Mayoral candidate and Wall Street mogul Ray McGuire must be singing praises after his latest round of endorsements.
Especially since music and entertainment icons Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Nasir “Nas” Jones, businessman and author Steve Stoute, and “the voice of New York” and radio personality Angie Martinez, have all collectively decided to endorse McGuire in the race, as shown in their short ad on Facebook.
McGuire’s campaign, from his initial launch video narrated by Spike Lee to now, has been star-studded with nothing short of the biggest names in Black and New York culture, seemingly to target his largest demographic of Black and Brown voters.
“This isn’t about me, this is about we,” said McGuire.
McGuire considers his “inclusive” economic plan, which draws on all his years of experience in finance, a sure fire way to lead the post-COVID recovery and create 500,000 jobs.
New York City statistically has about 8 million people in it with about 25% of them being Black or African-American and has only ever had one Black mayor, former Mayor David Dinkins who recently passed away.
As ballots are finalized this week for mayoral candidates to appear on the ballot, McGuire along with Borough President Eric Adams, Maya Wiley, and Dianne Morales are among the only candidates that are Black or Hispanic on the Democratic side.
McGuire has raised $7,369,183 in private donations so far, according to CFB.
Jay-Z, Diddy, Nas, Stoute, and Martinez all grew up in New York City area, unlike McGuire who is from Ohio, but said they empathize with his struggle and hustle out of poverty into financial success.
“New York City gave them all incredible opportunities to succeed, but now, they see those opportunities slipping away for too many New Yorkers. They recognize that our city is in a state of emergency, people are hurting, and it’s time for a bold, new approach,” said McGuire in a statement.
Jay-Z and Diddy referred to New York as “magic” and “home of the hustle.” Something the group of entrepreneurs wish to see return after the devastating effects of the COVID-19 and social justice crises last year.
“I think people are broken down,” said Martinez in the video. “People are sick. People lost loved ones. I think emotionally the whole city needs to be lifted up.”
