PLURALISM AND ETHNICITY IN NEW YORK CITY POLITICS: THE CASE OF PUERTO RICANS

This article examines Puerto Rican efforts to win the mayoralty of the city of New York, focusing on the 2005 election. So far Puerto Ricans have failed to make it to City Hall, but the explanation for this is not systemic. Systemic factors have played a role, but not in deterministic fashion. Theirs is a pluralist story. The political system is open, but access to power is contingent on the interplay between capability and feasibility. When Puerto Ricans had a good candidate-capability-the context was not favorable-feasibility-and when the context was favorable they did not have a good candidate. When the party mattered most, their candidate was a reformer, when the party was over, their candidate was an organization man. Puerto Rican ethnic identity played contradictory roles in this process, thrusting and energizing candidates as well as being the proverbial albatross around the candidate's neck. The elements of success for the future appear to be, having a conciliatory leadership style, avoiding association with polarizing figures, amassing enough money to run an efficient campaign, focused on the promotion of collective goods and devoid of ideological posturing; and exploiting racial and ethnic identity to garner and mobilize support without alienating in- or out-groups.