Andrew Yang’s bid to recruit female rival as deputy mayor decried as ‘sexist’

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is keeping up with his attempts to woo a female rival in the race to join his team in a move that is being cast as “sexist” by critics.

Yang, who is leading the polls along with former police officer Eric Adams, admitted he is still working to convince former New York City sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, who is running her own bid for mayor, despite being rebuffed.

“What I appreciate about Kathryn is that she’s an operator,” Yang told the Intelligencer, adding that he makes weekly calls to his opponent in hopes that she may join his team.

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The overtures have struck a nerve with his opponent, as well as others who view it as downplaying the viability of a female candidate in a race in which men remain top contenders.

“I would like Andrew Yang to stop saying that. I’m not running for No. 2. It’s totally sexist. Totally sexist,” Garcia told the New Yorker earlier this month. “It makes it sound like they’re giving me a compliment, but they’re not. Are you not strong enough to actually do this job without me helping you? You should be strong enough. You shouldn’t need me. To be quite clear: I don’t need you guys to run this government.”

Alicia Glen, who formerly served as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s deputy mayor for housing, also chastised the idea.

“I think first and foremost that is so sexist it’s mind-boggling,” Glen said, according to a report by Politico. “I don’t think if you had a man who had been a commissioner and served in many different roles and were running as the candidate who actually knows how things work, that the press or cognoscenti would be saying, ‘That’s a great idea; they’d make a great deputy mayor.'”

Garcia, who worked in and around City Hall for nearly three decades and served as commissioner for six years, would be the first woman to run New York City if elected.

The victor of the 2021 mayoral race will succeed de Blasio, who can’t run again because of term limits.

The summer Democratic primary will be the first citywide election to use the new ranked-choice voting system, which will let voters select their preferences of up to five candidates for city offices, including mayor.

Ballots will then be tallied by first, second, third, fourth, and fifth choices, which will remove the need for runoff elections.

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The Washington Examiner reached out to the Yang campaign for comment.