As mayoral wannabes trash de Blasio, he says they lack ‘compelling vision’

Mayor Bill de Blasio was unimpressed by Wednesday’s debate between eight candidates who all think the city has suffered under his two terms in office, claiming the wannabes lack a “compelling vision.”

“I would say I still don’t feel we’re getting a particularly compelling vision from any of these candidates, and I think the people of New York City deserve to hear a truly thoughtful vision of how we’re going to move forward after the biggest crisis in our history,” de Blasio said of the eight major mayoral hopefuls during his daily press briefing.

“I heard a lot of statements that reflected a lack of information about city government and how the city of New York actually works. That was not inspiring to me.”

The mayor, who will leave office at the end of 2021, joked with a reporter that he was “in recovery” from the debate.

“I don’t think it shed a lot of light, and New Yorkers need a lot more information about these candidates,” said de Blasio. “They need a lot clearer vision from these candidates.”

The candidate’s during the race’s first in-person debate gave de Blasio mostly low marks for his record as mayor. Andrew Yang was the only contender who said he would welcome the mayor’s endorsement, while former de Blasio administration officials Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, and Maya Wiley, his former counsel, indicated they wouldn’t.

De Blasio was unbothered by their responses.

“It just proves they’re politicians now,” he said.

“Candidates do what candidates do, and sometimes they think they’re doing the smart thing or the clever thing and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”