Andrew Yang: 'I am not going to be the next mayor of New York City'

Screen Capture / NBC

Updated, June 24.

As the votes came in Tuesday night, self-proclaimed "numbers guy" Andrew Yang knew what the numbers were telling him. He had to concede.

After being the frontrunner for months, Andrew Yang's mayoral campaign floundered in the last two weeks causing him to finished a distant fourth in a crowded field of men and women who wanted to be New York City's next mayor.

“I am a numbers guy, I am someone who traffics in what's happening by the numbers," said Yang. "I am not going to be the next mayor of New York City based upon the numbers that have come in tonight," Yang said Tuesday evening in a video filmed by Shant Shahrigian, a New York Daily News reporter.

"I am conceding this race, though we’re not sure ultimately who the next mayor is going to be. But whoever that person is, I will be very happy to work with them."

Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams was leading in votes early Wednesday morning but will likely not get the 50% needed for a clear-cut victory. Following Adams, were progressive favorite Maya Wiley and former Sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia. 

In NYC's ranked choice voting in which voters name their top five choices in order of preference, the second and third choice votes will be counted to determine who wins the Democratic nomination for mayor.

It wasn't supposed to end like this for Yang. Yang was supposed to win and become the city's first Asian American mayor.

When Yang entered the race for the Democratic nomination to become mayor of the nation's largest city, he enjoyed months as the frontrunner, campaigning as a nonpolitician bringing in new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking.

As months passed the excitement waned and interviews revealed that Yang was not into all the details of the policies and politics of the city and voters apparently lost confidence and voted for someone they've known for his years of public service as a borough president and a former police officer.

As of Thursday morning (June 24), Eric Adams remained in the lead, but none of the remaining candidates were able to win more than 50% of the votes. The final voting results will probably not be known until next month when all the ranked votes will be added to the totals.

And for the last word ...