NEW YORK MAYOR Bill De Blasio has today announced he will run for the US presidency in the next election.
De Blasio is the latest Democrat to enter the race, with others including Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and former vice-president Joe Biden already in the running.
In a video posted online, De Blasio said he would run on the platform of putting working families first and the promise of delivering affordable healthcare.
“It doesn’t matter if you live in a city or a rural area, or a big state or a small state, it doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is, people in every part of this country feel stuck, or even like they’re going backwards.
“As president, I will take on the wealthy, I will take on the big corporations, I will not rest until this government serves working people.
“As mayor of the largest city in America, I’ve done just that,” he added.
He also took a shot at President Trump – who has already declared his intention to run again in the 2020 elections – branding him a “bully” and saying he would take him on.
“I’m a New Yorker, I’ve known Trump’s a bully for a long time. this is not news to me or anyone else here. And I know how to take him on.
“When Donald Trump started separating families, we sent lawyers to the border to help protect those families. When he told us he was going to take away our security funding, we took him to court and we beat him.
“Don’t back down in the face of the bully, confront him, take him on… Donald Trump must be stopped. I’ve beaten him before and I will do it again.”
De Blasio has served as mayor of New York city since 2014 and previously served on the New York city council, and as an advocate for the city – a role working alongside the mayor.
He was the subject of a federal investigation in 2016 over alleged bribery but no formal charges were filed.
Climate action and the decriminalisation of marijuana use are among the causes the 58-year-old has advocated for in recent years.
Heating up
The democratic election race is heating up now with more than 20 candidates declaring their intention to run.
Some of the better-known names in the contest are Oklahoma academic and senator Elizabeth Warren, Obama’s former VP, Joe Biden and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders
Sanders, who has been a hit with younger democrats, missed out to Hilary Clinton for the 2016 democratic nomination.
Latest polls have put Biden as the frontrunner to secure the nomiation, with CNN reporting he has a 23.5 point lead over the next favourite Bernie Sanders.
Warren and Kamala Harris, who is a lawyer and junior senator for California, are in third and fourth place respectively.
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