Two top political observers weigh in on the mayor’s final lap and the 2021 elections.

Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

Mayor Bill de Blasio holds a media availability in June. Even as the spotlight turns to the people running to succeed him, the mayor will maintain substantial power right up to the stroke of midnight next December 31.

In the first 26 weeks of 2021, a new president will be inaugurated, there will be four special elections to the City Council, a Democratic supermajority will take hold in the State Senate, Mayor de Blasio will present his final city budget, a pandemic-era state budget will pass, the COVID vaccination program will reach just about everyone in the city, and voters will decide the most wide-open municipal elections in a generation. 

And those are just the stories we know about. This time last year, most of us had never heard of a coronavirus.

What will this year mean for city policy and politics—for de Blasio as he moves through the final 12 months of a rocky mayoralty, for the elections to replace him many other term-limited city officials? This week’s WBAI Max & Murphy Show hosted veteran observers Mara Gay of the New York Times Editorial Board and Sally Goldenberg, City Hall bureau chief at Politico NY, to discuss the stories they are following closely and the questions they hope 2021 will answer.

Hear our conversation below. To review the conversations Ben Max and your reporter have hosted over the past year, please visit our archive. And please tune in Wednesdays at 5 p.m. to hear the advocates, candidates, experts and policymakers who will help us understand the story of 2021 in real time. 

Mara Gay and Sally Goldenberg Look Ahead to 2021