The pickup truck rampage that killed 8 people Tuesday on a bike path in New York gave the city its biggest terror jolt since the World Trade Center attack — and shook up residents a week before they elect the next mayor.
The terror strike that was linked to Islamic State effectively put the mayoral race on hold — and likely made it even easier for Mayor Bill de Blasio to cruise to victory in the Nov. 7 election.
Despite being snagged in a corruption scandal and the city’s myriad woes, the far-left Democratic mayor already had a comfortable lead. The halt in the action in the race’s final week only makes it more difficult for the Republican challenger, New York Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, to break his momentum.
“It gives the campaign a pause and reduces the time that the mayor can be attacked for corruption, homelessness, the beginnings of a spike in crime and lack of school safety,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist in New York.
He also called the election of incumbent mayors in the city a “pathological occurrence.”
Indeed, only three mayors have lost re-election contests since Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia left office more than 70 years ago — two in primaries and one in a general election.
Mr. de Blasio had barely campaigned in recent weeks. Instead, he used the trappings of his office to keep himself in the public eye and engaged with the public. The response to the terror attack reinforced that effort as the mayor called for unity and a respite from politics.
The attack stunned the city.
A man in a rented pickup truck mowed down bicyclists and pedestrians on a bike path in lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring at least a dozen. Police apprehended the suspect identified as Sayfullo Saipov, 29, an Uzbek national who entered the U.S. in 2010.
In the truck was a note handwritten in Arabic with the message “ISIS Lives Forever.”
“This was an attack on the United States of America, an attack on New York City and an attack on our people,” Mr. de Blasio said at a press briefing with city and state officials. “And it was the definition of terrorism: an effort to take away people’s hope and spirit, to make them change. And what New Yorkers showed already is that we will not change, we will not be cowed, we will not be thrown off by anything.”
He also aligned himself with law enforcement despite a history of severe frictions with the NYPD.
And at an opportune moment, Mr. de Blasio escaped questions about a union boss’ federal corruption trial that revealed the mayor’s pay-to-play fundraising scheme.
In testimony last week, top de Blasio donor Jona Rechnitz testified to buying access to the mayor and admitted to using illegal “straw donors” to funnel campaign cash to him.
Mr. de Blasio said he couldn’t remember any inappropriate conversations with his friend Mr. Rechnitz.
The Malliotakis campaign vowed that the terror attack would not disrupt the race.
“Look, New York is a very resilient town. Hours after the attack there were almost a million people in Greenwich Village for the Halloween parade. People go on with their lives. We move forward. And that’s exactly what the campaign is going to do,” said Malliotakis spokesman Rob Ryan. “We are going to go on with what we have to do between now and the election.”
After the attack, Ms. Malliotakis said that New Yorkers would again “stand shoulder to shoulder,” as they did on Sept. 11, 2001.
“My prayers are with the families of the victims and those recovering,” she said. “God bless our first responders and the bravery of the NYPD, the best police department in the world, whose swift actions stopped the terrorist from doing more harm.”
Ms. Mallitakis has challenged Mr. de Blasio on his support of sanctuary cities, a stance she says makes the city less safe by threatening federal homeland security funding.
She also offers herself as more supportive of the police.
Mr. de Blasio alienated the police department by siding with Black Lives Matter protests against law enforcement. NYPD officers on two occasions turned their backs on Mr. de Blasio’s speeches at funerals for fallen officers, most recently in July at the funeral of Officer Miosotis Familia, a mother of three who was assassinated in her squad car.
A Quinnipiac University Poll last month showed Mr. de Blasio with a commanding lead of 61 percent of the vote. Ms. Malliotakis took 17 percent, and Reform Party candidate Sal Albanese got 6 percent.
Mr. de Blasio had overwhelming support in four of the city’s five boroughs, the exception being the conservative holdout of Staten Island, where many police officers call home.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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