Now that the Republican Party has a presumptive nominee for New York City Mayor – Nicole Malliotakis – current Mayor de Blasio has a handful to catch up on as she starts to gain ground. After an event this past weekend, Malliotakis was praised in her home borough of Staten Island during a Fourth of July celebration while de Blasio faced boos and criticism. This demonstrates the potential, though longshot, candidacy of Malliotakis.

Although BDB has the money, Malliotakis is gaining support in a lot of voter blocs within Staten Island and Brooklyn while also gaining support in the Hispanic community. If she were to win, it would give her the power to help with the City Council Speakership, something a lot of voters are hoping the next mayor will focus on.

Due to New York City’s high population of Democrats and their agenda, the progressive policies of Mayor de Blasio have so far been victories on his record. With the struggle of getting his most recent expansion of oversight in the New York City schooling system, it proved to his constituents that they might need someone tougher on the state and city level. Malliotakis in many of her statements has criticized de Blasio on education, taxes, and oversight in the workforce. Due to an ongoing rift amongst the Democrats regarding de Blasio’s initiatives, some in his party may be looking towards Malliotakis as a stronger leader. For political theorists on the campaign trail, Malliotakis checks off a lot of boxes as a candidate to make the Republican party a growing entity again in New York City.