“We are going to fight for a future New York that we can be proud of – together. Join us at YangforNY.com,” he added.
Yang suspended his presidential campaign last February and spent time as a CNN contributor after leaving the campaign. By the time he ended the campaign, Yang said he had no plans to run for mayor of New York, where he has lived for almost 25 years.
He joins a field of dozens of candidates for mayor, according to city records. Candidates are competing to take command of a pandemic-stricken city, where unemployment is skyrocketing, poverty and hunger are growing and a budget crisis on the horizon could force the next mayor to make deep cuts in sector jobs and services public.
Mostly unknown outside tech circles before the 2020 primaries, Yang won the affection – if not always the votes – of Democrats who appreciated his personality as a happy warrior on the stage of the debate and election campaign. And he was supported by supporters called “Gang Yang”, who helped him raise $ 40 million over the course of his race – including an astonishing $ 16.5 million as the race heated up in the final three months of 2019.
This story has been updated with background information.