.  She doesn’t care, she has her own private security force guarding her $3 million home.  She is as “limousine liberal” as it gets.  We cannot allow her to end round one of the counting in a strong position, she will only get stronger after that in subsequent rounds.

We all know what a radically progressive mayor who eschews the Frum community means for us.  We know what that means for New York City.  There won’t be any comeback from COVID.

We need to put our support behind the candidate with the best chance of winning.  We can no longer play games with multiple candidates.  Andrew Yang can’t win.  Eric Adams can win.  It’s that simple. We much make sure he wins as quickly as possible.  He needs as many number 1 ranked votes NOW!

Yerachmiel Katz – NYC

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.

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NEW POLLING: our latest @PIX11News @EmersonCollege @NewsNationPR poll shows the following rankings in the Mayor's race:@ericadamsfornyc 23%@mayawiley 18%@KGforNYC 17%@AndrewYang 14%@scottmstringer 9%
@RayForMayor 3%@ShaunDonovanNYC 2%@Dianne4NYC 2%#PIXonPolitics pic.twitter.com/ke3OOsPrWo

— Dan Mannarino (@DanMannarino) June 17, 2021

The poll showed a majority of 51% of people did NOT care about the @ericadamsfornyc residency questions. @PIX11News #PIXonPolitics pic.twitter.com/zhr3jmP7n1

— Dan Mannarino (@DanMannarino) June 17, 2021

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