Brigid Bergin

As New York City’s Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio led organizing campaigns around a multitude of city issues – from stop and frisk to tenants’ rights. But in March 2012, de Blasio also made an unusual foray into foreign policy when he launched an online campaign targeting car companies that did business with Iran.

Charles Hynes isn't letting go of the Brooklyn District Attorney's office without a fight. Despite losing the primary to Democrat Ken Thompson almost a month ago, Hynes officially launched his seventh re-election bid Tuesday on the Republican and Conservative lines.

In the New York City mayor's race, polls this week showed Republican Joe Lhota has enormous ground to make up before the November 5th election. He's trailing Democrat Bill de Blasio by a 50-point margin. Still, both candidates are employed a similar strategy this week as they tried to paint the other as a radical outside the political mainstream.

We also learned more about Bill de Blasio's family life, with a peek at his wedding video, and an exclusive interview on WNYC about his father's suicide.

Bill de Blasio did not back away from his progressive agenda in a speech to the Association for a Better New York on Friday. He hit on his familiar themes, like taxing the wealthy to pay for pre-K and expanding paid sick leave, but de Blasio did have one surprise for the pro-business audience.

The race for Brooklyn District Attorney may not be over after all. Despite conceding to Democrat Ken Thompson on primary night, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes plans to reactivate his re-election bid, running on the Republican and Conservative party lines.

When Bill de Blasio was sworn in as public advocate on the first day of 2010, he described an office that would amplify the voice of the people.

As two Democrats readied for the Tuesday run-off of the Public Advocate, the New York Times released a new documentary that chronicles the end of Speaker Christine Quinn's long run for mayor. Meanwhile, the mayoral candidates still aiming for the 2013 win debated Latin American politics in the 1980s, with some red-hot rhetoric. Marxist playbook, anyone?

Voters say the city needs a new direction by a two-to-one margin, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday afternoon.

Bill de Blasio called it "a tale of two cities" — not "Occupy Wall Street." But the fierce anti-inequality sentiment that provoked mass protests two years ago Tuesday is giving his campaign for mayor a huge boost. And, that's fine with de Blasio.

Bill Thompson has scheduled an 11am press conference today, at which he is expected to withdraw from the mayoral race. Brigid Bergin, WNYC politics reporter, discusses the breaking news. And Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizens Union, discuss why the vote count has been so problematic, why turnout is so low, and what to do about it.

UPDATE: Democratic mayoral primary runner-up Bill Thompson emerged from a closed-door meeting Thursday night not prepared to concede the race.

Republican Joe Lhota will be in the general election for mayor. On the Democratic side, things are a little tricker, as Bill de Blasio stands at 40.15% of the vote with about 98% of precincts reporting. Bill Thompson has vowed to "count every vote" before conceding a runoff. Anna Sale, WNYC politics reporter, and Brigid Bergin, WNYC reporter, talk about the long night of big election results, and what comes next.

With three quarters of Democratic voters saying they wanted change, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio just edged over the 40 percent needed to avoid a run-off in the Democratic primary.  But former Comptroller Bill Thompson, who came in second with 26 percent, vowed to plow on. The vote was a sharp rebuke to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and to City Council Christine Quinn, who ran as a nicer, gentler Bloomberg. Quinn came in a distant third. 

In a published interview Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave to New York Magazine, he called de Blasio's campaign "class-warfare" and "racist," praised Quinn for "seven and a half years of k...

After months of campaigning it all comes down to this: registered Democrats and Republicans will pick their candidates for mayor, comptroller, public advocate, and in other local races in the Primary Election on Tuesday, September 10. Here's what you need to know about voting on primary day.

It's one week until primary day, and tonight is the last debate among the Democratic hopefuls for mayor. Kate Taylor of The New York Times and WNYC political reporter Brigid Bergin, discuss the latest developments, and how candidates are making the final push.

Note: WNYC will air tonight's debate at 8pm, and have audio available online tomorrow morning.

The Democratic mayoral candidates will take the debate stage for one final time Tuesday night before next week's primary election.

The day’s festivities began on a more muted note, as candidates reacted to the news of the shooting death of a 1 year-old Brooklyn boy on Sunday evening. The top Democrats running for...

It's Labor Day Weekend and that means there's only one full week left before the Sept. 10 primary election. 

It's close to 7:30 a.m. on a windy, cloud-covered morning, as Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Thompson arrives to greet voters at a subway stop on the Prospect Heights side of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.