N.Y. Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou’s recollection of 2021 mayoral vote does not appear to align with ballot

Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who is running in the Democratic race for New York’s 10th Congressional District, ranked Scott Stringer first on her New York City mayoral ballot last year, according to a ballot screenshot, despite indicating over the weekend that Maya Wiley was her top choice.

Niou described her vote for Wiley as she campaigned Sunday, part of a Daily News survey of top House hopefuls that began with Dan Goldman claiming he did not recall his top Democratic mayoral pick. Goldman later said Kathryn Garcia was his top pick.

Asked about her vote at a campaign stop in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Niou said she “absolutely” remembered.

“I voted for Maya, and I also voted for Art Chang,” said Niou, an outspoken progressive. “I voted for a whole slate of five that did not include Eric Adams.”

But Niou sent an image of her ballot to Stringer that appeared to show she bubbled him first and Wiley second, according to a screenshot of their texts he provided Tuesday morning. The ballot showed Art Chang as Niou’s third choice, Garcia as her fourth and Dianne Morales as her fifth.

[ NY-10 candidate Dan Goldman claims he can’t recall if he backed Eric Adams or Kathryn Garcia for NYC mayor ]

The text was dated June 22, 2021, the Primary Day in last year’s mayoral race. Niou’s campaign claimed Tuesday morning she had texted Stringer an image of someone else’s ballot.

“Yuh-Line never said the ballot was hers and if Scott interpreted it that way, that’s on him,” the campaign said in a statement. “She sent this to someone she trusted, and he violated that trust. It’s a pathetic last-ditch effort to stop a woman he once mentored from reaching higher office.”

Niou, of the Financial District, did not mention Stringer on Sunday when queried about her New York City mayoral vote.

New York’s newly drawn 10th Congressional District spans from Manhattan’s West Village to Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, and it has attracted a large and competitive field of Democratic contenders.

Dan Goldman, an ultrawealthy former federal prosecutor from Tribeca who helped impeach former President Donald Trump, led in the most recent public poll of the race and has scored the endorsement of the New York Times editorial board.

But his more progressive rivals, including Niou, have banded against him, and the race appears unsettled.

Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, of Manhattan’s Kips Bay, another top contender in the race, said Saturday she ranked Garcia first and Wiley second in last year’s mayoral race.

“She’s always given me good advice since I knew her as a commissioner,” Rivera said of Garcia. “I think she’s influenced my life as a public servant.”

Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, of Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill, said she ranked Wiley first and Garcia second. And former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, seeking a return to the House after serving there in the 1970s, said she ranked Garcia first.

In the ranked-choice primary, now-Mayor Adams finished in first, Garcia in second and Wiley in third. Andrew Yang finished in fourth and Stringer in fifth.

Goldman donated to Yang late in the 2021 mayoral race but not Garcia, according to campaign finance records. He told WNYW-TV that he ranked Garcia first and Adams second, and donated to Yang because he was “invited to a fund-raiser.”

Tuesday is Primary Day.