for The Wall Street Journal: Kathryn Garcia Says She Knows How to Manage New York City by José A. Alvarado Jr.

News

for The Wall Street Journal: Kathryn Garcia Says She Knows How to Manage New York City

josé a. alvarado jr.

Jun 15, 2021

Location: Park Slope

Kathryn Garcia’s first job in city government was at 22 years old as an intern in New York City’s Department of Sanitation in 1993, answering correspondence and doing data analytics.

Today, after nearly two decades of work in government, including as the sanitation department’s commissioner, she is running for the top job in the city, and hopes the momentum that her campaign gained from recent endorsements will carry her to a win in the coming Democratic mayoral primary on June 22.

Ms. Garcia entered the race in January, touting her management prowess. At the time, her biggest challenge was name recognition, she said. She never held public office and spent most of her government career in behind-the-scenes roles. Early polls of the mayoral race showed she had little support in a field of more than a dozen candidates.

But recent endorsements from the editorial boards of the New York Times and the New York Daily News boosted her profile. A May 26 poll showed her in the lead in the race, holding a 3-percentage-point edge over Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Photographed for The Wall Street Journal with words by Katie Honan.

Kathryn Garcia Says She Knows How to Manage New York City
The former sanitation department commissioner says nearly two decades in government have prepared her to be the next mayor.

1,039

José A. Alvarado Jr.

Also by José A. Alvarado Jr. —

for The New York Times: Former Rikers Employees Are Charged With Smuggling in Contraband

for Seven Days VT: 'Safe Haven'

for The New York Times: Lawmaker Is Left With ‘Lifetime Trauma’ as Attacker Pleads Guilty

for The New York Times: Health Insurers’ Lucrative, Little-Known Alliance: 5 Takeaways

for The New York Times: Baruch College, an Upward-Mobility Machine

for The New Yorker: The Haunted Juror

for Bloomberg Originals:

for Bloomberg: Guyana Is Trying to Keep Its Oil Blessing From Becoming a Curse

for The New York Times: Audit Finds Fatal Lapses in Mental Health Program Meant to Curb Violence

for The Wall Street Journal: America’s Biggest Bank Is Growing the Old-Fashioned Way: Branches

for The New York Times: The Young Black Conservative Who Grew Up With, and Rejects, D.E.I.

for The New York Times: How Rikers Island Became New York’s Largest Mental Institution

for The New York Times: This Venezuelan Family Won Asylum. Days Later, They Lost It.

for Southern Foodways Alliance: Offsides Fowl

for Anglers Journal: End of an Era

for Bloomberg: ‘Market’s Wrong, I’m Not’: Mike Mayo Loves Playing a Provocateur

for Brooklyn Vegan: Glassjaw celebrated 30 years with career-spanning Brooklyn shows

for The New York Times: Kendra’s Law Was Meant to Prevent Violence. It Failed Hundreds of Times.

for The New York Times: A New Push to Improve Mental Health Care for Homeless New Yorkers

for Bloomberg: The Other Side of Greenwich: Hunger Among the Hedge Funds

for CULTURED Magazine: At 25, Artist Oscar yi Hou Has Already Had a Solo Museum Show—And Written a Memoir

TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2023

for The New York Times: Behind 94 Acts of Shocking Violence, Years of Glaring Mistakes

for The New Yorker: What Will It Take to Win Brooklyn’s First Majority-Asian District?