In America, everyone’s entitled to a secret ballot — including the mayor of New York City.
And while many inquiring minds want to know whom Mayor Bill de Blasio voted for to succeed him in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, the incumbent told reporters that he’s keeping his vote to himself.
Hizzoner cast his ballot midday on June 22 at the Park Slope Public Library, not too far away from his personal residence in Brooklyn. Like any other voter, he filled out his scannable paper ballot, most likely utilizing the ranked-choice voting system to choose whom he’d like to succeed him, then fraternized with some children waiting outside the library, even taking the time to sign autographs.
De Blasio took to Twitter to show that he fulfilled his Constitutional right and his goodwill gesture with young Brooklynites. But as to his ballot choices, he made clear that would remain a secret.
“Who am I voting for? The people of New York City,” he tweeted.
Who am I voting for? The future of New York City. pic.twitter.com/aVdQRCpKNJ
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) June 22, 2021
Prior to casting his ballot, de Blasio was more vocal at his daily press briefing in encouraging New Yorkers to vote rather than answering reporter questions about whom he favored. He stressed the importance of participating in the electoral process to choose his successor and chart a path forward for the Five Boroughs.
“We’ve been working now over this last year-and-a-half to overcome this crisis and move the city forward. Now, the people decide on the future direction and how to build that recovery out and make it permanent for this city,” de Blasio said. “So, everyone, you’ve got to get in the game. We need to see the people in this city come out and express their views and rank their votes.”
In recent weeks, the mayor didn’t express much favor for the slate of Democrats running to become New York City’s 110th mayor. After one televised debate, he went as far as to suggest he wasn’t particularly impressed by any of the eight candidates’ performance and urged them to “brush up on their facts” as they campaigned on.
But de Blasio has continued to rebuff questions about his personal choices — though he made no secret of his love for green peppers (and disdain for pineapple) on pizza, as he demonstrated during a public exercise on ranked-choice voting on June 10.
During Tuesday morning’s press conference, de Blasio affirmed again that, in his opinion, his vote was his business.
“I made a decision that I do not want to share my views at this point,” the mayor said. “I thought about it long and hard, came to the decision that whoever wins for all the different offices, I want to work with them. And I think the best way to do that is just keep my personal decisions to myself.”
