Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was ending his campaign for Congress in the newly reconfigured 10th District.
"It’s clear the people of #NY10 are looking for another option and I respect that. Time for me to leave electoral politics and focus on other ways to serve. I am really grateful for all the people I met, the stories I heard and the many good souls who helped out. Thank you all!" he said in a tweet.
The move comes less than two months after the former mayor announced his candidacy, and less than eight months after his term as mayor ended. He left his City Hall office with low poll numbers, and left the race for congressional seat with even lower numbers.
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"I want to say I love the people of this city. I will find a different way to serve. But I’m filled with gratitude at same time," de Blasio said. "I’m feeling a lot of gratitude. I’m also recognizing I made mistakes. I want to do better in future. I want to learn from the mistakes. It’s been a humbling experience. But also a health experience.”
The former mayor didn't say what those "mistakes" were, or detail his future plans. He does, however, sit on more than $400,000 in campaign cash. It was not immediately clear if he would be able to put that towards his large legal bills accumulated during ethics probes while serving as mayor.
The Democrat initially dispelled rumors about his bid to represent the 11th Congressional District, but in May de Blasio said that he was eyeing the redrawn 10th instead. He then confirmed his candidacy on May 20 during an MSNBC appearance, and later tweeted that he was running.
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New York's 10th District is currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, but the state's political maps are being redrawn under supervision of a New York judge after a court found they were unconstitutional and gerrymandered in favor of Democrats.
In May, the court unveiled new proposed maps that significantly draw a number of New York City-based districts. Nadler said he believed the maps were changed so much that they are also unconstitutional, but if the proposed districts become final at the end of this week, he intends to run in the 12th District representing Manhattan.
The new 10th District takes in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope among others, as well as all of Manhattan below 11th Street. State Sen. Brad Hoylman has already declared for the race, and state Assembly members Robert Carroll and Yuh-Line Niou have said they were considering it.
The primary contest has been pushed back from June to Aug. 23.
De Blasio toyed with running for governor this year before deciding to sit it out. He also had a short-lived run for president in 2019.
His two terms as mayor ended last year. He has been on a media tour of late, writing op-eds and giving interviews in which he frankly acknowledged how unpopular he was as mayor, and what he could have done differently.
