Quinn Announces NYC Mayoral Bid

Openly gay New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn today formally announced her bid for mayor.

Ms. Quinn, a former housing activist who has shifted to the political center over the course of her career, has aggressively courted the city’s business and real estate industries while also angling for labor support. She is hoping to win over residents outside of Manhattan who may be skeptical of her close ties with Mr. Bloomberg, a relationship that has allowed her to be caricatured by rivals as an elite Manhattanite. On Sunday, Ms. Quinn plans to plunge into neighborhoods far from her Manhattan home bases of Chelsea and City Hall, making stops to greet residents in all five boroughs. The day serves to inaugurate a campaign effort that she calls “Walk and Talk” — or, as Ms. Quinn pronounces it in the video, “wawk and tawk,” in a thick Long Island accent.

Quinn today also released the below five-minute slick campaign video, which the Times notes makes no mention of her wife or that she is gay.