Anthony Weiner vowed Sunday to remain in the race for New York City mayor despite the resignation of his campaign manager, a fresh sign of trouble for the former congressman who has lost ground in polls to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Mr. Weiner campaigned as usual Sunday, visiting a Baptist church in Brooklyn in the morning before telling reporters that the latest revelations of his lewd online conduct would soon fade.
"There are things in my background that may come up, and they may be distractions, but they're not going to be distractions for long," Mr. Weiner said.
New York City politics have provided a vivid spectacle this year as Mr. Weiner and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign in 2008 after he was enveloped in a prostitution scandal, both attempt comebacks. The winner of the mayoral race would succeed billionaire Michael Bloomberg as head of the country's largest city, with a budget of about $70 billion and a national bully pulpit on urban issues.
Mr. Weiner confirmed that his campaign manager, Danny Kedem, had resigned, but he didn't say why. Mr. Kedem didn't respond to requests for comment. Mr. Weiner said his campaign staff was strong enough to win the race and more volunteers had come forward even after revelations that the candidate continued to exchange sexually explicit messages and photos online after resigning from Congress in 2011.
The main beneficiary of the campaign trouble appears to be Ms. Quinn, who was the front-runner until Mr. Weiner's surprise entry into the Democratic primary this spring. In a Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist College poll last week—the only poll taken since the new details about Mr. Weiner's conduct surfaced—Ms. Quinn led Mr. Weiner among registered Democrats, 25% to 16%. Mr. Weiner previously had led in polls.
Mr. Weiner and Ms. Quinn are among five major candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the first wide-open race for New York City mayor since 2001, when Mr. Bloomberg scored an upset victory. Three candidates are pursuing the GOP nomination.
Unusually personal narratives have spiced up the campaign, from Mr. Weiner's appeal for redemption to Ms. Quinn's attempt to become the city's first female and first openly gay mayor. Another candidate, former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, seeks to become the city's second black mayor, while John Liu, the current city comptroller, would be its first Asian-American mayor.
Ms. Quinn has stepped up attacks on Mr. Weiner in recent days. Mr. Weiner has a "pattern of reckless behavior, an inability to tell the truth and a real lack of maturity or responsibility," Ms. Quinn said on NBC Sunday. She added Mr. Weiner has disqualified himself to be mayor "not just because of these scandals," but also because of what she called his weak record in Congress.
Her comments were among a deluge of criticism for Mr. Weiner on Sunday. David Axelrod, a longtime adviser to President Barack Obama who said he is a friend of Mr. Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, called Mr. Weiner's candidacy "absurd."
"He is not going to be the next mayor of New York—he is wasting time and space," Mr. Axelrod said on NBC.
A former congressional colleague of Mr. Weiner's, Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, said on CNN that Mr. Weiner isn't "psychologically qualified to be mayor."
A spokeswoman for Mr. Weiner declined Sunday to respond to the criticisms.
Mr. Weiner has shown no signs that he is preparing to drop out. With a spot on the ballot, more than $4.8 million in his campaign account and the support of his wife, Mr. Weiner has argued that he doesn't answer to the people who are telling him to abandon his campaign.
"It's going to give me a level of independence," he said of the scandal, in an interview posted on the Staten Island Advance's website on Sunday. "I'm not constructing a campaign around the approval of my peers. I am constructing a campaign around the aspirations of my neighbors."
According to the Journal poll, Mr. Weiner is statistically tied for second place in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, with Mr. Thompson and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. Under New York election law, a mayoral candidate must secure 40% of the primary vote to advance to the general election—otherwise a runoff is held between the top two vote getters on Oct. 1. While Mr. Weiner appears to be losing ground, the latest poll showed he could still fight his way to a runoff.
With an untested political organization, Mr. Weiner would have trouble winning a runoff against a candidate such as Ms. Quinn. But if he pulled it off, he would have a numerical advantage in the general election: Democrats outnumber Republicans in the city by six to one. Still, the GOP nominee has won the past five mayoral races—Mr. Bloomberg was personally unaffiliated with any party in his last election but he ran all three times on the Republican line—and some GOP candidates might relish taking on Mr. Weiner.
Write to Michael Howard Saul at [email protected]
Mr. Weiner campaigned as usual Sunday, visiting a Baptist church in Brooklyn in the morning before telling reporters that the latest revelations of his lewd online conduct would soon fade.
"There are things in my background that may come up, and they may be distractions, but they're not going to be distractions for long," Mr. Weiner said.
New York City politics have provided a vivid spectacle this year as Mr. Weiner and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign in 2008 after he was enveloped in a prostitution scandal, both attempt comebacks. The winner of the mayoral race would succeed billionaire Michael Bloomberg as head of the country's largest city, with a budget of about $70 billion and a national bully pulpit on urban issues.
Mr. Weiner confirmed that his campaign manager, Danny Kedem, had resigned, but he didn't say why. Mr. Kedem didn't respond to requests for comment. Mr. Weiner said his campaign staff was strong enough to win the race and more volunteers had come forward even after revelations that the candidate continued to exchange sexually explicit messages and photos online after resigning from Congress in 2011.
The main beneficiary of the campaign trouble appears to be Ms. Quinn, who was the front-runner until Mr. Weiner's surprise entry into the Democratic primary this spring. In a Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist College poll last week—the only poll taken since the new details about Mr. Weiner's conduct surfaced—Ms. Quinn led Mr. Weiner among registered Democrats, 25% to 16%. Mr. Weiner previously had led in polls.
Mr. Weiner and Ms. Quinn are among five major candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the first wide-open race for New York City mayor since 2001, when Mr. Bloomberg scored an upset victory. Three candidates are pursuing the GOP nomination.
Unusually personal narratives have spiced up the campaign, from Mr. Weiner's appeal for redemption to Ms. Quinn's attempt to become the city's first female and first openly gay mayor. Another candidate, former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, seeks to become the city's second black mayor, while John Liu, the current city comptroller, would be its first Asian-American mayor.
Ms. Quinn has stepped up attacks on Mr. Weiner in recent days. Mr. Weiner has a "pattern of reckless behavior, an inability to tell the truth and a real lack of maturity or responsibility," Ms. Quinn said on NBC Sunday. She added Mr. Weiner has disqualified himself to be mayor "not just because of these scandals," but also because of what she called his weak record in Congress.
Her comments were among a deluge of criticism for Mr. Weiner on Sunday. David Axelrod, a longtime adviser to President Barack Obama who said he is a friend of Mr. Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, called Mr. Weiner's candidacy "absurd."
"He is not going to be the next mayor of New York—he is wasting time and space," Mr. Axelrod said on NBC.
A former congressional colleague of Mr. Weiner's, Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, said on CNN that Mr. Weiner isn't "psychologically qualified to be mayor."
A spokeswoman for Mr. Weiner declined Sunday to respond to the criticisms.
Mr. Weiner has shown no signs that he is preparing to drop out. With a spot on the ballot, more than $4.8 million in his campaign account and the support of his wife, Mr. Weiner has argued that he doesn't answer to the people who are telling him to abandon his campaign.
"It's going to give me a level of independence," he said of the scandal, in an interview posted on the Staten Island Advance's website on Sunday. "I'm not constructing a campaign around the approval of my peers. I am constructing a campaign around the aspirations of my neighbors."
According to the Journal poll, Mr. Weiner is statistically tied for second place in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary, with Mr. Thompson and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. Under New York election law, a mayoral candidate must secure 40% of the primary vote to advance to the general election—otherwise a runoff is held between the top two vote getters on Oct. 1. While Mr. Weiner appears to be losing ground, the latest poll showed he could still fight his way to a runoff.
With an untested political organization, Mr. Weiner would have trouble winning a runoff against a candidate such as Ms. Quinn. But if he pulled it off, he would have a numerical advantage in the general election: Democrats outnumber Republicans in the city by six to one. Still, the GOP nominee has won the past five mayoral races—Mr. Bloomberg was personally unaffiliated with any party in his last election but he ran all three times on the Republican line—and some GOP candidates might relish taking on Mr. Weiner.
Write to Michael Howard Saul at [email protected]