New York City mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio was invited to speak at Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network rally in Manhatten Saturday morning, but his Democratic rival, Bill Thompson, was not.
De Blasio finished first in Tuesday’s primary election and was just above the 40 percent threshhold needed to avoid a runoff in the initial results. Thompson, who finished second on Tuesday, has not conceded and is waiting for the Board of Election to being counting paper ballots. On Thursday, a spokesman for the Thompson campaign told TPM they believe there are about 50,000 paper ballots that have yet to be counted.
Prior to the event, a spokeswoman for Sharpton denied the decision not to have Thompson at the event was a slight and simply said, “No runoff has been declared in the mayoral race and thus the front-runner Bill de Blasio was invited.” On stage Saturday, Sharpton said he had called Thompson and told him he would be welcome at his rallies any time. Sharpton has not made an endorsement in the mayoral race.
