For a few decades New York City had mayor’s races between representatives of the city’s Democratic establishment and silent majority type Republicans who presented themselves as hedges against the city’s excesses. That role was embodied for a dozen years by Rudy Giuliani. Then it was taken over in a considerably more muted form by Michael Bloomberg. After the transition from Michael Bloomberg to Bill deBlasio that all kind of ended. Republicans have scarcely even registered in the last two elections and there’s little sign they will in 2021.

And yet something funny is happening in this year’s mayor’s race as candidates jockey to succeed deBlasio. The race is being dominated by one candidate running on conventional retail politics (Andrew Yang) and another on public safety (Eric Adams). They’re both in the high teens or maybe 20%. Various candidates supported by the city’s progressive movement, its leaders, influencers, etc. are simply not getting much traction.

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