Andrew Yang is poised to announce an eagerly anticipated bid for mayor of New York City this week, but before even jumping into the race he's already courting controversy for remarks about trying to avoid the city because it's too hard to work from home.
The entrepreneur and former presidential candidate has both a Manhattan apartment and a place upstate, and according to the New York Times and Politico, has been spending much of his time at the latter.
In an interview from that New Paltz home Sunday, Yang told the Times he opted to re-base his family upstate, in part because it was too complicated for him to work from the same conditions that many NYC residents have faced for months.
“We live in a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. And so, like, can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to do work yourself?” Yang said.
He also told the paper that New Yorkers wouldn't particularly care where he's been living or working in the last year as long as he had a plan for the city going forward.
Yang filed paperwork last month to run for mayor, and the Times said he could formally enter the race this week. Multiple December polls had Yang leading in a Democratic primary, with a slight edge over Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and a wide lead over all other contenders.
