Christine Quinn, the 46-year-old New York City council speaker, announced Sunday that she is officially running for the mayor's office.
If she wins, Quinn will be Gotham's first female and first openly-gay mayor. The Democrat married her longtime girlfriend, Kim Catullo last year after New York State legalized same-sex marriage.
Quinn has earned her share of critics for defending outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his controversial run for an extra term in office.
In a YouTube video posted Sunday, Quinn focused on her work as a housing and LGBT rights activist and highlighted her middle-class Long Island upbringing.
"I'm about keeping New York City a place for the middle class," she said in the video. "To live and grow, that's going to help all of those hardworking people get into the middle class."
Other candidates for the office include Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Comptroller John Liu, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, and former MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota.
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