Could the First Female Mayor of New York be a Retired Army General? – The New York Times

The boxing ring can be a weary, but trustworthy, motif for the underdog candidate, a place where would-be mayors and governors put on the gloves to show how they would fight for constituents.

And so it was that Loree K. Sutton found herself one morning at the Trinity Boxing Club in Lower Manhattan, where many know her as the general.

The nickname came not because of her strong jab or command of the ring, but because Ms. Sutton, 60, the former head of New York Citys Department of Veterans Services under Mayor Bill de Blasio, is actually a retired Army brigadier general.

Now, Ms. Sutton wants to parlay her experience in the Army and in city government into her first run for public office, declaring on Wednesday her candidacy to become the 110th mayor of New York City.

I think its time for a new type of leadership, one that seeks to unite and think about old challenges and problems in new ways that benefit from the voices and perspectives of all New Yorkers, Ms. Sutton said. Its not enough to have big ideas and introduce new programs, you have to set up world class operations.

Ms. Sutton, a Democrat, said she was inspired when she saw hundreds of veterans running in the 2018 midterm elections, but did not consider her own candidacy until six months ago, when acquaintances kept urging her to run.

The most persuasive person was her wife, Laurie Leitch, the director of Threshold GlobalWorks; the couple was introduced by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and married by him.

Her odds seem daunting: She has little name recognition or political experience, and will have to defeat well-regarded challengers who are expected to include the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, and the City Council speaker, Corey Johnson.

And although her tenure in the military and in the de Blasio administration is generally well regarded, she did suddenly resign as the director of the Defense Centers for Excellence in 2010, after news reports and congressional criticism that the military was failing to diagnose and treat soldiers with mild traumatic brain injuries.

That has not stopped some people from signing on to her campaign, which hopes to spend $7 million, the maximum allowed under the citys matching funds program, for the 2021 primary. Tucker Green, founder of Tucker Green Consulting, and a well-known fund-raiser, has signed on as a consultant.

Ken Fisher, a managing partner of Fisher Brothers, a family-owned real estate development and management firm with $8.5 billion in market valuation, is one of Ms. Suttons early financial backers.

Mr. Fisher said he met Ms. Sutton through his work as chief executive of the Fisher House Foundation, which houses veterans being treated for illnesses away from home, and as co-chairman of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Being a general is like being a C.E.O.: Shes good at working under pressure, Mr. Fisher said. She can manage the city and get along with the governor. Instead of demonizing businesses and corporations as a whole, she sees the value of bringing the public and private together.

In her 30-year career, Ms. Sutton was the Armys highest ranking psychiatrist, completed a tour in Egypt and then went to Iraq during the first gulf war. She helped grow the citys veterans affairs office into a full blown mayoral agency the citys first new agency in two decades and advocates say she helped drive down chronic homelessness among veterans.

Unlike Mr. de Blasio, who describes himself as a progressive Democrat, Ms. Sutton, a lifelong independent who recently registered as a Democrat, is a moderate.

Kristen L. Rouse, founder and president of NYC Veterans Alliance, has worked closely with Ms. Sutton. She said Ms. Sutton took the job at the alliance when advocates were demanding the agency grow and then made strides in reducing veteran homelessness.

The agency sometimes struggled with staff turnover and having the right people to navigate a massive bureaucracy, but Ms. Rouse said that Ms. Sutton always kept an open door to even her most frustrated critics and that is uncommon.

Ms. Sutton has had other bumps in her career, most notably her departure from the Defense Centers for Excellence.

She says she was scapegoated by a branch of the government that was struggling to deal with a growing, complex problem of brain trauma, as she was seeking to make the changes necessary to address the crisis.

We were dealing with the complexities of wounds and injuries that were way beyond the medical model, Ms. Sutton said, adding that she knew there was nothing to be gained by suing the military.

The 2021 mayoral election is shaping up to be a crowded field. Besides Mr. Johnson and Mr. Stringer, other expected candidates include the Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr.; the Brooklyn borough president, Eric L. Adams; and a nonprofit executive, Dianne Morales.

How Ms. Suttons moderate stance will play in a city that gave rise to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and where the Democratic Socialists of America are a rising political force, is unclear.

If youre a New Yorker with a heartbeat, Im going to earn your vote, Ms. Sutton said.

Its not so much that I want to be the mayor, she added. I want to do the things only the mayor can do.

Martin Snow, the owner of Trinity Boxing Club and Ms. Suttons trainer, concurred. She laughed when I said we need her in politics, he said.

After this mayor leaves, the city is going to hit a wall, he continued. When things get tough, you are going to need someone like her to handle the job.

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Could the First Female Mayor of New York be a Retired Army General? - The New York Times