Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, is reportedly weighing a run for political office in the near future when her husband's term as Mayor of New York City comes to an end.
Speaking to NY1 on Monday, McCray confirmed that she would be interested in pursuing her own political career once her husband, who is term-limited in 2021, has left office.
"I would consider running for office, absolutely," McCray said. "I tell women all the time, 'You should run, you should seriously consider running for office.'"
Since her husband was first elected in 2013, McCray has been granted an outsized voice in the de Blasio administration. McCray serves as an unofficial advisor to her husband and has been tasked with spearheading an $800 million effort to overhaul the city's mental health system. Recently, her clout was perhaps best exemplified by the role she played in picking the incoming New York City Schools Chancellor.
Earlier this month, the mayor even suggested that McCray, who is barred by nepotism laws from collecting a city government salary, deserves compensation for all the efforts she has undertaken on behalf of his administration.
McCray is no novice to politics. Before marrying de Blasio, she served as a speechwriter to former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, she served in a communications capacity on the staffs of New York State Comptroller H. Carl McCall and New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson. McCray also had a short stint at CitiGroup, in the bank's public relations department, before deciding it "was not a good fit."
McCray's tenure as first lady has not been without its share of criticism. The first lady's influential presence at city hall and her input in staffing decisions has left both de Blasio adversaries and allies questioning the source of her authority.