Public Advocate Candidate Slugfest (Updated)



The two remaining Democratic Public Advocate candidates, Letitia James and Daniel Squadron, met in a televised debate last night.  With a week to go until Tuesday’s runoff election, the candidates had a sharp, often personally contentious, meeting.  The full debate, hosted by NY1 and moderated by Errol Louis and Brian Lehrer, is available here.

That tone continued in their post-debate comments to the press.  Both candidates attacked the perceived faults of the other, with closeness to Mayor Bloomberg a featured item.  (In March we asked the candidates for their view of Mayor Bloomberg and his tenure.  Both praised some of his specific accomplishments, but varied in how harshly they assessed his overall record.  You can watch those interviews here.)  I asked both candidates whether they have asked the current Public Advocate, and Democratic mayoral candidate, Bill de Blasio for his endorsement.  Their answers? “I haven’t” and “good night everybody.”

Here are the full post-debate Q&As with each candidate.

Letitia James:

Daniel Squadron: