here to discuss the end of his campaign and what voters
are looking for from the Democratic Party this fall is
former new york city Mayor Bill de Blasio, Thanks so
much for being with us. It's my pleasure Maritsa. So
let's talk about your decision and your campaign lay it
out for us. How long had you been having those
conversations And what was the tipping point Yeah, well,
it's just the last few days things really changed and
had thought things were going pretty well, great
response out in the streets and uh, you know, solid
fundraising and you know, the things you look for that
normally tell you. But unfortunately we saw three pole
in a row in very short order the last few days, they
just said that people are looking for something else.
It's hard for anyone, you know, anybody as a human
being to feel like, well, maybe people just don't want
it right now. But as a candidate, you kind of have to
look at the fact that folks are looking for different
things at different moments. Yeah, let's, let's say on
that point for a minute, your tweet announcing t
decision says you're leaving electoral politics
altogether and we'll focus on other ways to serve. So
any idea what that looks like yet. Yeah, there is
endless need right now. It's a really tough moment,
tough moment in this city and all over the country. So,
you know, I think about maybe it's a nonprofit
organization, maybe, uh, it's some appointed role. You
know, maybe it's working in politics, but not as a
candidate helping other good people, you know, I'm
really open. Um I got a lot of lot of desire to serve a
lot of, a lot to give and, you know, you make a
decision like this. I did not make this decision
because I had something else in hand, I made the
decision because it was clear to me, things weren't
working. Uh so, you know, now I'll take, take some days
and weeks to explore and figure out something good. And
as you're in reflection mode here, looking back at your
time as mayor, do you think you made mistakes And if so,
is there anything you'd do differently Oh, yeah, I mean,
the I think the most profound simple way to say it is,
you know, I came in as someone who had been a politica
operative before running for of and a lot of folks
said, well, you know, as this guy is going to be any
good at government, I hope in the end I was pretty good
at government. I'm not so sure I was good at politics.
You know, I did get elected twice, you know, with
strong margins. But in terms of really thinking about
what I had to do as a leader of this big, complex,
extraordinary city, I had to communicate a lot more
than I did. I had to provide a clear sense of direct
I had to get out to the people more. I just made a lot
of fundamental mistakes, you know, in part because
being there in new york city is really pretty
overwhelming. It's uh, you know, it's been called in
the past, the second toughest job in America. It's
certainly one of the tougher ones. And I said this, I
did an op ed a few months back. I sort of appealin
Joe Biden to learn from some of my mistakes. And one of
the things I said is, you know, don't mistake policy
for popularity. Joe Biden has got a lot of great ideas,
a lot of great policy, but unless it connects with
people, unless people feel you and feel you understand
what they're going through, it doesn't necessarily hit
home. A senior government and policy advisor was quoted
as saying it's very hard to win another office after
being new york city mayor because of just so many
decisions made on contentious issues. And he even said
moses, Mohammed and jesus would not leave popular. Do
you agree with that It was a very powerful quote. And
um there's a lot of truth in that statement. Um you
know, I got my start in politics in new york city
working for Mayor David Dinkins. But before that, on
his campaign actually, when he challenged Ed Koch, Ed
Koch was running for the fourth term as mayor and think
he's defeated him is kind of legendary, but he could
not win re election by the time, you know Bloomberg
left, uh, he was very unpopular. Giuliani before 9 11
was incredibly unpopular. 9 11 obviously painful and,
and very unusual, horrible situation. But that changed
everyone's view. So really if you look, if you look at
the history, most mayors leave, um, we're sort of
having maybe outstayed our welcome and it does teach
you something it really does. But I think that
notwithstanding, I still think I had learned some of
the lessons of the past better, I might have been able
to do better staying connected to people. Now. I will,
I will say objectively COVID required really tough
decisions. I mean, vaccine mandates are a great example.
I'm absolutely comfortable. I made the right choice.
vaccine mandates for public employees, teachers, fir
responders, you know, for restaurants and bars and
ultimately for all public sector should be private
sector. Uh, it was the right thing to do. It helped the
city rebound from covid it kept people safe and save
lives. Uh, it was the toughest vaccine mandate pr
in the country. But you know, a lot of people didn't
like it. You know, if that's a, that's a good way to
rub some people the wrong way if you got to do
something like that. So sometim the right thing to do
in a crisis is not the best thing for popularity.
if you have to govern a crisis, you gotta do the right
thing for the people and sort of to hell with what's
gonna happen with your political future at that point.
So switching to this national scene, you mentioned t
op ed, you wrote some new unfavorable polling nu
just came out about president biden running for re
election. Where do you stand Should he run in 2024 Well,
I think the first thing to recognize and I can kind of
relate even though I've only been mayor of a big city,
I can at least relate to some of the things he's
dealing with. Um he cannot announce that he's not
running any time soon. You know, let's say he's even
having doubts. He simply can't because he has to run
this country. And by the way, in many ways he's running
so much of the world. I mean, the coalition he put
together to defend Ukraine is actually one of the
greatest foreign policy accomplishments in decades.
It's the greatest unity we've seen in the West
certainly since World War Two. And so, you know, he
cannot undercut his own abilities, his own leadership
by saying, Oh by the way, I'm not running for Presid
2024. That's a decision that I think objectively as a
leadership matter has to wait until next year. And in
your opinion, are democrats moving with enough urgency
to satisfy their base on issues like abortion, gun
control and same sex marriage hot topics right now. I
would say on those issues, much more than on the
kitchen table issues where democrats need to focus more.
So obviously it was it was right and it was powerful to
see the House act on marriage equality, also defe
interracial marriages, which us to be illegal in this
country. I mean, my wife and I come from different
races and it's a love that's lasted now for 30 years,
but that was illegal at the time we each were born. So,
you know, I think the democrats are making a really
powerful statement in the house to say we're not going
backwards on all these fundamental rights. I think
democrats have been powerful on the gun safety issue.
Uh, the you know, it's important, people need to hear
it, they need to feel it and they've seen action, I
want to see even more from the executive branch, but
don't think that's all it's gonna take to win the
election, we gotta get back to the kitchen table, do
something to lower prescription drug costs, do
something more to show we're fighting inflation. Uh
biden's got a great plan to tax the wealthy and
corporations joe Manchin standi in the way now, but
biden can still go fight for that plan and tell people
where he wants to take the country. So I think we're
part way on the right path in terms of november. But if
you don't bring that economic piece to the table, I
don't think you can win a lot of the people you need to
win. Former new york city Mayor Bill de Blasio. Thanks
so much for your time. Absolutely take care Mari