Mayor Bill de Blasio. | AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews De Blasio on 2017 effort by Tusk: 'Follow the money' The mayor pushed aside a new attempt from a strategist to oust him.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, brushing off results of a poll conducted by a strategist who said he wants to find a candidate to unseat the mayor in next year’s Democratic primary, asked Wednesday: What’s not to like about New York City?

“With crime going down, employment going up, more harmony in this city and certainly less of the division we used to know for example, when there was a broken policy of stop-and-frisk; real improvement in our schools, highest graduation rate ever; what’s not to like about all that?” de Blasio said, at an unrelated press conference in Astoria, Queens. Opponents “can do whatever they want, but I feel very comfortable in the end the public is going to like what we’ve done here,” he said.


The strategist, Bradley Tusk, managed Michael Bloomberg’s successful re-election for a third term as mayor, and helped steer Uber’s successful opposition to a de Blasio-led effort to cap the rate of growth for the ride-hailing app. Tusk formally cut ties with Bloomberg in order to focus on unseating de Blasio in 2017, the Times reported earlier. Tusk does represent the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which is in a protracted contract fight with the de Blasio administration.

Tusk this week launched a website, NYCDeservesBetter.com, with a newsletter and podcast dedicated to finding de Blasio's challenger.

“As a great movie once told us, follow the money, and I urge you all to do so,” de Blasio said, when asked about Tusk and the effort to oust him. “I think it is an interesting state of affairs when someone puts something like that together because they don’t like the state of the city,” the mayor said.

Asked about de Blasio's "follow the money" comment, Tusk aide Patrick Muncie said in a statement, "You won't have to look far -- NYC Deserves Better is personally funded by Bradley Tusk. Although to be fair, with all the time he's now spending answering questions from reporters and prosecutors about his own campaign finances, this Mayor does know something about following the money."

De Blasio, when asked about Tusk’s link to Bloomberg, said he did not think his predecessor is trying to oust him. “I don’t assume that. I really don’t. That doesn’t mean other people aren’t motivating it," he said. "I think that’s worth looking at. No, I do not assume it has a direct relationship with my predecessor.” Referring to Tusk, de Blasio said, “he can do whatever he wants, but I’m not worried about it.”

According to Tusk’s poll of 600 likely Democratic voters, 40 percent said de Blasio was doing an excellent or good job; 38 percent said he deserved to be re-elected; and in a head-to-head contest with City Comptroller Scott Stringer, the two progressives were in a statistical deadheat at 41 percent.

In a more crowded field, if the election was held today, de Blasio would narrowly lead Stringer, 27 - 23 percent, with Public Advocate Letitia James getting 10 percent, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams both getting eight percent and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries getting five percent.

Also in the poll: 38 percent would consider voting for former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly for mayor; 17 percent White House Budget Director Shaun Donovan; 16 percent would consider Rev. Al Sharpton; 13 percent would consider MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and 6 percent would consider businessman John Catsimatidis.

In Astoria, de Blasio told reporters, “I believe fundamentally the goal is to do the work, do it well, reach every day New Yorkers by changing their lives for the better. That’s what people care about.”

This story has been updated with comment from an aide to Tusk.