Bill de Blasio: Will New York Electa Strongly Left-Leaning Mayor?

Bill de Blasio is the favorite in the election for mayor of New York on Tuesday. The man with a very liberal morality seems to have won over the inhabitants of the “Big Apple” with a program heavily influenced by his left-wing beliefs and in total opposition to his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.

Combined with a style that is quite different from what we see on the American political landscape, his program seem to have convinced New Yorkers. Indeed, he is within reach of being elected as head of the “Big Apple” on Tuesday. Here is a portrait of an ambitious iconoclast of American politics.

Casually Multiracial: His Greatest Media Asset

The 6-foot 4-inch tall, white giant is married to Chirlaine McCray, a former lesbian, six years his elder. A left-wing activist from the outset, poet and African-American icon, she has managed the campaign with him throughout.

Responsible for the campaign’s strategy and important speeches, she also appears on the leaflets of this hyperactive politician in his 50s. Born Warren Wilhelm, de Blasio later chose to take his mother’s name, which is more Italian-sounding .

The two children of the star couple have also been involved, appearing in advertising campaigns for the politician. De Blasio did indeed gamble by highlighting the lifestyle of his multiracial family, which lives in a modest house in an up-and-coming area of Brooklyn, separated from Manhattan by the waters of the East River.

Bill de Blasio is not “some boring white guy,” assures Chiara, 18 and a student, wearing a wreath for greater effect in a campaign ad for her father, while his son Dante, 16, sports an afro.

In conservative America, De Blasio began as an activist in favor of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, opposing Ronald Reagan, who then funded the other party. He entered politics in 1989 and held various positions under the Clinton administration.

Higher Taxes and Spending: A Speech at the Service of State Interventionism

As his words indicate, the very likely future mayor of New York has a program that feels a little out of place in the United States. Indeed, de Blasio proposes raising taxes for the rich in order to fund school programs for children from the age of four and free school meals; ending police checks that systematically target black and Latino populations; building social housing by the thousands; and awarding two additional days of school vacation for Muslim holidays.

In short, for him, salvation lies in taxes on high incomes, public expenditure and sexual liberation.

This rebel style and discourse, oriented to the left, mark a radical change for New Yorkers who are accustomed to the more civilized Michael Bloomberg, a staunch defender of Wall Street.

Even the businessman who has been running the city since 2002 has left his mark during his time by being first a Democrat, then a Republican in 2001, before declaring himself an Independent. Weary of their former sovereign, New Yorkers seem to have chosen their camp. It is necessary to wait until Tuesday for Bill de Blasio’s election to be confirmed in the face of a candidate who lacks charisma —Republican Joe Lhota, his biggest opponent.