Mayoral Frenemies



Mayoral frenemies Bo Dietl and Nicole Malliotakis crossed paths this afternoon, just ahead of the Dominican Day Parade on Sixth Avenue.  With their respective parade contingents lining up on the same block, Dietl and Malliotakis orbited around each other without interacting for a while, greeting supporters, talking with the press and saying hello to a mix of cops and marchers.  They eventually came face to face, however, engaging and brushing each other off as a large press contingent stood nearby.

Dietl and Malliotakis share the goal of unseating Mayor de Blasio, but have obviously opposite strategies as to who should supplant him.  They appeal to a largely overlapping slice of the electorate and face the prospect of simply dividing the anti-de Blasio vote, with both defeated by de Blasio in a crushing vote.  That tension is quite apparent.

Here’s how it unfolded:

 

Sidenote:  A look at a prior dietl/Malliotakis campaign trail interaction is here.