Weiner Entry Likely Spells Runoff in New York Mayoral Race

With former Rep. Anthony Weiner's announcement that he would seek the office of New York mayor, the immediate reaction among city Democrats was "we have a runoff on our hands."

A just-completed Quinnipiac University poll showed that among likely Democratic voters in the mayoral primary, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn drew 25 percent, followed by Weiner with 15 percent, and all other contenders — including 2009 Democratic nominee Bill Thompson and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio — each under 10 percent.

Under city election law enacted after the 1969 mayoral contest — in which conservative Mario Procaccino won the Democratic nomination over four liberal opponents with about 32.8 percent of the vote — if no Democrat wins 40 percent of the primary vote, a run-off will be held between the two top vote-getters.

Forced to leave Congress two years ago for sending lewd photos of himself on Twitter, Weiner addressed his problems in a YouTube video in which he admitted "he made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down." Weiner has about $4.8 million in his campaign account, most of it left over from an exploratory bid for mayor in 2009.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.