NEW YORK: Former US Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has ended his campaign bid for the New York City Mayoral race as preliminary data showed poor results.
“And I am not going to be the next Mayor of New York City based upon the numbers that have come in.
Tonight, I am conceding this race,” Yang said at a gathering on Tuesday night.
Yang collected 93,291 votes or 11.66 per cent of a total of 799,827 votes in the Democratic primary as of Wednesday, according to unofficial results issued by the Board of Elections in the City of New York.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams leads the race with 31.66 per cent of support in round one of the newly introduced ranked-choice voting, reports Xinhua news agency.
Former civil rights attorney Maya Wiley and former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia trailed behind with 22.22 per cent and 19.48 per cent of support, respectively.
Yang said he would be very happy to work with whoever the next Mayor is to improve the lives of 8.3 million people who live in the city.
New York City introduced ranked-choice voting for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president and city council members for the first time.
It could take more than a week to know who finally emerges from the primary election as the ranked-choice voting system requires the winner pick up more than 50 per cent of ballots in one or more rounds of calculation.
New York City would hold the general election for key posts in the city in early November and the new Mayor would take office starting from January of 2022.