Voters Guide: Everything you need to know about the mayoral candidates

Bill de Blasio is running for mayor on the Democratic and Working Families party lines.

BACKGROUND:
De Blasio, 52, was raised in Massachusetts and lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He and his wife, Chirlane McCray, have a daughter and son, both teenagers. De Blasio graduated from New York University and received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He worked for Mayor David Dinkins’ administration; at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a regional director; and managed Hillary Clinton’s successful 2000 Senate campaign. He was elected to the City Council in 2001 and to the public advocate seat in 2009.

ISSUES:
De Blasio seeks to limit economic-development tax breaks and establish a city job-creation coordinator to manage workforce-development programs; raise taxes on city residents earning $500,000 or more to fund universal prekindergarten and after-school programs; revamp the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy; direct the NYPD to limit arrests for marijuana violations; limit charter schools and charge some of them rent in traditional public school buildings; expand the public transportation system in the outer boroughs; and replace Ray Kelly as police commissioner, among other plans.

As public advocate, de Blasio filed a lawsuit to keep Long Island College Hospital open; fought for compensation for first responders after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; and created a “worst landlords watchlist.”

Joe Lhota is running for mayor on the Republican, Conservative, Taxes 2 High and Students First party lines.

BACKGROUND:
Lhota, 59, was a budget czar and deputy mayor under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority under Mayor Michael Bloomberg where his yearlong tenure included restoring subway service quickly after Superstorm Sandy. In the private sector, Lhota was an investment banker and corporate executive at Cablevision, which owns Newsday and amNewYork.

A Bronx native, Lhota moved with his family to Lindenhurst on Long Island when he was a sixth-grader. Lhota has degrees from Harvard Business School and Georgetown University. He and his wife, Tamra, live in Brooklyn Heights with their daughter.

ISSUES:
Unlike almost every other mayoral candidate — Democrat or Republican — Lhota has ruled out back pay for members of the municipal labor unions, saying the city cannot afford the raises without jeopardizing the municipality’s financial health. Lhota says he’ll build on the work of his two predecessors, essentially maintaining the status quo on stop and frisk and city schools. He has ruled out tax increases. He wants the city to take control of the bridges and tunnels from the MTA.

Jack Hidary is running for mayor on the Jobs and Education and Common Sense party lines.

BACKGROUND:
Hidary, 45, was raised in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay area and now lives on Manhattan’s Central Park South. An alumnus of the Yeshiva of Flatbush, Hidary attended Columbia University. He studied philosophy and neuroscience, but did not graduate. Hidary is a businessman who has founded or acquired Internet ventures, such as the job-search site Dice.com, EarthWeb and iAmplify. He also has helped nonprofits such as Trickle Up, which finances entrepreneurs. He is not married and does not have children.

ISSUES:
Hidary fashions himself in the image of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a nonpartisan, corporate-friendly alternative to the two-party system. But like Republican rival Joe Lhota, Hidary says he’s fiscally conservative and socially liberal. He promotes equal opportunity for entrepreneurs to tamp down tensions in the city and favors a computer-science-heavy curriculum in the city’s public schools. He opposes tax increases, arguing that raising taxes will drive people from the city and ultimately reduce revenue.

Adolfo Carrión Jr. is running for mayor on the Independence Party line.

BACKGROUND:
Carrión, 52, lives on City Island and is married to his second wife, Linda Baldwin. He has three daughters and one son. He served as Bronx borough president for seven years starting in 2002 and before that was a City Council member from 1998 through 2001. The New York City public school teacher also was a federal housing official under President Barack Obama for a year.

Carrión was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx. He attended Harry S. Truman High School in Co-op City, graduated from King’s College in Westchester majoring in world religions, and earned a master’s degree in urban planning from Hunter College. He runs his own business-consulting firm focused on development and urban planning.

ISSUES:
Carrión vows to deploy more beat cops in neighborhoods, citing his childhood relationships with officers in his community. He says he’ll fix the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy by deploying “the critical element of respect.” He wants to expand New York’s economy to include more information technology; keep school buildings open beyond normal hours — including on weekends; and develop a citywide lesson-plan bank for teachers.

Other Mayoral Candidates

Joseph Melaragno,Affordable Tomorrow Party
Michael Greys,Freedom Party
Michael Dilger, Flourish Every Person Party
Anthony Gronowicz, Green Party
Michael Sanchez, Libertarian Party
Carl Person, Reform Party
James McMillan, Rent Is Too Damn High Party
Dan Fein, Socialist Workers Party
Erick Salgado, School Choice Party
Randy Credico, Tax Wall Street Party
Sam Sloan, War Veterans Party