Even though President Donald Trump is sucking up most of the political oxygen in the city, the mayor's race is underway. One of Mayor Bill de Blasio's rivals stumped with a pig, and a potential challenger delivered a major speech. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report.
There's always been a lot of pork in politics. But it's not every day an actual pig makes an appearance on the campaign trail.
"Hey Mr. Mayor, your position on animal rights seems to be a little bit vague. So why not step in here, and let's resolve this issue once and for all and give these families the emotional support that they all want," said state Senator Tony Avella of Queens.
The issue at hand is the city's policy prohibiting New Yorkers from keeping pigs as pets.
Avella, who is challenging the mayor this year, says a Staten Island woman should be allowed to keep the pig, which is said to be a source of comfort for her father, who has cancer.
Meanwhile, a potential de Blasio challenger, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, drew hundreds to his annual State of the District speech. But Jeffries let de Blasio be, focusing instead on President Donald Trump, a sign, perhaps, that he may not get into this race after all.
"I can't say that every American who voted for Donald Trump is a racist. But I do know that every racist in America voted for Donald Trump," Jeffries said.
Sen. Charles Schumer made an appearance at the end of the event.
Earlier in the day, de Blasio collected a labor endorsement from District Council 37, the city's largest municipal labor union.
"I want to thank you for believing in what the labor movement is supposed to be about," de Blasio said.
And NY1 learned that the city is preparing to spend even more money than was previously reported on outside legal counsel to address the multiple investigations into the mayor's political and fundraising activities.
The city is now authorized to spend $11.6 million on outside legal counsel for the investigations, $1.6 million more than had been previously reported. That's according to contracts on file with the city comptroller's office.